Akron Central Schools / Overview



Bosnian Genocide in the Former YugoslaviaDue to the break-up of the former Communist nation of Yugoslavia, Bosnia (Herzegovina) is one of several small countries that emerged. Yugoslavia was composed of ethnic & religious groups that had been historical rivals with various ethnic conflicts going back for centuries, which included the Serbs (Orthodox Christians), Croats (Catholics) and ethnic Bosnian Muslims and Albanians (Muslims). Nazi Germany invaded and partitioned Yugoslavia during World War II. After Germany’s defeat, Josef Tito led a fierce resistance movement and reunified Yugoslavia under the slogan "Brotherhood and Unity," merging together 6 different republics into one Yugoslavia: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, along with two self-governing provinces, Kosovo and Vojvodina. After Tito’s death in 1980, and without his strong leadership, Yugoslavia quickly tumbled into ethnic & religious chaos. In the 1980s Slobodan Milosevic, a Serbian, became the leader in Yugoslavia gained power through religious hatred and nationalism. He often provoked ethnic & religious tensions between Serbs and Muslims by encouraging Serb nationalism in the republics where there were large Serb communities. Over the years, the bitterness and hostility of the rival ethnic and religious groups sharing the same country was brewing and bubbling, until a civil war finally erupted in the early 1990s. Yugoslavian leader Slobodan MilosevicIn 1991 Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia declared independence. Bosnia parted from Yugoslavia and became an independent nation in 1992. The largest population of Bosnia was made up of Muslims (44%), while Serbs became the minority, accounting for about 31% of the Bosnian population.In 1992, when Bosnia attempted to declare itself an independent nation, many of the Serbs residing in Bosnia were bitter and decided to take action. Between April 1992 and November 1995, Bosnian Serbs, backed up by the nation of Serbia and Milosevic’s Yugoslav army, launched a war and invaded Bosnia. They then attacked and began “ethnic cleansing” against Muslims in the Bosnian territory. Ethnic Cleansing is a term defined as intentionally using forced deportations (removing people from your country or region) and/or engaging in mass murder (or genocide) of an unwanted group of people so that another group can claim the land. It is documented that approximately 200,000 lives were taken during the occurrence of the Bosnian genocide. In the course of the war as many as 1 million Muslims in Bosnia were forced to flee their homes. The procedure of the Bosnian genocide was comparable to the Holocaust. Men were systematically lined up and grouped to be gunned down and brutally murdered. Boys over the age of 13 were also main targets of the Serbs during the Bosnian genocide. Many Bosnian Muslims were driven into concentration camps, where women and young children were victims of sexual violence and rape, and many were starved. The Bosnian genocide is a truly horrific event that left thousands of families separated. Even today, there are people considered missing and thousands more without a proper burial and funeral. Many mass graves have been discovered years after this instance of genocide occurred. A mass grave is uncovered in BosniaMilosevic Continues genocide in Kosovo.Just as he did in Bosnia, Slobodan Milosevic also attacked Albanian Muslims in the region of Kosovo as well. Albanian Muslims were pressing for independence, but Milosevic did not want them to break free. Once again, Muslims were targeted as Milosevic’s Yugoslav army invaded Kosovo in 1998 and more atrocities and human rights abuses took place. However, this time NATO forces got involved and began attacking Milosevic’s Yugoslav army in 1999. After two months of bombing raids, Milosevic withdrew his forces from Kosovo.Milosevic Faces War Crimes TribunalsIn 2001, Slobodan Milosevic was captured and arrested by Yugoslav authorities and sent to the Netherlands to face a United Nations (U.N.) International War Crimes Tribunal. Charged with various crimes against humanity, including genocide and forced deportations, it seemed likely he would be found guilty and executed as did many Nazi & Japanese officials after World War Two. However, Milosevic died in his prison cell from an apparent heart attack in 2006 before the tribunal finished to decide his fate in international court. ................
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