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NBC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- NBC News
He survived a mass execution at 17. Now he's fighting disinformation and denialism.
SREBRENICA, Bosnia — Nedzad Avdic stood on a gravel plateau with four men and boys with their hands tied behind their backs, preparing for death. Just 17, Avdic had been captured by Bosnian Serb forces days earlier. Now, he stood yards from an execution squad. Avdic said he heard shots, felt sharp pain in his right side and right arm and blacked out. When he woke up, more prisoners were being lined up for execution. When the small truck that brought him to the site drove away, Avdic and another wounded man escaped in the darkness. After walking to the woods for days, they crossed into Muslim-controlled central Bosnia. Last week, Avdic recounted his experience to members of the German parliament at an event in Berlin marking the 30th anniversary of the fall of the United Nations-protected 'safe area' of Srebrenica. Two international courts have ruled that Bosnian Serbs' systematic killing of male Bosnian Muslim prisoners — at least 7,000 in total — was the first genocide in Europe since World War II. The following day, members of the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD party, argued in parliament that the mass killings did not constitute genocide. 'The Serbs shot men there, but generally spared women and children,' Alexander Wolf said in a speech. A second AfD member, Martin Sichert, invoked a conspiracy theory, warning that Muslims were waging a 'birth jihad' in Germany, a reference to Muslim immigrants' someday outnumbering Germans. 'Srebrenica reminds us to end multiculturalism before it's too late,' Sichert warned. As disinformation spreads online, denialism about war crimes — both past and ongoing— is growing increasingly common worldwide, experts warn. From current conflicts in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza to past atrocities in Syria, Bosnia and Rwanda, as well as the Holocaust, basic facts are now disputed or dismissed. Denialism is proving politically profitable, as well. In February, the AfD won the second most seats in Germany's parliament, the best showing by a far-right party since World War II. In Bosnia, a local Serb leader, Milorad Dodik, has gained support by spreading conspiracy theories about Srebrenica, calling it 'an arranged tragedy.' He dismisses the identification of 6,981 victims — part of the largest DNA identification project in history— as a hoax. Dodik's office and the AfD did not immediately respond to requests for comment or proof of their claims. At a conference in Srebrenica marking the 30th anniversary of the mass killings here, the heads of the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Rwanda and the Auschwitz-Birkenau and Stutthof concentration camp museums in Poland warned that spreading lies online about war crimes has also become financially profitable. War crimes denialism generates so much traffic online that making money — not political or ideological gain — appears to motivate some of its purveyors. At one point, the directors discussed whether better influencers might help, and several of them agreed that they could. Avdic is determined to be one of them. As denialism spreads, he is more determined than ever to use what is left of his life to speak for the men and boys who died beside him on that gravel 30 years ago. 'It's becoming more aggressive day by day,' he said, referring to denialism. 'You have to know that we are all foreign bodies on this Earth, and we will all evaporate naturally sooner or later.' A U.N.-protected 'safe area' I first met Avdic 30 years ago covering the war in Bosnia as a reporter for The Christian Science Monitor. After the fall of Srebrenica, rumors spread that Bosnian Muslim men were describing mass executions. Avdic, then a shell-shocked teenager whose father was later found in a mass grave, was one of nine men who told me they had survived mass executions. When I later visited the gravel plateau beside an earthen dam in the village of Petkovci, I found two human femurs. Avdic and his father were among the roughly 10,000 Bosnian Muslim men who fled Srebrenica on foot when Bosnian Serb forces attacked in July 1995. The surrounded town had been declared an internationally protected 'safe area,' but the United States, Europe and 600 Dutch UN peacekeepers did little to protect it Women, children and elderly men took refuge at a large battery factory that Dutch peacekeepers had turned into their main base. And men, most of them unarmed, set off through the woods on a 60-mile trek to Muslim-controlled central Bosnia. When Serb forces attacked the column, Avdic and his father were separated in the chaos. 'I lost him,' Avdic recalled. 'I lost him immediately.' He continued walking with strangers but was eventually captured. Two days later, he and other men were taken to the gravel plateau, and the executions began. Needing to speak For the next 12 years, Avdic testified at war crimes trials about the executions under a pseudonym and lived far from Srebrenica, fearing for his safety. In 2007, he returned to Srebrenica, his hometown. He and other Bosnian Muslims felt a duty to return to the area and preserve its Muslim community. Avdic, who had grown up in a village outside the town and also lost four uncles and three cousins in the killings, found being in Srebrenica comforting. 'I have less nightmares,' he said, shrugging his shoulders. 'I cannot explain it.' In 2014, when he visited the execution site during an event with mothers of the victims, he was filled with a desire to speak publicly about the mass killing he survived. 'When I came to the place, something forced me to say something; I felt a strong need to talk,' he said. 'Words started to flow, something stronger than me.' He met his wife, Elvisa, a Bosnian Muslim survivor whose uncle and cousin also died in the executions, in Srebrenica in 2008. The following year, they married. Today, Nedzad works as a manager at a company in Srebrenica that produces parts for luxury car interiors. Elvisa works at a local meteorological station. They have three daughters who attend local school alongside Serb children. Serbs and Muslims coexist but generally don't discuss the war. 'Hatred destroys, first of all, those who hate,' Avdic said. In recent years, Avdic has given dozens of speeches about the massacres in multiple countries and called for the protection of civilians in Ukraine and Syria. Speaking about Srebrenica is difficult but cathartic. 'It was my choice to go to Berlin,' he said. 'It is not something that I wish. It is emotional, and it is difficult for me.' Local Bosnian Muslims have transformed the cavernous former car battery factory that Dutch U.N. peacekeepers used as a base into a museum documenting the genocide. Across the street, the headstones of the thousands of Muslim men and boys killed in the massacres cover a lush green field and hillside. In recent years, though, Muslims have slowly left Srebrenica, many of them citing economic and safety concerns. Once a majority-Muslim town, Srebrenica is now roughly half-Serb, half-Muslim. Elvisa, Avdic's wife, said she worries about her children's future. 'I was 13 years old then in 1995. My daughter is now 13 years old,' she said. 'Now, I'm more emotional about that time. When we are older, we care more and we feel more.' 'Our grandmother was killed,' she added. 'They cut her throat.' Denial and threats Avdic said provocations still happen, including when a local priest once played Serb nationalist songs to taunt Muslim residents. 'He will die with his evil,' Avdic said of the priest. As denialism spreads, Serb nationalists have grown more defiant. In nearby towns, Avdic is sometimes recognized and mocked by them. 'I'm not afraid of them,' he said, though he acknowledged the danger. 'You never know what could happen, because I'm a witness.' Avdic and his wife are torn. Leaving Srebrenica might be better for their children, but Avdic believes it is his duty to raise his family here and speak for the men and boys who died beside him. 'I will die proud,' he said. 'And I believe my children will be proud they were born here.'
India.com
13-07-2025
- India.com
Tied Up, Shot, Left To Rot – And Still Alive: How Three Survivors Crawled Out Of Genocide In Bosnia's Srebrenica
Srebrenica genocide: They were just teenagers. One loved geography. Another still had pears in his hands when the shooting started. A third searched the forest for a shoelace to stop a boy from bleeding to death. Thirty years ago, they ran. Through woods crackling with gunfire. Over bodies that still moved. Away from a town whose name the world would only come to whisper in shame – Srebrenica (in Bosnia and Herzegovina). This was not a war. This was a hunt. They ran from the narrow valleys of eastern Bosnia to the charred hills of Kamenica. They ran when the United Nations told them they were safe. They ran when the world looked away. They ran when their fathers were shot, when their brothers disappeared and when their childhood homes burned behind them. Nedzad Avdic was 17 when the shelling began. He once studied geography for fun. Now he studied it for survival. He walked east to west with the trees, followed the moss and tracked the stars until there were none. On July 11, 1995, he disappeared into a crowd of thousands in the woods near Susnjari. His father vanished minutes later. He never saw him again. Hajrudin Mesic fled with two brothers. One was shot in both arms. The other, Safet, was executed. His body was never found. Hajrudin kept moving, even after his shoes shredded to threads. He picked wild pears for strength and held them in his bleeding hands. They saved no one. But they reminded him he was still human. Emir Bektic drank from a mud-stained creek just before he and his father were ambushed. He woke up hours later under a tree, alone. His father was gone. So were the others. He does not remember how he survived the massacre, just that he did. That and the taste of sand in his mouth. They walked day and night. They dodged bullets and landmines and saw children being executed for asking for help. Some were told to clap before dying. Some rode trucks filled with screams and urine. Some chewed through rope to free strangers. They buried nothing. They carried everything. They were supposed to die. But they did not. The world would later call it genocide – 8,000 Bosniak men and boys murdered by Bosnian Serb forces over a few July days in 1995. Their bodies dumped in mass graves. Women and girls raped. Thousands displaced, destroyed and forgotten. But not by these men. Today, they carry memories. They carry voices. They have written books. They have testified in The Hague. They have buried fathers, brothers, cousins and neighbours. They have returned to Srebrenica. To Sarajevo. To the schools where they now teach. They are not here to tell stories. They are here to warn the world what forgetting looks like.
Rhyl Journal
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Rhyl Journal
‘Emotional' to assume title once used by late Queen
Sophie, whose mother-in-law was Queen Elizabeth II, discussed her work and becoming the Duchess of Edinburgh in an interview with the Mirror during a visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina to mark the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide this week. She was formerly the Countess of Wessex, but became the Duchess of Edinburgh after the King handed her husband Edward, Charles' youngest brother, their late father's Duke of Edinburgh title on his 59th birthday in 2023. This was in keeping with his parents' wishes and in recognition of Edward's commitment to the Duke of Edinburgh's Award youth scheme. The duchess told the paper that her change in title 'felt like quite a big moment' as the late Queen had previously held the same one. She said: 'First of all it was quite large shoes to fill because not as many of the population alive today will remember but the Queen was Duchess of Edinburgh for the first few years when she and my father-in-law first married. 'For me, it was quite an emotional thing to sort of step into her shoes [as being Duchess of Edinburgh], it felt like quite a big moment.' 'But of course being practical my role and my husband's role is to support the King as it was to support the Queen and we are fortunate because we are able to not be in front and centre role, so it allows us the flexibility to explore our own interests and then also be available to do things like this where the King asked if I would represent him here, it so happens it also covering an area of interest personally for me too. But yes, we are there to support and that will continue.' On being described as the royal family's secret weapon, Sophie said: 'I like to fly under the radar. 'It's all very well being a secret weapon but if no one knows, maybe it's too secret.' 'I suppose I should take it as a backhanded compliment,' she added. 'I don't see myself in a frontline position per se, that said admittedly there are fewer working members of the family these days so I suppose more and more I'm becoming less secretive. 'I just wonder what they are going to describe me as next.' During the visit, Sophie met mothers of victims of the genocide and delivered a message from the King in which he said he was 'greatly saddened' not to be there in person, adding that he is 'most touched and grateful to be able to share these words as we pay our respects'. More than 8,000 men and boys were killed on July 11 1995 by Bosnian Serb forces amid the break-up of the former Yugoslavia – Europe's worst atrocity since the Second World War.
South Wales Guardian
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- South Wales Guardian
‘Emotional' to assume title once used by late Queen
Sophie, whose mother-in-law was Queen Elizabeth II, discussed her work and becoming the Duchess of Edinburgh in an interview with the Mirror during a visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina to mark the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide this week. She was formerly the Countess of Wessex, but became the Duchess of Edinburgh after the King handed her husband Edward, Charles' youngest brother, their late father's Duke of Edinburgh title on his 59th birthday in 2023. This was in keeping with his parents' wishes and in recognition of Edward's commitment to the Duke of Edinburgh's Award youth scheme. The duchess told the paper that her change in title 'felt like quite a big moment' as the late Queen had previously held the same one. She said: 'First of all it was quite large shoes to fill because not as many of the population alive today will remember but the Queen was Duchess of Edinburgh for the first few years when she and my father-in-law first married. 'For me, it was quite an emotional thing to sort of step into her shoes [as being Duchess of Edinburgh], it felt like quite a big moment.' 'But of course being practical my role and my husband's role is to support the King as it was to support the Queen and we are fortunate because we are able to not be in front and centre role, so it allows us the flexibility to explore our own interests and then also be available to do things like this where the King asked if I would represent him here, it so happens it also covering an area of interest personally for me too. But yes, we are there to support and that will continue.' On being described as the royal family's secret weapon, Sophie said: 'I like to fly under the radar. 'It's all very well being a secret weapon but if no one knows, maybe it's too secret.' 'I suppose I should take it as a backhanded compliment,' she added. 'I don't see myself in a frontline position per se, that said admittedly there are fewer working members of the family these days so I suppose more and more I'm becoming less secretive. 'I just wonder what they are going to describe me as next.' During the visit, Sophie met mothers of victims of the genocide and delivered a message from the King in which he said he was 'greatly saddened' not to be there in person, adding that he is 'most touched and grateful to be able to share these words as we pay our respects'. More than 8,000 men and boys were killed on July 11 1995 by Bosnian Serb forces amid the break-up of the former Yugoslavia – Europe's worst atrocity since the Second World War.
North Wales Chronicle
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- North Wales Chronicle
‘Emotional' to assume title once used by late Queen
Sophie, whose mother-in-law was Queen Elizabeth II, discussed her work and becoming the Duchess of Edinburgh in an interview with the Mirror during a visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina to mark the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide this week. She was formerly the Countess of Wessex, but became the Duchess of Edinburgh after the King handed her husband Edward, Charles' youngest brother, their late father's Duke of Edinburgh title on his 59th birthday in 2023. This was in keeping with his parents' wishes and in recognition of Edward's commitment to the Duke of Edinburgh's Award youth scheme. The duchess told the paper that her change in title 'felt like quite a big moment' as the late Queen had previously held the same one. She said: 'First of all it was quite large shoes to fill because not as many of the population alive today will remember but the Queen was Duchess of Edinburgh for the first few years when she and my father-in-law first married. 'For me, it was quite an emotional thing to sort of step into her shoes [as being Duchess of Edinburgh], it felt like quite a big moment.' 'But of course being practical my role and my husband's role is to support the King as it was to support the Queen and we are fortunate because we are able to not be in front and centre role, so it allows us the flexibility to explore our own interests and then also be available to do things like this where the King asked if I would represent him here, it so happens it also covering an area of interest personally for me too. But yes, we are there to support and that will continue.' On being described as the royal family's secret weapon, Sophie said: 'I like to fly under the radar. 'It's all very well being a secret weapon but if no one knows, maybe it's too secret.' 'I suppose I should take it as a backhanded compliment,' she added. 'I don't see myself in a frontline position per se, that said admittedly there are fewer working members of the family these days so I suppose more and more I'm becoming less secretive. 'I just wonder what they are going to describe me as next.' During the visit, Sophie met mothers of victims of the genocide and delivered a message from the King in which he said he was 'greatly saddened' not to be there in person, adding that he is 'most touched and grateful to be able to share these words as we pay our respects'. More than 8,000 men and boys were killed on July 11 1995 by Bosnian Serb forces amid the break-up of the former Yugoslavia – Europe's worst atrocity since the Second World War.
