The Memorial Center of Republika Srpska is envisioned as a permanent institution that systematically collects, preserves, scientifically processes, and globally presents audio-visual testimonies regarding the suffering of the Serbian people. It is a unique \"living museum\" of documentation, research, and education. Our goal is to create the most comprehensive audio-visual archive of testimonies about the suffering of the Serbian people, including family accounts, medical and forensic records, as well as military, political, and historical documentation.<\/p>\n
This was stated in an interview for \"Glas Srpske\" by the Director of the Memorial Center of Republika Srpska, Denis Boji\u0107.<\/p>\n
- \"We expect the institution to be fully functional and making its contribution within the next few years, but the process of building a culture of remembrance begins right now. The long-term goal is the construction of a multimedia museum dedicated to the creation of Republika Srpska,\" Boji\u0107 said.<\/p>\n
GLAS: What is its significance today, knowing how many lives are woven into the foundations of Republika Srpska?<\/strong><\/p>\n BOJI\u0106:<\/strong> The weight of the Memorial Center is measured by the number of lives lost, but also by the moral obligation toward those who gave everything they had\u2014their loved ones, their bodies, their years. Republika Srpska was created through immense sacrifice, and therefore, the culture of remembrance is not a matter of politics but of elementary national duty and justice. The Memorial Center of Republika Srpska is a way to rehumanize the victims, so they do not remain mere numbers in statistics. We want to show that every single one of them had a name, a face, and a story. That person was someone\u2019s son, father, brother, mother, or daughter\u2014a human being with memories, hopes, and a life that was cut short. Through rehumanization, we restore dignity to every individual victim and preserve the national history we leave to our children.<\/p>\n GLAS: Could we have had such an institution earlier, and why is this chapter opening just now?<\/strong><\/p>\n BOJI\u0106:<\/strong> It could have happened earlier. However, we now have the institutional maturity, professional resources, and political will to carry out this work systematically and responsibly. The passage of time, however, carries a serious risk of oblivion: witnesses are passing away, documents are fading, and oral traditions are disappearing along with the generation that bore the greatest burden of the Defense-Patriotic War. Today, we are in a true race against time. We are striving to complete as much work as possible in the shortest timeframe\u2014to record as many testimonies, documents, and stories as we can. Our goal is for every testimony to be recorded carefully, professionally, and with dignity. The moment we realized this was the final hour to save the \"living word\" and preserve the experiences of those who created Republika Srpska, it became clear there was no more room for delay.<\/p>\n GLAS: How much do we actually know today about what happened in the nineties and the decades prior?<\/strong><\/p>\n BOJI\u0106: <\/strong>For decades, we were more the objects of others' interpretations than the subjects of our own history. The Memorial Center of Republika Srpska, alongside other institutions of the Republic, is a way to change that\u2014to speak for ourselves about our suffering, based on facts, documents, and testimonies. When you collect hundreds and thousands of testimonies from the families of fallen and missing civilians and soldiers, as well as all those whose life fates testify to the scale of Serbian suffering, you gain a deeper, more comprehensive, and more credible insight into the historical circumstances that shaped the creation of Republika Srpska.<\/p>\n GLAS: There is nothing harder than telling a personal tragedy. How important is that for the culture of remembrance?<\/strong><\/p>\n BOJI\u0106:<\/strong> It is the foundation of the culture of remembrance. There is no history without people. When a mother tells how she lost her son, that is not a political act; it is a truth that disarms even the coldest listener, regardless of their nationality. Their courage to share their pain allows us, as a society, to grow more nationally mature and more humane. Every testimony told is an act of victory over oblivion.<\/p>\n GLAS: To what extent do a gaze, a word, or a tear serve as a warning?<\/strong><\/p>\n BOJI\u0106: <\/strong>They warn more than any document. The living word becomes a moral compass. In every look within the testimonies of survivors, there is more truth than in thousands of pages of verdicts and analyses. When you hear a man who has lost everything yet speaks with dignity\u2014who speaks of the price paid for our opportunity to live in freedom\u2014you realize how vital it is to nurture the culture of remembrance.<\/p>\n GLAS: Do we have too many untold stories, and can the Memorial Center change that?<\/strong><\/p>\n BOJI\u0106:<\/strong> We have more untold stories than told ones. That is our greatest debt to the fallen. In the wars of the 1990s, the Serbian people lost more than 50,000 people\u2014fallen and missing civilians and soldiers. Behind every one of those numbers stands a life, a face, a family history. However, a vast number of personal stories\u2014whether heroic, tragic, or quiet and everyday\u2014remained unrecorded. For decades, these fates were pushed to the margins of public memory and were thus inaccessible to the generations to come.\n\nFor the first time in our history, we have the opportunity to repay these people in the most dignified way possible: by recording their stories, rehumanizing every victim, and returning a name, an image, and a meaning to the person who once existed, loved, worked, dreamed, and suffered. In earlier periods of our history, this was not possible; we lacked institutions, organization, technology, and sometimes the political will or awareness of the importance of preserving the living word. Today, with the development of technology, modern digital archives, and audio-visual recording techniques, we finally have the means and the motive to do this job properly. We now have an institution\u2014the Memorial Center\u2014standing behind this process, professional associates to methodologically guide the collection of testimonies, and most importantly, a clear awareness that such an opportunity will never come again. Time is not our ally; we are racing against it.<\/p>\n GLAS: By telling its side of the story, can Republika Srpska remove the labels that have been placed upon it?<\/strong><\/p>\n BOJI\u0106: <\/strong>It can, but only if we speak with truth and documents. The testimonies of those who survived suffering and those who lost someone in the war are the strongest evidence. We do not want others' labels; we want the right to historical truth. When your voice becomes institutionalized, no one can talk about you without you anymore.<\/p>\n GLAS: After the premiere of the film \"Witness\" (Svjedok), you said you were proud to be a member of the Serbian people and that the film represents a testament. Is that the essence of the Center as well?<\/strong><\/p>\n BOJI\u0106: <\/strong>Yes. \"Witness\" was an attempt to preserve the living testimony of a man who spent his entire life defending the truth about Serbian suffering, and through his work\u2014the work of Dr. Stankovi\u0107\u2014to give everyone who identified their loved ones over mass graves the chance to leave behind their voice and memory. That exact idea\u2014leaving a permanent record\u2014is the essence of the Memorial Center. When I say I am proud, I am referring to the honor of standing with my people and the honorable individuals who defended bare life and the Serbian people as a whole.<\/p>\n GLAS: What left the strongest impression on you from the film \"Children\" (Djeca)?<\/strong><\/p>\n BOJI\u0106: <\/strong>Meeting parents who lost three children yet still welcomed us standing tall. That is something that changes a person forever. That silence between two sighs, a look that says more than words, the readiness to share the greatest pain\u2014that is something I carry as both a personal and professional obligation. To ensure their story is not forgotten. And it hasn't been.<\/p>\n GLAS: What would you say to the citizens of Republika Srpska, especially those who have lost loved ones?<\/strong><\/p>\nA Simple Message<\/h3>\n