Derry schools unite to mark Holocaust Day alongside genocide survivor Munira Subasic

PICTURED ABOVE: Mrs. Munira Subasic, president of the Mothers of Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves, lights a candle at Oakgrove Intgrated College last week. Included are Amil Khan, Remembering Srebrenica and Peter Osborne, chair, Remembering Srebrenica NI. (Photos: Jim McCafferty Photography)

Oakgrove Integrated College paused lessons as they were joined by fellow students from Thornhill and Foyle College to mark Holocaust Memorial Week.

Together they heard the daunting story of genocide survivor and keynote speaker Munira Subasic who spoke of losing her husband, 17 years old son and 20 members of her family in the Srebenica genocide of July 1995.

The Holocaust Week event is held annually at the college to remember the victims of that and other genocide since then. 

On 27th January each year, the UN urges all member states to honour the millions of victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of war throughout the world and to develop educational programmes to help prevent future genocides.

The Srebrenica massacre, also known as the Srebrenica genocide, was the July 1995 genocidal killing of more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys in and around the town of Srebenica during the Bosnia War.

It was mainly perpetrated by units of the Bosnian Serb Army of Republika Srpska under Ratko Mladic though the Serb paramilitary unit Scorpions also participated. The massacre was the first legally recognised genocide in Europe since the end of World War II.

What happened in the former Yugoslavia served as a start reminder of the devastating consequences of ethnic and religious hatred.  In Oakgrove Integrated College there continues to be a strong commitment to embracing diversity, celebrating differences and fostering equality. Remembering genocide asks us to recognise that achieving true equality and respect remains an ongoing journey for us all.

At the Special Assembly, Mrs. Munira Subasic, president of the Mothers of Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves, one of the main organisations representing victims of the Srebrenica genocide, spoke to a packed hall. One observer said “You could have heard a pin drop as she conveyed her daunting story through her interpreter.”

Taking her position at the school’s podium, Mrs. Munira Subašić said: "I am very humbled to be invited and to speak to so many young people about what happened at Srebrenica but also to be an advocate for reconciliation.  We know in Bosnia about political and ethnic divisions and that further prejudice, hatred and separation are not answers. 

"They just lead to more misery. We don’t want to visit the problems of the past on our next generations and neither should Northern Ireland.’

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Peter Osborne, chair of the Northern Ireland Board of charity Remembering Srebrenica, who accompanied Mrs. Subasic to Oakgrove, said: "The event at the Oakgrove was outstanding and we want to thank all the pupils and schools that participated, and the teachers for their support and commitment. Young people are our future, and if these students are anything to go by, we should be very optimistic about that future, together."

Staff and students from Thornhill and Foyle Colleges, their teachers, together with the Principal of Lisneal College, joined the annual event.

Speaking after the event, Oakgrove Principal, John Harkin thanked the other schools for their presence.  He said he was honoured to host Munira and hoped that all those in attendance learned something from hearing her telling her story, especially her gladness that the next generation live their lives “free from hatred”. 

The Mayor, Lilian Seenoi-Barr, Mr. John Harkin, Principal, Oakgrove Integated college pictured with Mrs. Munira Subasic, president of the Mothers of Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves during last week's Holocaust event at the school. Included are event organisers and representatives from other schools who took part.

He asked the audience, in their lives, to honour the memory of all who died in genocide by making choices each day to build up humanity and respect.  Quoting Eleanor Roosevelt’s words on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights he asked,"Where, after all, do human rights begin, in the little places close to home, so small and insignificant that they do not appear on any map of the world. If human rights have no meaning there, then they have no meaning anywhere.”

Oakgrove has marked Holocaust Memorial every day since its inception. In addition to the school events, Oakgrove’s Head Boy and Girl Bobby Skeggs and Brooke Deery participated in the official NI Holocaust Memorial event in Belfast City Hall on Thursday evening.

Mr. Harkin concluded: ‘We mark this day because we should honour those lives destroyed, recommit to holding the world to its promise ‘Never Again’ and make sure that in our life choices we humanise, not categorise those around us.’