Redux via Paul Lowe/Panos Pictures

Europe’s worst war since Hitler enveloped the Balkans more than 30 years ago.

A region that Christians and Muslims had long coexisted peacefully was ripped apart by resurgent nationalism.

The genocide at Srebrenica, when 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed, was the pinnacle of the tragedy.

Though terrible to view, the pictures from that era serve as a crucial reminder of what may occur when those in positions of authority fail to act.

as well as the cost of turning away.

Encouraged by

ESSAY

Srebrenica, a Massacre Foretold, Still Casts Its Shadow

In 1992, I traveled to Bosnia for the first time to cover the biggest war to hit Europe since Hitler’s war. When the battle ended in 1995, I was left with scars like many others. In my situation, the scars were not physical but rather profound, resulting from both the actual tragedy and having to live with the shortcomings of the UN and Western nations that caused the Srebrenica slaughter.

The catastrophe at Srebrenica was predicted. More than three years into the war, on July 11, 1995, around 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were massacred by Serb soldiers. It took place in a country guarded ineffectively by NATO jets, in a United Nations safe area that turned out to be anything but, and in a setting of constant avoidance by Western governments unwilling to step in.

If there was any evidence that good intentions alone do not save lives, it was the massacre in Srebrenica.

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