CONFERENCE ON HOLOCAUST AND GENOCIDE AGAINST SERBS IN NDH OPENS IN ISTOČNO SARAJEVO

PALE, JUNE 8 /SRNA/ – A scientific conference on the Holocaust and the genocide against Serbs in NDH opened today at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Istočno Sarajevo, bringing together scholars to discuss the sociological, political and historical aspects of the suffering of the Serbian and Jewish peoples.

The four-day event is organized by the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Istočno Sarajevo and the Republika Srpska Center for Socio-Political Research. Faculty Dean Vladan Bartula said it was a great honor for the institution to host Gideon Greif, one of the world's leading experts on the Holocaust, Auschwitz, and Jasenovac. "Professor Greif is a distinguished scholar who has spent decades researching war crimes, particularly crimes committed against the Jewish people, but also against the Serbian people. His presence at our faculty is an exceptional contribution to our academic and educational work," Bartula told reporters. He announced that Greif and Dušan Pavlović, director of the Republika Srpska Center for Socio-Political Research, would conduct workshops and lectures this week dedicated to the Holocaust, Auschwitz and Jasenovac. According to Bartula, such conferences and lectures will contribute to the professional and academic development of students of political science, international relations, history and related disciplines. Greif said the conference marks the beginning of a very important project focused on the study of genocide, the suffering of the Serbian and Jewish peoples and the preservation of remembrance culture. He noted that the Serbian and Jewish peoples share many historical experiences marked by persecution, suffering and immense sacrifice. "This conference is dedicated to the subject of genocide in general, as well as the suffering of the Serbian and Jewish peoples, who throughout history have shared experiences of persecution, great sacrifice and efforts to preserve their identity and faith," Greif said. He stressed the importance of scholarly research into the Holocaust and the genocide against Serbs in the NDH, emphasizing that educating younger generations is one of the most effective ways to combat forgetting and prevent the repetition of atrocities. Pavlović said education about the Holocaust and genocide prevention is of exceptional importance for younger generations so they can recognize and understand social processes that may lead to extremism and mass crimes. He reminded that Republika Srpska has cooperated for years with Professor Greif, one of the world's leading Holocaust scholars, particularly known for his research on Auschwitz. Pavlović noted that many leading universities around the world have developed Holocaust and genocide prevention study programs and added that similar programs have already been implemented at the University of Banja Luka. "We are now continuing them at the University of Istočno Sarajevo. The goal of today's workshop and lectures is to familiarize young people not only with historical events but also with the mechanisms that lead to radicalization and crimes, so that such processes can be recognized and stopped in time," Pavlović said. According to him, Nazism as an ideology was defeated in World War II, but evil as a social phenomenon did not disappear, making it essential for each new generation to learn how to identify processes that can lead to extremism and violence. He also highlighted the importance of Gregory Stanton's "Ten Stages of Genocide" model as an analytical framework for understanding the processes that precede mass atrocities. Pavlović added that special attention within the program is devoted to the scholarly and historical study of the suffering of Serbs in the NDH. Greif will deliver a lecture titled "The Holocaust and the Culture of Memory" tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. On Wednesday, June 10, at the same time, the film "Son of Saul," based on Greif's renowned book We Wept Without Tears, will be screened, followed by a discussion with the Israeli historian.