Today we visited a mass grave exhumation site. This sign points to the mass grave in an area near Srebrenica. Please be aware that these photos may be upsetting. It was very upsetting to see this mass grave site in person and I just want you to take care of yourself as you are reading these next 2 posts regarding the Srebrenica genocide and my visit to the memorial today.
This is the site that is being exhumed so that the remains can be identified and properly buried. The perpetrators of genocide had put thousands of bodies in several main mass graves.
After this original mass burial, the perpetrators wanted to make it more difficult for themselves to be caught, so they dug up the mass graves with bulldozers, tore apart the bodies, and deposited the pieces in to many many smaller mass grave sites. Pieces of individuals have been found in multiple mass graves. In these photos, you can see that the skelatons are not intact.
There are heads without bodies, and leg bones and hip bones and pieces of people's torsos and more. I was told that a single man's body parts were found in 4 mass graves and they still have not located the entirety of his remains. In this way the trauma continues because survivors have to continue burying their dead again and again as more parts are found over time.
I have never seen something like this in my life, and it changed me deeply. It also had the impact of encouraging me to continue to fight against the commission of atrocities like this. I know I am on the right path.
Today we visited a mass grave exhumation site. This sign points to the mass grave in an area near Srebrenica. Please be aware that these photos may be upsetting. It was very upsetting to see this mass grave site in person and I just want you to take care of yourself as you are reading these next 2 posts regarding the Srebrenica genocide and my visit to the memorial today. 
This is the site that is being exhumed so that the remains can be identified and properly buried. The perpetrators of genocide had put thousands of bodies in several main mass graves. 
After this original mass burial, the perpetrators wanted to make it more difficult for themselves to be caught, so they dug up the mass graves with bulldozers, tore apart the bodies, and deposited the pieces in to many many smaller mass grave sites. Pieces of individuals have been found in multiple mass graves. In these photos, you can see that the skelatons are not intact. 
There are heads without bodies, and leg bones and hip bones and pieces of people's torsos and more. I was told that a single man's body parts were found in 4 mass graves and they still have not located the entirety of his remains. In this way the trauma continues because survivors have to continue burying their dead again and again as more parts are found over time. 
I have never seen something like this in my life, and it changed me deeply. It also had the impact of encouraging me to continue to fight against the commission of atrocities like this. I know I am on the right path.
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