Hetzerische Darbietung: Auf der Buchmesse verstört eine Lesung mit Diskussion, weil sie eine vermeintlich andere Wahrheit über Srebrenica offenbart
Sie wurde viel beworben, diese Lesung auf der Leipziger Buchmesse. Peter Priskil und Alexander Dorin haben sich viel vorgenommen, als sie für Sonntag, den 20. März, auf die Buchmesse luden: Die Metapher „Srebrenica“ sollte entthront werden.
Beim Anblick des Plakats hatte ich sofort die entsprechenden Assoziationen: der Genozid an 8.000 Bosniaken, getötet von Serben, unter den Augen der hilflosen Truppen der Vereinten Nationen. So die Geschichte, wie man sie, unter grausamen Bildern, an den Fernsehschirmen verfolgen konnte. Sofort verband ich mit Srebrenica die Bilder von ausgemergelten Bosniern in einem Gefangenenlager der Serben und war verwundert darüber, dass ich sie, nach all den Jahren, noch so deutlich vor mir sah. Ich ahnte nicht, dass mich auf dieser Lesung noch weit schlimmere Bilder erwarteten.
Die Lesung war schon im Vorfeld umstritten. Der Präsident der Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker, Tilman Zülch, hatte den Antrag gestellt, sie wegen offensichtlicher Leugnung eines Völkermords verbieten zu lassen. Der Antrag wurde – unter Verweis auf die Meinungsfreiheit – von den Veranstaltern der Messe abgewiesen. Laut Priskil wurden daraufhin Plakate für die Veranstaltung zerstört und überklebt. Nun, ich sah einige Plakate, die zur Lesung luden, keines davon beschädigt.
Pünktlich 16 Uhr erschien Peter Priskil mit Alexander Dorin, Co-Autor des Buches, aus dem gelesen und über das diskutiert werden sollte. Zottelig, alternativ wirkte Priskil – und er fackelte auch nicht lange, er schonte das Publikum nicht eine Sekunde. Er begann mit der Vorgeschichte, mit der Meinung Tilman Zülchs, ein Kampf der Ideologien entfachte sich auf der Bühne, der mich an meine Grenzen des Ertragbaren brachte. Peter Priskil führte mit fast schon demagogischen Worten einen verbalen Kampf gegen Zülch, das Recht auf Meinungsfreiheit, das er in Anspruch nahm, sollte für Zülch nicht gelten, und auch die Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker wurde denunziert. Seine verbalen Attacken waren kaum auszuhalten. Dieser Lesung weiter beizuwohnen, wurde für mich immer beklemmender, denn es beschlich mich das Gefühl, dass hier wirklich ein Völkermord geleugnet werden sollte. Nein, soviel vorweg, er wurde nicht geleugnet, aber er wurde durch einen anderen ersetzt.
Peter Priskil fuhr weiter fort. Nun bin ich mir der Medienrealität durchaus bewusst, auch der Tatsache, dass Propagandalügen, mit denen ein Krieg geführt werden soll, meistens funktionieren. Von Gleiwitz bis zur Lüge über Sadam Husseins Atomwaffen – sie funktionierten, man glaubte sie zunächst, war aber nicht besonders überrascht, darüber zu hören, dass sie Lügen waren. Das Propaganda- und Lügennetz der westlichen Medien in der Berichterstattung im Balkankrieg wurde eindrucksvoll geschildert, auch die unrühmliche, verfassungsrechtlich fragwürdige Rolle der BRD erörtert. Überschattet wurde dies durch Priskils immer noch verbal aggressives, arrogantes Auftreten.
Die größte Kritik an diesem Tag: die einseitige Berichterstattung der Medien, die Dämonisierung der Serben. Denn, so Priskil, alles war gelogen. Keine Massenvergewaltigungen, weil, so seine Begründung, nach neun Monaten kein Babyboom eingesetzt habe und die Zahl der vergewaltigten Frauen immer weiter nach unten korrigiert wurde. Diese Begründung ist mehr als verhöhnend und zynisch, bedenkt man den Umstand, dass die evangelische Kirche in der betroffenen Region des Balkans Abtreibungspillen verteilte, um das Leben der betroffenen Frauen zu schützen. Zudem, dies ist kein Kriegsphänomen, schweigen Frauen aus Scham über erlittene sexuelle Gewalt. Wenn sie an muslimischen Frauen geschieht, wird zudem geschwiegen, um die Familienehre zu retten. Auch von Völkermord an den Bosniern in Srebrenica könne keine Rede sein, denn, so Priskil, die angeblich 8.000 Toten haben nie gelebt, nie existiert.
Ich atmete durch, rang mit mir, überlegte, sitzen zu bleiben oder zu gehen. Ich wartete ab. Natürlich mutet es eigenartig an, dass in einer Schutzzone der Vereinten Nationen 8.000 Männer umgebracht, verscharrt, später wieder ausgegraben und umgebettet worden seien. Aber dass 8.000 Einwohner einfach erfunden wurden, dies wollte mein Verstand zunächst nicht glauben. Priskil lieferte auch gleich den Beweis: ein Dokument, auf dem die Einwohner Srebrenicas gezählt wurden, bevor es zur Schutzzone der UN wurde, 37.000. Zu lesen war weiterhin, dass die UNO von 45.000 Einwohnern ausginge und man ihr deswegen die geringere Einwohnerzahl nicht berichten sollte. Dies also sind Priskils 8.000 erfundene Tote!
Nun kündigte Priskil Fotos an, die von der UN nie beachtet wurden, weil sie nicht in das Bild der damaligen Berichterstattung gepasst hätten: Folter und Massenmord an den Serben. Priskil hatte sich zu Beginn gegen die Dämonisierung der Serben und gegen die einseitige Berichterstattung gewehrt, hier zeichnete sich nun ab, das er das Gleiche tut: Eindrücklich begründete er mit Freuds Psychoanalyse, warum die Bosniaken die serbischen Zivilisten genital verstümmelt haben, er wehrte sich gegen das Bild des „monströsen Serben“, zeichnete aber selbst ein Bild: „den verstümmelnden Bosnier“. Bevor man die Bilder sah, hörte man noch einmal den Appell, dass das Haagener Kriegsverbrechertribunal Unrecht ist und Slobodan Milosevic zu Unrecht angeklagt wurde.
Nun kam sein schlagendstes Argument: die Fotos. Wir erstarrten. Bilder, erschütternde Bilder, ließen uns verstummen und erstarren. Wir erwiesen, mit dem Senken unserer Köpfe, diesen gefolterten Toten noch einmal die letzte Ehre. Die Fotos waren kaum zu ertragen. Sie wurden auch nie veröffentlicht, bis jetzt. Man verstand, was Priskil meinte: Die Bosniaken folterten, töteten. Aber das meinte er nicht. Er ersetzte den Srebrenica-Völkermord gegen einen unbekannten, totgeschwiegenen Genozid an den Serben. Diese Bilder sind grausam, aufrüttelnd, aber sie sagen etwas anderes: Auch die Bosniaken haben grausam getötet, Zivilisten gefoltert. Wenn Priskil die einseitige Berichterstattung kritisiert, so ist er selbst einseitig, denn was die Bilder wirklich sagen, sagt er nicht: Dass wohl beide Seiten grausam waren.
Nach den Bildern ergriff ein Mitglied der Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker das Wort. Es brodelte in dem Mann, den ich die ganze Zeit beobachtet hatte. Er stand, während der ganzen Lesung, neben dem Podium, schüttelte immer wieder den Kopf, atmete durch. Jetzt das Wort zu ergreifen, war für ihn wohl wie eine Erlösung. Er war nie in seinem Leben stolzer, Mitglied der Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker zu sein, sagte er und das spürte man an seinen Worten, seinen Gebärden. Für ihn als gebürtigen Leipziger, war dies, was sich hier abspielte, eine Schande für die Stadt. Und auch: „Dass man einem Demagogen wie Ihnen hier, in dieser Stadt, ein Podium gibt, ist eine Schande“. Er wurde ausgebuht, verbal angegriffen, verließ unter diesen Attacken den Saal.
Ich verstand seine Empörung. Priskil hatte sich demagogisch, hetzerisch und zynisch verhalten und damit dieser Veranstaltung sehr viel Würde genommen. Durch weniger reißerisches Verhalten hätte er auch den Opfern auf den Bildern mehr Würde gegeben. Diese verloren nun durch Prikils One-Man-Show fast an Bedeutung. So verließ auch ich, aufgewühlt und verärgert, eine halbe Stunde vor Schluss die Lesung, die mit einem anderen Redner seriöser gewirkt hätte.
Alexander Dorin, Zoran Jovanovic: Srebrenica – Wie es wirklich war
Herausgegeben und mit einem Geleitwort versehen von Peter Priskil
deutsch, englisch, serbisch
Ahriman-Verlag – Freiburg 2010
181 S. – 28,90 €
MYTH: Alexander Dorin claims that forces under the command of Naser Oric killed more than 3,000 Serbs around Srebrenica. So, what are the facts?
FACTS: According to the Research and Documentation Center (RDC), „The allegations that Serb casualties in Bratunac, between April 1992 and December 1995 amount to over three thousand is an evident falsification of facts. The RDC research of the actual number of Serb victims in Bratunac has been the most extensive carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina and proves that the overall number of victims is three to nine times smaller than indicated by Serbia and Montenegro.“
In fact, the number of Serb casualties, most of them Chetniks [paramilitary thugs who participated in the killings and persecution of Bosniaks in/and around Srebrenica] amounts to 480. They are not victims of the so called „Muslim terror“ or „Naser Oric’s attacks“, but casualties who died in the pursuit of a criminal enterprise, which consisted of the persecution, torture, rape, mass killings and ethnic cleansing of the Bosnian Muslim population of Podrinje [region around Srebrenica]. In 1992, three years before the genocide, Serb Army killed at least 11,391 Bosniaks in Podrinje region, around Srebrenica.
Human Rights Watch agrees with the RDC findings and explains that „The ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party launched an aggressive campaign to prove that Muslims had committed crimes against thousands of Serbs in the area. The campaign was intended to diminish the significance of the July 1995 crime, and many in Serbia were willing to accept that version of history. But as the Oric judgment makes clear, the facts do not support the equivalence thesis. Take the events in the village of Kravica, on the Serb Orthodox Christmas on January 7, 1993, for example. The alleged killing of scores of Serbs and destruction of their houses in the village is frequently cited in Serbia as the key example of the heinous crimes committed by the Muslim forces around Srebrenica. In fact, the Oric judgment confirms that there were Bosnian Serb military forces present in the village at the time of attack.“
Asked to comment on the different number of Serb casualties in the Srebrenica region published in Belgrade, the Hague Tribunal’s Office of the Prosecutor replied that these figures „do not reflect the reality.“
MYTH: Alexandar Dorin scapegoats Bosniaks for not demilitarizing in Srebrenica – charging them for provoking the massacre.
FACTS: In fact, Serb Army did not demilitarize around Srebrenica. The Bosnian Government had entered into demilitarization agreements with the Bosnian Serbs. On 21 April 1993, the UNPROFOR issued press release saying that the process of demilitarization of Bosnian defenders of Srebrenica had been a success. According to the Agreement, the Serbs should withdraw their heavy weapons before the Bosniaks gave up their weapons. The Serbs refused to demilitarize. They never honored their part of agreement. Instead, Serb military and paramilitary troops continued using surrounding Serb villages as a base for attacks on (and brutal siege of) Srebrenica. Specific instructions from United Nations Headquarters in New York stated the Serbs should withdraw their heavy weapons before the Bosniaks gave up their weapons. The Serbs refused to honor their part of the demilitarization agreement and they never did withdraw their heavy weapons. In fact, following the adoption of Security Council resolution 836 (1993), the Bosnian Serbs continued to bombard the safe areas at about the same rate as before. In Sarajevo, for example, Serb shells continued to land in the safe area at an average rate of approximately 1,000 per day. To read more about Srebrenica demilitarization agreements, which were violated by the Serb Army, read our article „Understanding the 1993 Srebrenica Demilitarization Agreements.“
MYTH: Alexander Dorin alleges that Srebrenica was used as a base to attack Serb villages.
FACTS: In 1992, three years before the genocide, Serb Army burned more than 200 Bosniak villages around Srebrenica and neighbouring municipalities. In a massive scale ethnic cleansing campaign, Serbs displaced approximatly 100,000 Bosniaks from their homes in Podrinje – Drina Valley region encompasing Srebrenica. Of those 100,000 people, Serbs killed at least 11,391 Bosniak civilians in 1992 (according to well documented data published by the Sarajevo-based Research and Documentation Center).
Between 1992 and 1995, militarized Serb villages around Srebrenica had been used to attack and destroy nearby Bosniak villages, as well as to launch brutal attacks on Srebrenica. According to Naser Oric judgment, Serb village of Kravica had a large cache of weapons and was used to stage attacks on Srebrenica and nearby Bosniak villages. Furthermore, Serbs used their villages around Srebrenica to block humanitarian aid coming into the Bosniak enclave, which caused Bosniaks to start dying from starvation and engage in counter-attacks for the purpose of obtaining food and demilitarizing heavily armed Serbs around Srebrenica.
The Trial Judgment of Naser Oric makes it clear that Serb villages around Srebrenica were heavily militarized bases from which Serbs launched brutal attacks on Bosnian Muslim villages, as well as on the town of Srebrenica itself. As stated in the Judgment, quote:
„Between April 1992 and March 1993, Srebrenica town and the villages in the area held by Bosnian Muslims were constantly subjected to Serb military assaults, including artillery attacks, sniper fire, as well as occasional bombing from aircrafts. Each onslaught followed a similar pattern. Serb soldiers and paramilitaries surrounded a Bosnian Muslim village or hamlet, called upon the population to surrender their weapons, and then began with indiscriminate shelling and shooting. In most cases, they then entered the village or hamlet, expelled or killed the population, who offered no significant resistance, and destroyed their homes. During this period, Srebrenica was subjected to indiscriminate shelling from all directions on a daily basis. Potočari in particular was a daily target for Serb artillery and infantry because it was a sensitive point in the defence line around Srebrenica. Other Bosnian Muslim settlements were routinely attacked as well. All this resulted in a great number of refugees and casualties.“
According to the Oric judgment, the Bosnian Muslim villages around Srebrenica were totally unprepared for war:
„In comparison, it appears that the Bosnian Muslim side did not adequately prepare for the looming armed conflict. There were not even firearms to be found in the Bosnian Muslim villages, apart from some privately owned pistols and hunting rifles; a few light weaponswere kept at the Srebrenica police station.“
The Oric judgment makes it clear that Serb village of Kravica was a military base from which Serbs launched deadly attacks on neighbouring Bosnian Muslim villages and town of Srebrenica itself. The Bosniak counter-attack on Kravica on the 7 January 1993 followed as a result of Serb blockade of humanitarian aid and constant attacks on nearby Bosnian Muslim villages. According to the Judgment:
„The fighting intensified in December 1992 and the beginning of January 1993, when Bosnian Muslims were attacked by Bosnian Serbs primarily from the direction of Kravica and Ježestica. In the early morning of the 7 January 1993, Orthodox Christmas day, Bosnian Muslims attacked Kravica, Ježestica and Šiljkovići. Convincing evidence suggests that the village guards were backed by the VRS [Bosnian Serb Army], and following the fighting in the summer of 1992, they received military support, including weapons and training. A considerable amount of weapons and ammunition was kept in Kravica and Šiljkovići. Moreover, there is evidence that besides the village guards, there was Serb and Bosnian Serb military presence in the area. The Trial Chamber is not satisfied that it can be attributed solely to Bosnian Muslims. The evidence is unclear as to the number of houses destroyed by Bosnian Muslims as opposed to those destroyed by Bosnian Serbs. In light of this uncertainty, the Trial Chamber concludes that the destruction of property in Kravica between 7 and 8 December 1992 does not fulfil the elements of wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages not justified by military necessity.“
The Judgment also confirms that Bosniak refugees in the besieged enclave started dying from starvation caused by the Serb blockade of humanitarian aid. As a result, Bosniaks had to counter-attack Serb military bases around Srebrenica to obtain much needed food and other necessities for the survival:
„Between June 1992 and March 1993, Bosnian Muslims raided a number of villages and hamlets inhabited by Bosnian Serbs, or from which Bosnian Muslims had formerly been expelled. One of the purposes of these actions was to acquire food, weapons, ammunition and military equipment. Bosnian Serb forces controlling the access roads were not allowing international humanitarian aid – most importantly, food and medicine – to reach Srebrenica. As a consequence, there was a constant and serious shortage of food causing starvation to peak in the winter of 1992/1993. Numerous people died or were in an extremely emaciated state due to malnutrition.“
MYTH: One of Alexander Dorin’s myths is a claim that more than 3,000 Srebrenica victims, from the list of missing, participated in the 1996 municipal Srebrenica elections. He also refers to the figure of „7,000 – 8,000“ Srebrenica victims as a „western myth“.
FACTS: In fact, none of the Srebrenica genocide victims ever voted in the 1996 elections. In the 1996 elections, which were held shortly after the 1995 genocide, local authorities simply used the list containing the names of all registered pre-war Srebrenica citizens. This does not mean that „dead people voted.“ According to Helge Brunborg, the Hague Tribunals‘ expert, at least 7,475 Bosniaks perished in the Srebrenica genocide. Under cross-examination in Blagojevic case, Brunborg (who speaks English as his Second Language) explained that by 1997, there were no missing people registered to vote:
„If you would look at Table 1 on page 7 in the 2000 report, you will see that there were 5 — on the ICRC list and PHR list were 5.712. On the ICRC list only 1.586. That makes 7.298, which is 101 less than the ICRC number that you quoted, 7.399. In addition, we had access to information that the ICRC did not have at that time, I believe, which is the voters‘ list, 1997 and 1998, which were used to check that missing people were — that there were no survivors who registered to vote. And we also checked difficult cases where the data were incomplete with the 1991 census…. The only thing is the information from ICRC, that 6 persons were found to be alive. So we subtracted that number.“ (Court Transcript)
Furthermore, Brunborg explained:
„People who are missing and believed to be dead should not be able to vote. So when we had this complete list of people who were registered to vote in 1997 and 1998, we wanted to make a comparison to see if there were, in fact, people believed to be missing who were registered to vote. So we did a very careful comparison, and we found nine names that we believe are unique and that are appearing on both lists of missing persons and the list of voters. So there is an error somewhere. Either these are not really missing persons, they are survivors, or somebody misused their identities because they knew they were dead, so they misused their identities, perhaps to get extra — additional political influence, to vote twice. Or third, there is a mix-up due to data problems and so on. But the conclusion is that the number was very small. Nine, that is less than — that is about one-tenth of a per cent. To be on the safe side, we subtracted these names, although it is not certain that these are survivors…. We asked the ICRC whether they knew about people who had survived, who they later learned to be survivors and not dead on the list of missing persons since January 1997. And they told us there were six persons out of 7.000, but they would not reveal their identities to us. So to be on the safe side, we subtracted another six persons from the total number. We could not delete those from the list that was also submitted to the court, because we didn’t know their identities. In this way we ended up with 7,475.“ (Court Transcript)
Asked „how reliable do you think this number of 7.475 missing persons is it?“, Helge Brunborg responded: „We think that the number is very reliable as a minimum estimate… the number could easily be higher because there were records that we excluded to be on the safe side.“
As of July 2009, the DNA results of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) support an estimate of 8,100 Srebrenica genocide victims. So far, the identities of 6,186 genocide victims have been revealed by the DNA analysis. (Source: ICMP)
Conclussion: We can go on and on, but Alexander Dorin does not deserve more of our time. All of his dirty genocide denial allegations have already been discredited in the court of law and in front of the international judges. As you can see from some of the examples above, Alexander Dorin deliberately uses lies to distort the truth. He simply repeats outdated genocide denial allegations circulated by Milivoje Ivanisevic – who is uneducated/unqualified pseudo-researcher and highly discredited Serbian ultra-nationalist. Furthermore, Alexandar Dorin resides in the Switzerland. Article 261 of the Swiss criminal code punishes genocide-denial. Currently, anybody is punishable in Switzerland if they „deny, belittle, or relativise genocide or crimes against humanity“. We encourage Bosnian community in Switzerland to file a legal complaint / lawsuit against Alexander Dorin for denying the Srebrenica genocide.