Searching for Justice with Ellen J. Kennedy Ph.D.

Searching for Justice with Ellen J. Kennedy Ph.D.

In the early 1990s, the country of Yugoslavia imploded, collapsing into genocide and mass atrocities. This May, Park Square Theatre presents Flying Foot Forum’s  Heaven, a theatrical look into war-torn Bosnia told through percussive dance, music, and storytelling.

To deepen our collective understanding of the conflict, Park Square Theatre and Flying Foot Forum are collaborating with World Without Genocide to offer a series of programs that include films, talks, and a compelling personal story of a survivor of one of the 20th-century’s worst massacres. We’ve invited Ellen J. Kennedy Ph.D., Executive Director of World Without Genocide to share a personal account of her visit to Bosnia, and to invite you to the programs.

For tickets and information about Heaven, click HERE.
For a more a detailed history of the Bosnian Genocide, click HERE.
For a complete listing of the Justice After Genocide programs, click HERE.

 

Searching for Justice

By Ellen J Kennedy, Ph.D.

In the summer of 2010 I went to a funeral for 775 people.

Bosnian Serb troops had massacred more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, Bosnia in July 1995. Their bodies were buried and hidden in mass graves. In the years since that tragedy, remains have been discovered, exhumed and, through painstaking DNA analysis, nearly 6,000 individuals have been identified and buried at a memorial site in Srebrenica.

In July 2010 I was at the memorial ceremony when 775 bodies, identified by DNA since the past year’s mass funeral, were held aloft in a parade of coffins and grief and brought to rest in row after row of graves.

I had met women at the Association of the Mothers of Srebrenica, some of the mothers, wives, and daughters who lost husbands, fathers, and sons at the massacre. These women, most of whom are from small villages, developed a strong network and a vigorous political presence.  They created Srebrenica’s annual ceremony of remembrance, pressed for ongoing exhumation and identification of remains, and advocated for government support for the widows and children of the men who perished.

This is part of the process of finding justice after genocide – locating the loved ones and caring for those who remain.

Justice also involves documenting the truth.  This is the function of a trial, which punishes the perpetrators and creates an accurate record of the events.

Hasan Hasanović survived that massacre in 1995. His father, his uncle, and his twin brother perished. He lives in Srebrenica and he is dedicated to shining light onto the truth – not only onto what happened to him and his family, but to those who suffer in conflicts today.

Meet Mr. Hasanović at Mitchell Hamline School of Law on Tuesday, April 16, 7:00 pm. Joining him will be Dr. Andrew Baker, forensic pathologist who conducted exhumations in the region, and John Docherty, prosecutor of genocide perpetrators at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia.  Hear about the search for justice after genocide.

Ellen J. Kennedy is the founder and Executive Director of World Without Genocide, a human rights organization headquartered at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, St. Paul, MN.

Through World Without Genocide, Kennedy promotes Holocaust and genocide education in high schools, colleges, faith-based organizations, and civic groups and advocates with elected officials at city, state, and national levels. Kennedy was a professor at the University of St. Thomas for nearly twenty years and the Interim Director at the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Minnesota, for three years. She began as an adjunct professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in September 2006 and remains today.

Tickets

The box office is currently closed. Please email tickets@parksquaretheatre.org with any questions.

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