Customer Reviews

After the Fall: Srebrenica Survivors in St. Louis

5 star:		(5)
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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

After The Fall: Srebrenica Survivors In St. Louis is an outstanding photodocumentary that combines the informative text of Patrick McCarthy with the impressive documentary photography of Tom Maday to present the genocidal tragedy of the Bosnia-Herzegovina city of Srebrenica and its effects on the lives of one extended family in St. Louis, Missouri. In July 1995, more than 7,500 Bosnians from the city of Srebrenica were massacred by troops of the Bosnian Serb Army. Another 30,000 women and children were forcibly removed from their homes in this United Nations-declared "safe area". The siege of Srebrenica represented the greatest atrocity witnessed in Europe since the days of the Nazi holocaust, yet it was only one episode in a larger war of extermination against the citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina during the 1990s. Some 20,000 Bosnian refugees (approximately 500 of them survivors of Srebrenica) came to settle in St. Louis. After The Fall is a superbly presented, highly recommended memorial, testament, and account of this horrific tragedy that these St. Louis based refugees must come to grips with as represented in the lives, statements, and images of one such extended family.

`After the Fall', becomes a reminder for the rest of the world of the Srebrenica massacre and ethnic cleansing. The Bosnian Holocaust, one of the most barbarous examples of genocide in Europe since the end of World War II, will never be forgotten. This is an extraordinary documentary work that will keep its significance for years to come. Nothing more to say but THANK YOU PATRICK MCCARTHY for the wonderful book.

By way of introduction, I would like to say that this is an extraordinarily well-written book that divulges the gruesome atrocities that took place in my hometown. Srebrenica, a so called UN "SAFE AREA", was under the constant attack of the Serbian army, during the Bosnian war. UN's primary task was to protect civilians from Serbian soldiers but they failed. Innocent Bosnian civilians were betrayed by the International community and left for dead. UN officials and others in charge appeared to be indifferent to the immense suffering of the Bosnian people. As is well-known, one of the worst massacres after the World War 2 took place in Srebrenica. In my view, the international community must be held accountable for these heinous deeds. UN's indifference and passivity cost at least 10.000 innocent lives! This is extremely unjust and it makes me enraged and bewildered! This is truly a splendid book that I highly recommend to all people who want to gain an insight into horrendous plights of Bosnian people!

I agree with the other reviewers that this is powerful and important book. I recently had a chance to hear Patrick McCarthy speak and found out that all of the proceeds from this book will go to the Oric family. A worthwhile purchase.

TRUTH FOR ALL!!!

Lewis MacKenzie comments that "two wrongs never made a right, but those moments in history that shame us all because of our indifference should not be viewed in isolation without the context that created them."

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You now it's very funny when people post reviews when they never read the book in the first place like this guy on the bottom with 1 star. Just for your information Oric did what he had to do yeas he did kill what about 3,000 people i doent see this guy mentioning the 250,000 civilans that have been rapped and murderd and what about the genocide in srebrenica where little boys and girls were rapped and fathers and mothers forced to watch. To me personnaly NASER ORIC is a hero to every single bosnian so the people who leave negative reviews are ither Serbs who or some ideatot who doesnt like muslims.

This is a powerful and moving portrait of the brutality of war and of the victimization of the Bosnian Muslims who were far less nationalistic than either the Bosnian Croats or the Bosnian Serbs. What is missing is an homest account of the exploits of Nasir Oric who was the leader of the Muslim forces in Srebrenica when it was a "safe area" before August 1995. In a two year period before the Serbs committed their horrible atrocity, Muslim forces under U.N. cover launched many attacks against Serbian civilians in the villages surrounding Srebrenica. Oric and his forces, and with help from Mujahedeen volunteers and the early version of Al Queda, sometimes killed their hapless Serbian victims in ritual Islamic beheadings. Oric often videotaped these events and showed them in Srebrenica bars as entertainment. The crimes of the Serbs can never be relativized but a more complete picture of events is needed if the cycle of violence is to end. Nasir Oric is now at the Hague and only since his arrest have the Serbs started to come to terms and admit their criminal acts in Srebrenica. Despite its powerful message, this book unfortunately glosses over the role of Oric and his followers in their killing of over 2,000 Bosnian Serbs. But still, if anyone should read this book it should be Serbians who still might cling to the blind notion that Srebrenica was a creation of Muslim propaganda. The testimony of the survivors is a wake up call to those who think that the politics of obsessive ethnic identification can be pursued without dire consequences.

Okay, first off, I will admit I have not read this book...so how can I review it? The book chronicles the Oric family after the fall of Srebrenica...and it is the same Oric family which produced one mercenary soldier and one self-admitted perjurer. Naser Oric, the "hero of Srebrenica" - killed, raped, pillaged and plundered his way to wealth and fame during the Srebrenica ordeal. Oh, did I mention those were HIS OWN PEOPLE that he killed, raped, pillaged and plundered? Not to mention his porgrom against Serb civilians in the area which even pro-Muslim factions admit could have claimed up to 3,000 Serbs. He and his men also repeatedly refused (often at gunpoint) to let the refugees of the town leave BEFORE the Serbs got there. Then a couple months before the town was "lost" Naser Oric was helicoptered out of the town to the safety of Tuzla, leaving "his people" to die. He also killed the refugees' appointed spokesman who asked for better treatment of the very refugees Oric was supposedly the protector of. He was also the target of three assassination attempts...BY HIS OWN PEOPLE! Oh yeah, I almost forgot the part about where Naser gets indicted by the ICTY...then "exonerated"...only to later admit the charges were true.

Naser's brother Melvudin Oric was also a "star witness" at the ICTY and was the sole "eyewitness" for David Rohde's book Endgame. A few months after his ICTY testimony and his storytelling antics with Rohde, Melvudin admitted to the NY Times that he'd lied about it all!

I would have given this book no star's, but Amazon wouldn't let me...I will however HAVE to read this book...it is now #1 on my FICTIONAL wishlist.