[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 85 (Tuesday, June 14, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1093]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                OMARSKA

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 14, 2011

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, some of us in this chamber 
today were here 20 years ago when the conflicts associated with 
Yugoslavia's demise began, and we heard the reports of horrible 
atrocities as they were taking place. I followed the situation closely 
as a member of the Helsinki Commission, which I chair today. The names 
of many of the villages, towns and even cities mentioned were new to 
our ears then, but they have since been etched into our minds and 
hearts by the savage acts that were committed in or near them.
  One such place is Omarska, in northwestern Bosnia near Prijedor. We 
first heard of it in the summer of 1992. That is when Roy Gutman, a 
foreign correspondent working for Newsday, reported on the existence, 
at a mining complex, of a camp run by Bosnian Serb militants that held 
several thousand non-Serb prisoners, primarily Bosniaks but also 
Croats. Based on the later reports of the detainees who survived their 
ordeal at Omarska, Gutman called it a ``death camp'' and reported on 
the appalling conditions and the rape, torture and execution of 
detainees there as well as at other camps in the vicinity. 
International reporting, especially by British journalists Ed Vulliamy, 
Penny Marshall and Ian Williams, exposed the horrors of Omarska and 
ultimately forced the camp to close.
  Before Omarska, Mr. Speaker, many commentators on the Balkan 
conflicts which began in Slovenia and Croatia before moving to Bosnia 
tried to explain away an unpleasant but allegedly unavoidable and 
manageable reality.
  After Omarska, it became clear to many people that, in Bosnia, we 
were dealing with evil on such a scale that can neither be explained 
away nor ignored. Eventually, the internationally community organized 
an international tribunal to prosecute war crimes, crimes against 
humanity and genocide in the former Yugoslavia. The tribunal convicted 
several of the camp guards, commandants and associated others for 
crimes committed at Omarska.
  In late May, Omarska survivors and families of victims were able to 
gather at the site of the camp, both to remember and to remind. They 
were joined by senior Bosnian officials, representatives of the 
international community including the US Embassy, and supportive non-
governmental organizations from Serbia. The survivors, however, want an 
appropriate memorial that would protect the site and to which there 
could be public access not just for one day, but regularly throughout 
the year. As those gathered in Omarska themselves declared, ``we deem 
that the sufferings of civilians in Omarska concentration camp, as well 
as in other concentration camps formed during the wars in the Nineties, 
must be honorably commemorated so as to become part of public memory, 
on the path towards establishment of the co-habitation in the areas of 
the former Yugoslavia.''
  The horrors that took place at Omarska and their lasting impact on 
Bosnian society certainly warrant such a memorial. It would provides 
some closure to victims, and it would counter those who are still 
unwilling to acknowledge the horrific crimes that, in undeniable fact, 
were committed there in 1992. It would also serve as a lasting reminder 
to us all. If atrocites on the scale of those at the Omarska camp are 
not appropriately remembered, they are more likely to be repeated, in 
some other distant town or village presently unknown to us. That is why 
we have these memorials: in the hope we will never forget nor ever 
allow such crimes to be repeated.
  As the Chairman of the Bosnian Caucus, I encourage the present owners 
of the mining complex to permit and support the establishment of a 
permanent memorial at Omarska. I bring this issue to the attention of 
my colleagues in the hope they can join me in this call.