The poignant sight of a flag flying high above Bradford’s City Park carries a stark message for the world. 

In 1995, 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were killed in Europe’s only acknowledged genocide since the Holocaust.

The Srebrenica killings were the bloody crescendo of Bosnia’s 1992-95 war, which came after the break-up of Yugoslavia unleashed nationalist passions and territorial ambitions that set Bosnian Serbs against the country’s two other main ethnic populations — Croats and Bosniaks.

On 11 July 1995, Bosnian Serbs overran a UN-protected safe haven in Srebrenica.

They separated at least 8,000 Muslim Bosniak men and boys from their wives, mothers and sisters, chased them through woods around the ill-fated town, and slaughtered them.

The perpetrators then ploughed their victims’ bodies into hastily made mass graves, which they later dug up with bulldozers, scattering the remains among other burial sites to hide the evidence of their war crimes.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Event held by Bradford CouncilEvent held by Bradford Council (Image: MAk digital/Cllr Sabiya Khan)

Even now, the bones of victims found in mass graves are still being identified through DNA analysis and reburied by family members.

The moving flag raising ceremony came ahead of a free-to-attend play based on survivor testimonies at Kala Sangam, between 3pm and 5pm this Friday.

Written by Aida Haughton MBE and Sue Moffat,  ‘My Thousand Year Old Land (A Song for BiH)’ will feature traditional folk songs and poetry.

Community leader Javed Bashir said: “Fifty years after the world said ‘never again’ to the horrors of the Holocaust, genocide took place on European soil.

“Srebrenica must not become an element of Bosnian memory alone, but a defining element of European history, taught to all young people.

“Genocides do not happen overnight.  Hatred, suspicion, fear are some of the early indicators.”