ETD

• Bosnia
• genocidio
• Srebrenica

This thesis reconstructs the historical processes that led to the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and, ultimately, the genocide committed in Srebrenica in July 1995. Rather than considering Srebrenica as an isolated episode of violence, the study situates the genocide within the broader dynamics of nationalist radicalisation, political and institutional disintegration, persecution, and ethnic cleansing that characterised the final years of socialist Yugoslavia and the Bosnian war.
The first part examines the political and social transformations that followed Tito’s death, focusing on the crisis of the Yugoslav federal system, the emergence and consolidation of competing nationalisms, the role of political propaganda, and the progressive erosion of mechanisms capable of preventing or containing violence. Particular attention is devoted to the responses of the international community and to the limitations and failures of the policies adopted during the conflict.
The second part focuses on Srebrenica and reconstructs the development of the enclave from its establishment as a United Nations-designated safe area to its fall in July 1995. It analyses the prolonged siege, the humanitarian crisis, the deterioration of living conditions, hunger and shortages, the role and limitations of UNPROFOR and Dutchbat, and the international community’s failure to protect the civilian population. The offensive of July 1995 is then examined through the fall of the enclave, the separation of the population, the *Death March*, the systematic executions, and the subsequent concealment and relocation of the victims’ remains. Survivors’ testimonies, documentary evidence, investigations into mass graves, and forensic research constitute an important part of the analysis, alongside the judicial proceedings through which the genocide was subsequently established and interpreted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The final part shifts the focus from the history of violence to its post-war legacies and to the continuing struggle over the interpretation and remembrance of Srebrenica. It examines institutional reports, denialism and revisionism, commemorative practices, the role of women’s organisations and survivors’ associations, the "Marš mira", initiatives aimed at reconciliation, and projects that seek to transform the memory of Srebrenica into forms of education, dialogue, and solidarity, including "Srebrenica City of Hope". Particular attention is devoted to the Potočari Memorial Centre as a space in which commemoration, historical knowledge, education, and the transmission of memory intersect.
By combining political and military history with the analysis of humanitarian conditions, survivor testimony, forensic evidence, judicial documentation, and post-war memory practices, the thesis approaches Srebrenica as both a historical event and an enduring site of memory. Its central argument is that understanding Srebrenica requires examining not only the mechanisms that enabled genocide but also the subsequent processes through which responsibility, justice, remembrance, denial, and reconciliation have been negotiated. In this perspective, Srebrenica continues to raise fundamental questions concerning genocide prevention, international responsibility, the limits of humanitarian intervention, the relationship between justice and memory, and the capacity of European societies to confront the legacies of mass violence.

La tesi ricostruisce le vicende che conducono alla dissoluzione della Jugoslavia, alla guerra in Bosnia-Erzegovina e al genocidio di Srebrenica del luglio 1995, interpretando quest’ultimo non come un episodio isolato, ma come l’esito estremo di un processo di progressiva radicalizzazione nazionalista, persecuzione e pulizia etnica. La prima parte analizza la crisi del sistema federale jugoslavo dopo la morte di Tito, l’emergere dei nazionalismi, la propaganda, la disgregazione istituzionale e i falliti tentativi della comunità internazionale di governare il conflitto. La seconda ricostruisce in modo dettagliato l’assedio di Srebrenica, la trasformazione dell’enclave in una "safe area", le condizioni umanitarie, la fame, l’inefficacia dell’UNPROFOR e del Dutchbat, fino all’offensiva del luglio 1995, alla caduta della città, alla Marcia della morte, alla separazione della popolazione e alle esecuzioni di massa. Particolare attenzione è dedicata alle testimonianze dei sopravvissuti, alle fosse comuni, alle indagini forensi e al riconoscimento giudiziario del genocidio da parte dell’ICTY e della Corte internazionale di giustizia. La terza parte esamina il dopoguerra e la persistente “battaglia della memoria”: rapporti istituzionali, negazionismo e revisionismo, politiche commemorative, ruolo delle donne, la "Marš mira", iniziative di riconciliazione e progetti come "Srebrenica City of Hope". Il Memoriale di Potočari emerge infine come luogo di memoria, educazione e trasmissione della storia. La conclusione sottolinea come Srebrenica continui a interrogare l’Europa sul rapporto tra prevenzione dei genocidi, responsabilità internazionale, giustizia, memoria e riconciliazione.