Working in the Killing Fields: Forensic Science in Bosnia

232 Pages·2015·1.907 MB·English

by  Howard Ball

WORKING IN THE KILLING FIELDS

Working in the
Killing Fields
FORENSIC
SCIENCE
IN BOSNIA
HOWARD BALL
Potomac Books
An imprint of the
University of Nebraska Press
© 2015 by Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska
Portions of chapter 1 were originally published in “Incident at
the Shore of the River Drina,” Loquitor 18, no. 1 (Fall 2003):
14– 18.
frontispiece: Muslim survivor holding a picture of missing
family members. Bratunac, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2003.
Courtesy of the author.
All rights reserved. Potomac Books is an imprint of the
University of Nebraska Press.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Ball, Howard, 1937–
Working in the killing fields: forensic science in Bosnia /
Howard Ball.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 1- 61234- 718- 9 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN 978- 1- 61234- 735- 6 (epub)
ISBN 978- 1- 61234- 736- 3 (mobi)
ISBN 978- 1- 61234- 730- 1 (pdf)
1. Genocide— Bosnia and Hercegovina. 2. Yugoslav War,
1991– 1995— Bosnia and Hercegovina. 3. Dead—
Identification. 4. Disappeared persons— Bosnia and
Hercegovina. 5. Forensic sciences— Bosnia and Hercegovina.
6. Bosnia and Hercegovina— History— 1992–I. Title.
DR1313.7.A85B354 2015
949.703— dc23
2014044972
Set in Scala by Lindsey Auten.
Dedicated to the Disappeared in War
“Sto te nema?” “Where Are You?” is the name of a Balkan
folk song with roots going back many generations. The
song is a mournful lament about a lost loved one and,
understandably, became extremely popular during and
after the Bosnian war. Its words captured the hearts of
all the families— Bosniak, Croat, and Serb— about the
thousands of disappeared during the war.
When on a young field flowers
Silent night collects pearls of dew
A song comes flying through my heart
Where are you, oh where are you?
When the dream comes as comfort
And soul prepares to rest
From the heart the voice still asks
Where are you, oh where are you?
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: On the Bank of
the River Drina, May 10, 2003 xi
Abbreviations xix
1. The “Disappeared” in War and the Need
to Find and Identify Them 1
2. Balkan Nationalism, the Creation and
the Collapse of Yugoslavia, and “Ethnic
Cleansing” 21
3. Finding, Exhuming, and Identifying the
Human Remains in Bosnia 55
4. The Forensic Scientists at Work in
Bosnia’s “Killing Fields” 87
5. The Stark Realities Confronting the
Searchers and the Survivors in
Bosnia 125
Notes 159
Bibliography 193
Index 197

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
There are dozens of residents and former residents of Bos-
nia and Herzegovina* I have met, there and in the United
States, who have been of immense help to me in the writ-
ing of this book. Especially helpful have been Amor Maso-
vic, presently one of the Directors of the Missing Persons
Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sanela Basrambasic,
who continues to work with the International Committee
of the Red Cross, and Aida Sehovic, a former resident of
Sarajevo, who came to the United States with her family
and graduated from the University of Vermont in 1996.
For many years, in America, Europe, and Sarajevo, she
has presented her memorial to the disappeared annually
on July 11, the anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre. It
is called “sto te nema” and is in memory of the more than
eight thousand missing Bosniaks.
There are a number of forensic scientists whose work
in Bosnia and Herzegovina enabled me to understand the
frustrations, the psychological stress, and the love they
had for their work and the results of their successful iden-
tification of mortal remains on families of the missing.
The writings of William Haglund, Eric Stover, Clea Koff,
and Irfanka Pasagic, among others, gave me critical and
revealing insights into the world of the forensic scientist.
*Throughout the book, Bosnia will be used in lieu of Bosnia- Herzegovina.