Survivor of Bosnian War visits Jersey as part of Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations
Tim Backshall met Smajo Bëso, a Bosnian Muslim who was forced to flee the country due to war.
A Bosnian man who was forced to flee the country as a child has visited Jersey as part of the island's Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations.
In 2020, Smajo Bëso founded the Bosnian Genocide Educational Trust, a charity that spreads awareness about the atrocities of the Bosnian War.
He was also recently honoured with an OBE for services to genocide education and commemoration in the 2023 New Year Honours list.
Smajo was just seven years old when the war broke out in Bosnia - his father and several male relatives ended up being tortured in concentration camps, as Muslims became the targets of genocide.
He says: “The Bosnian Genocide happened in the heart of Europe just 50 years on from the Holocaust.
"The lesson from Bosnia is that we must never be complacent or take peace for granted because it exposed how vulnerable and fragile society can be.
"Learning from the Holocaust, and subsequent genocides like the one in Bosnia, can enhance our understanding of possible warning signs or patterns and, most importantly, it can better equip us to actively work towards preventing future atrocities.
"Peace isn’t simply the absence of war; it is our everyday actions through which war is made less likely. That is the true nature of peace.”
International Holocaust Remembrance Day on 27 January falls on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the most notorious Nazi death camp.