Prijedor, Memorial Kevljani 2005

Data

Monument:
Memorial Kevljani 2005

Location: Yard of the mosque in the village of Kevljani, Municipality of Prijedor

Entity: Republika Srpska

Erected in year: Under construction since 2005

Text on the monument:

At this site
a mass grave with 146 bodies
of innocent victims was found.
Two hundred meters further
is the largest mass grave
found in Bosanska Krajina
Stari Kevljani
with 456 victims
from the Prijedor Municipality.
A memorial will be
placed here in memory
of the victims exhumated in
Kevljani

Kevljani, 6 August 2007

***

In the spring of 1992
this area was overcome
by a rule of neighbourly
terror against the other
against those that are different.

Age-old hearths
were put out in fires,
infamous camps
were opened, school friends
and work colleagues became
murderers, and the stifled
cries of their victims
the barren Bosnian soil
buried.

In three graves
in Kevljani
complete or partial remains
were found
of 605 persons
1998: 2, 1999: 147, and 2004: 456
bodies.

In eternal memory of the victims,
and to the living
may their extinguished lives serve as warning
that history teaches us
to be better people and
and not to hate or seek
revenge.

(names of the victims with the following information: father‘s name and age at time of death)

In memory of:

Civilian victims, predominantly Keraterm and Omarska camp prisoners

Ethnic group: Predominantly Bosniaks

Victims are from the area of: Municipality of Prijedor

Location choice:

In the yard of the mosque, but this is also the site of the mass grave. Location selected by a committee made up mostly of people from the local Islamic community.

Dimensions: This is a monument complex that includes the ruins of the minaret, memorial plaque, stone plaques with the names of the identified victims, cemetery and other elements. Still unfinished.

Built by the means of:

Financed by the villagers, with donations from people from other parts of the Prijedor Municipality. Procedure run through the Majlis of the Islamic Community in Kozarac.

Interpretation of the idea:

"The space of the memorial tomb in Kevljani must be a contemplative space, a place where the feeling and thoughts of visitors should be awakened to the tragedy of human cruelty and the cold-bloodedness of observers that took place here. The monument must express respect for those who lost there lives here, and enter the consciousness and conscience of humanity as a constant reminder and warning. That is why it is important that sites of mass graves commemorate the tragedies that took place, but also to highlight that each mass grave must also be a symbol of resistance to national-fascism and racism.

In addition, the Monumnet in Kevljani, with its spiritual and aesthetic value should be an incentive for development of this area and attract many visitors." ‘Spomen obilježje Kevljani 2005’, 21 october 2005, http://kozarac.ba/article151.html (Last site access 18 february 2015)

Commemorations: Occasional commemorations, organised group visits, individual visits by family members of victims found at the site.

Other information: The Prijedor Municipal Assembly rejected the request of the Majlis of the Islamic Community in Kozarac to issue approval and necessary urban planning documentation for the monument complex. The memorial was initially planned as the Stari Kevljani Memorial Centre, which led to debate that the space could not be considered central in the memorialisation of the tragedy of the civilian population of Prijedor.

Data source(s): Local partners, Electronic media , Fieldwork

Photographed: 2 April 2014

Map: