Photograph: Tom Stoddart
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'My aunty was killed by Croatian extremists before we came to Newcastle - that was my life and my childhood'
(Chronicle Live)
Refugees who escaped to Newcastle during the Bosnian War have been commended for their “unwavering strength” in the face of unimaginable horrors. Dozens of people from the city’s small Bosnian community watched on proudly as councillors backed an “empowering” motion remembering the Srebrenica genocide, 23 years on from the massacre.
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Bosnian genocide survivor recalls joy of birdsong after fleeing conflict for UK
(Belfast Telegraph)
An architect has recalled spending his first “beautiful” days in Newcastle after fleeing his war-torn Bosnian town as a schoolboy to escape the genocide. Smajo Beso, now 36, said he heard birdsong for the first time in years after arriving in the north-east of England on July 19 1994, after Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic ordered troops to execute mostly Muslim men and boys...
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Bosnian man subjected to genocidal regime now a Newcastle University lecturer
(Chronicle Live)
In the face of a dehumanising, genocidal regime, sticking to your morals becomes "the ultimate act of resistance". Smajo Beso, a Geordie refugee and survivor of the Bosnian Genocide, would know. At just 9-years-old he was ripped from his homeland, following a pitiless period of starvation and barbarity...
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Making Tyneside Home: Photos reflect Tyneside immigration
(BBC)
A photographic exhibition capturing the personal stories of scores of people who have settled on Tyneside is on display in Newcastle.
The portraits document the journeys of 41 individuals who have moved to the region over the past 70 years. Photographer Jeremy Abrahams said the exhibition invited visitors to "consider their attitudes towards immigration".
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Bombings, shootings and death: Bosnian refugee on growing up during the Srebrenica genocide
(Chronicle Live)
Smajo Bešo has fond childhood memories of growing up in the beautiful Bosnian countryside surrounded by mountains, rivers and a feeling of freedom. Growing up within a multicultural family and community, Smajo said that there was no separation between ethnicity, religion and skin colour. But his world was turned upside down when the Bosnian War against Yugoslavia started in April 1992...
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Jo Gideon MP joins call with with Holocaust survivor John Hajdu MBE & survivor of the genocide in Bosnia, Smajo Beso
(Jo Gideon, Putting People before Politics)
Thank you to Holocaust Memorial Day Trust for a moving event yesterday ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day, with Holocaust survivor John Hajdu MBE & survivor of the genocide in Bosnia, Smajo Beso. We are getting ready to mark #HMD2022 next week.
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‘Karadzic’s UK jail sentence brings comfort to Bosnia survivors’
(PA News Agency)
Survivors of the Bosnian genocide now living in the UK have said they take comfort in the fact that one of its masterminds is imprisoned on British soil for his role in the atrocity.
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Remembering Srebrenica
(Newcastle City Council)
Lord Mayor of Newcastle, Councillor David Cook, marked the 25th anniversary of the genocide in Bosnia this morning by raising the flag at the Civic Centre...
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Torn from Home: from Bosnia to Heaton
(Heaton History Group)
On 4 May 1980 a major news story broke. For all its importance, it probably didn’t have a huge resonance in Heaton, but it would nevertheless go on to have an impact on the life of that part of Newcastle. It was on that day that President Tito of Yugoslavia died...
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Remembering Srebrenica
(Sunderland City Council)
Sunderland City Council has joined communities across the world in the annual, international commemoration of the Srebrenica Genocide.
This year is the 24th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide which was the worst atrocity on European soil since the Second World War.
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