Childhood in Captivity: The Stories of Thousands of Children Imprisoned During the Bosnian War

Some children were also detained under house arrest. During their detention, many of them were starved, tortured, beaten, were forced to work, or were sexually abused.

S.J. from Odzak, who was 14 during her detention, told BIRN that her life was destroyed after her captivity, and that she can no longer laugh.

Another former captive, who was only four when she was detained at the Vojno detention camp, said she managed to carve out a normal life herself.

Mirela Maroslic from Prijedor, who was nine and a half when she was detained in Trnopolje, said it would be very difficult for her to live and work in her hometown.

Neuropsychiatrists warn that children who witness the abuse or death of their parents experience trauma that affects the formation of their personality and makes living a normal life difficult.

As a result, the survivors of torture need to be treated with a comprehensive approach, which includes medical, psychological and social assistance, legal counseling, moral and material compensation, as well as a guarantee that the torture will not be repeated.

Newborns in Detention Camps

According to the Association of Detainees of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 500 of the 657 registered wartime detention camps detained children as well as adults. The Croat Association of Detainees of the Homeland War has data which indicates that 119 children of Croat nationality were detained, but told BIRN that they didn’t want to talk about their detention and relive their memories of that time.

According to available data, during the Bosnian war there were more than 800 newborn babies and children aged up to three in detention camps, and some were also born in captivity.

Psychiatrist Alma Bravo Mehmedbasic said that even three year old children might have some fragmented memories and feelings of vulnerability from that time in their lives.

“As children become older, it’s normal that their memories and understanding of the situation become much better, depending on their intellectual abilities. Severe trauma may cause gaps in memory, because of the extreme fear they experienced,” Bravo Mehmedbasic said.

The Regional Association of Detainees for Posavina has information that 104 children were imprisoned in detention camps in Odzak and also in house arrest.

S.J. was fourteen and under house arrest when eight soldiers arrived at her home. They initially beat her with baseball bats and rifle butts. Then they drove her in a van, bloody and injured, to a house in Posavska Mahala, where she was raped.

“I cried and begged, but he beat me, tore my clothes off and raped me,” S.J. said. Nine days later, she was raped by seven other soldiers.

S.J. says that on July 3 and July 12, 1992, her life was destroyed.

“I have no reason to smile and be happy, I just can’t,” she said.

Although A.B. was only four and a half years old when she was detained in Vojno, near Mostar, she said she remembers that her mother would be taken away to work and was slapped when her children would misbehave.

A.B. said one girl managed to escape the camp, and as punishment, she and others had had to walk on a nearby hill.

“The men were tied up. Their hands were tied with wire. The hill was rocky and I had flip-flops on my feet, blood flowed under my toenails,” A.B. said. She said when soldiers entered the detention camp, she and the other prisoners had to stand upright, with their heads bowed.

Child Prisoners Witnessed Threats to Parents

Mirela Maroslic, another former child detainee, said that she remembered the summer of 1992, the year she was detained in Trnopolje, near Prijedor. She said she had memories of a soldier threatening to cut off her mother’s finger if she didn’t take off her wedding ring. She also remembers hunger, thirst, and walking through a minefield.

“The surface was mined. I clearly remember those wires we weren’t allowed to touch, as they would explode. We were exhausted from hunger and thirst,” Maroslic said.

Maroslic says that because of her experiences in the detention, she no longer says hello to people and that she feels different when she goes to Trnopolje.

A.B., a former child detainee from Mostar, says she managed to finish university and is currently in the midst of her post-graduate studies.

“I was one of the best students in my graduating class,” A.B. said, adding that she’d also advanced very well in the company she works at.

Neuropsychiatrist Omer Cemalovic says that children who were exposed to trauma have difficulties organizing their lives, and that their recovery depends on the social and economic situation that follows their trauma.

According to Cemalovic, children who had good support and didn’t experience high intensity atrocities, “absorb it quite well.”