Students Participate in Groundbreaking Exhibit

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Students in a 2007 Fontbonne University honors course recently completed a long-term research project focusing on the genocide that occurred during the Bosnian war in the mid-1990s, with special attention given to the Bosnian city of Prijedor.

As part of their coursework, students conducted video-recorded interviews of genocide survivors from Prijedor who are now living in St. Louis. Their work is featured as part of an exhibit at the St. Louis Holocaust Museum and Learning Center. That exhibit opened November 25, 2007.

Throughout the spring semester, students conducted interviews with witnesses of the genocide. The interview subjects were all former residents of Prijedor, and each had been directly affected by the genocide. All had lost loved ones, and most had been imprisoned in the notorious Nazi-style concentration camps that Serb nationalists established on the outskirts of Prijedor following their 1992 takeover of the government.

The honors course was co-taught by Dr. Jack Luzkow, Associate Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History, Philosophy, and Religion, and Dr. Benjamin Moore, Associate Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English and Communication. Amir Karadzic, head of the Union of Citizens of the Municipality of Prijedor, assisted the students.

“By having students participate in the interviews, we wanted to bring life to the events that the students were studying in class,” Moore said. “We believed that the interviews would show the human side of the suffering that was brought about by the genocide. The interviews focused on individual experiences before, during, and after the genocide.”

Aaron Jeter, who graduated in May with a degree in English, filmed and edited the interviews into the short film documentary. Other students transcribed the interviews and assisted with the development of exhibit content.

“Students who participated in the interviews have said that the experience has been transformative,” Moore added. “It has opened their eyes to events that they previously understood little about, and it has helped them appreciate the background of a very important part of St. Louis’s population.”

The exhibit gives visitors a historical account of the genocide, as well as personal accounts of those who actually experienced the genocide.

“It is hoped that this exhibit will shed light on a dark event in human history and illuminate the courage and perseverance of the people who endured it,” Moore said.

Learn more: English degree, Communication Studies degree, Honors Program, History Degree, Religious Studies degree, St. Louis Holocaust Museum and Learning Center, Prijedor