In the years from 1992 to 1995, there was an ongoing war on the territory of Bosnia and
Herzegovina. On April 30, 1992, the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) and Yugoslav People's
Army (JNA) took power over Prijedor. The Bosniak population of the town of Kozarac, which
belonged to the municipality of Prijedor, did not agree with Serbian supremacy. However,
Serbian politics introduced discrimination and persecution on the town. A few days before the
attack, the telephone lines and the town itself were blocked and a curfew was introduced. The
attack on Kozarac was carried out on the morning of May 24, 1992, when Serbian infantry and
tanks occupied the town. Resulting in the population being awakened by the sound of grenades.
Everything in the town was demolished, with the exception of housing owned by the Serb
population. The Bosniak and Croat populations there surrendered under pressure from the Serb
war. On 14 June, Serbian troops invaded the hamlet of Sivci, where Ismet Sivac, whose story
is presented in the thesis, also lived. In the following months, war crimes and ethnic cleansing
of the predominantly Muslim population took place. Many of the population were imprisoned
in one of the three concentration camps; Omarska, Keraterm and Trnopolje, where various war
crimes took place - from rape to killing and torture.
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