In Srebrenica, the Oud-Dutchbatter belonged to a group of soldiers who were held hostage by the Bosnian Serbs. After the fall of Srebrenica, he was released and saw the bodies of the murdered Muslim men.
Does the time heal all the wounds? This does not apply to this Dutchbat veteran. “This is something that you always wear with you and take it into your box. This could not be described with a pen.”
For the documentary, Bon-a-Joe also visited the Memorial Center in Potocari, a few kilometers outside of Srebrenica. A place where he was not before. “You also feel that tension there,” he explains. “And there are uncensored photos. They come in hard, In Your Face. You see blood and beheadings. Everything. That comes in hard. “
The veteran was not prepared for that, he says. “I didn’t know it was exhibited so open and exposed. That is intense.” So intense that Tjon-a-joe initially wanted to leave. “I got stuffy. Now again, I am immediately in it again. If you work on it (the documentary, ed.), It is hard to say that you stop. But if I had known, I would not have done it.”
The first episode of the documentary saw Tjon-a-Joe before it was broadcast on television on Friday. “I was also shocked by myself. It also starts intensely. That was confronting. I immediately had tears,” said the former soldier.
Next Friday you can see the second and final episode of Back with Dutchbat.