Museum of Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide
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A private museum in Sarajevo specifically concentrating on the very darkest aspects of the Balkan wars in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992-1995, including especially the Srebrenica genocide. This museum was opened in July 2016 and is the work of a group of survivors/victims as well as young researchers of the war crimes committed during the war in Bosnia between 1992 and 1995. It started out as mainly a collection of photos, but since then lots of original artefacts have been added to the museum's collection (see below).
It is an independent, private enterprise that does not receive any government funding. During its first year of operation it received some 8000 visitors. By now it is firmly part of Sarajevo’s tourism portfolio.
Several years ago I was actually contacted by the museum and supplied with some photos and a brief overview of the exhibition’s content and structure, on the basis of which I was able to post a preliminary chapter about this significant museum. Finally, in April 2025 on my return visit to Sarajevo I was able to visit the museum myself and take photos. The result is this much expanded and updated chapter. Still, I remain grateful to the museum staff who actively asked for and supported an entry for the museum on dark-tourism.com. It’s further evidence that in Sarajevo dark tourism is not just not shunned (as in so many other places around the world) but actually fully embraced and encouraged. I appreciate that a lot.
One more remark: note that, strictly speaking, the name of the museum is syntactically ambiguous, which in linguistics can be shown by ‘bracketing’. But of course they don't mean [Museum of [crimes against [humanity and genocide]]] but obviously [Museum of [crimes against [humanity]] and [genocide]]. The notion of “crimes against genocide” would be rather nonsensical … so it should be obvious enough. Still, simply putting it the other way round, i.e. “museum of genocide and crimes against humanity”, would have avoided the structural ambiguity.
What there is to see: As you enter the building you find yourself facing a kind of mission statement by the museum’s creators, who are surviving victims of the Bosnian war. It’s along the lines of emphasizing the importance of memory and commemoration – basically the “lest we forget” theme.
You then have to ascend a flight of stairs to get to the exhibition proper. En route you pass some items displayed on the wall, such as military camouflage netting, a framed find from Srebrenica (namely wire “handcuffs”, as the label states), as well as a large photo of an exhumed victim’s hand complete with a wristwatch.
The actual exhibition rooms are full of exhibits and loads of text panels too – you could even say it looks “cluttered”. And it’s all against black walls. The latter hadn’t been the case from the start, going by the photos I was originally supplied with by the museum (see above), but it seems to be a sign of the times in current museum design (cf. also Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum or Museum Karlshorst).
The texts and labels in the exhibition are all in Bosnian (Serbo-Croat) and English. The translations are not always perfect (especially notable is the typical struggle with the grammar of article use that speakers of Slavic languages usually have in English), some texts also appear in Turkish. Furthermore, there are QR codes dotted around the exhibition through which you can access extra information in five languages: English, French, German, Italian and Turkish. The museum has its own free wifi, so you can access these resources without accumulating roaming costs.
There are also a few video screens on which film footage is played, some in English, some with subtitles, e.g. from the ICTY trials (International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia) showing people giving testimonies.
One focus of the exhibition is the Srebrenica genocide (unsurprisingly, given the name of the museum). There is a full timeline of the events, along with various accounts, also of the “March of Death” to Tuzla. On display are victims’ shoes, wallets and other personal items as well as a blanket in which human remains were found. Amongst the many photos are some pretty gruesome ones that are not for the faint-hearted.
The numerous testimonies can also get to you in their explicitness about cruelty, torture and executions. There’s a letter from one man who did make it to Tuzla after 13 days of fear and hunger and he describes his ordeal to his relatives. Tragically he died shortly after sending this letter.
But the personal stories are too numerous to be covered here in any more detail. In fact after reading a dozen or so of them it can become quite harrowing and overwhelming. In the end I resorted to just taking photos of the text panels so that I could read them in my own time back at home rather than running the risk of “overdosing” on them at the museum itself.
One key exhibit in the Srebrenica section is a mock-up of a forensic dig at a mass grave, with personal items, bones and a skull (not real ones) placed on top of a layer of earth inside a glass display cabinet with a yellow band running across it saying “crime scene do not cross” (as familiar from crime movies/TV series).
Crimes against humanity other than genocide also get a lot of coverage. Key exhibits here are a couple of scale models of concentration camps. Little plastic figurines people these models that include mass execution scenes in “lovingly” made detail, with red paint for blood. It’s kind of drastic and “cute” at the same time, and I was left feeling somewhat unsure about the inclusion of such scale model depictions …
In addition there’s a life-size mock-up of a torture cell, with one victim stood against the far wall and a soldier standing behind him with a baton in hand. The walls are covered with inscriptions (in both Bosnian and English) and again there’s plenty of red paint to serve as blood. And again I wasn’t quite so sure whether such a mock-up was really necessary. I find authentic artefacts speak more to me.
Amongst those is, for example, a bloodied shirt of a victim who the “Chetniks” (pejorative term for ‘Serbs’) tortured by extracting all his teeth (and raping him with a wooden baton). By the way, the language used is not only graphically explicit – it is also making no effort to be neutral or distanced. This is a museum created by victims, so the Serbian side is not given any soft linguistic treatment. I guess that’s understandable.
The cases of the key war criminals on the Serbian side, Milošević, Karadžić and Mladić, feature prominently (see under BiH). There is a mock US dollar note stating the money put on their heads (initially 5 million dollars, later doubled).
The role of the UN in Bosnia is also a theme of the exhibition, as you would expect, and amongst the displays is that of part of a Dutch UN uniform (it was a Dutch UN battalion that failed to protect the people of Srebrenica).
Amongst the other crimes against humanity covered is also the shelling of civilians – not least in Sarajevo itself during the 44-month siege. One dramatic exhibit is the wrecked tailpiece of a pretty large missile. Other objects on display include artillery and mortar shells of various sizes. The topic of landmines is also featured in a display of various types of mines.
One “star” exhibit in this museum is the work of an artist and is referred to as the “bread man”. It’s a sculpture of a man made entirely out of pieces of bread. And he stands on a heap of shoes/clogs also made out of bread. The work is supposed to symbolically represent those victims who died as a result of shelling attacks while waiting in line for bread.
As for food supplies, amongst the exhibits you can spot those iconic tins of “canned beef” with the EU symbol – just like that monument outside the Modern History Museum. Larders with other food supplies are also part of the exhibition too.
Apart from food it was in particular water that was scarce during the Siege of Sarajevo. With the water supply cut off, drinking water had to be delivered around the city by tanker trucks and distributed through plastic canisters. Some of those are on display here – together with a bicycle. Bikes became a much prized item to have during the siege, when there was no fuel for cars and almost no public transport.
The ingenuity of the besieged population of Sarajevo is documented as well, e.g. through powering a radio powered by hand through a generator fashioned out of a bicycle wheel and a dynamo.
One part of the exhibition is a children’s section with several stories of individual children during the war. On display are lots of toys such as teddy bears which acquired a special role for their young owners during the siege. This section is somewhat similar to the War Childhood Museum, just not as wide-reaching and elaborate.
All in all, this has to be one of the very darkest attractions in all of Sarajevo, and one that should not be missed, even though it can at times be hard going, given the nature of the content and the sheer amount of material. But it’s a must-see!
Location: right in the heart of Sarajevo, at 17 Ferhadija Street.
Google Maps locator: [43.85896, 18.42485]
Access and costs: central and easy, not too expensive.
Details: Thanks to its very central location it's easy to get to the museum on foot from anywhere within the city centre of Sarajevo (in fact, given that the museum is on a pedestrianized street, it's the only option). From the Latin Bridge, for instance, it is a mere 5 minutes' walk, along Zelenih beretki, then right into Strossmayerova, then left into Ferhadija at the Sacret Heart Cathedral.
The museum is on the first floor of an old building with no lift, so you have to take the one flight of stairs up.
Opening times: Sources vary a little on this. Most say daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., but I’ve also seen 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; to be on the safe side just make sure to get there in the late morning, around noon or not too late in the afternoon/evening.
Admission: single entry for adults cost 18 KM (ca. 9 EUR) in April 2025. NOTE that you can get a discounted combination ticket also allowing entry to the Sarajevo Siege Museum (which is run by the same outfit), namely for 30 KM. Buy your ticket at the museum! I’ve read about scams involving advance online tickets sold by various broker websites (such as Viator) that turned out to be invalid, as such tickets are not accepted at the museum.
Time required: Varies. The museum says visitors stay between 30 minutes and 3 whole hours. It largely depends on whether you want to watch all the video material and read all the text panels. I spent a good hour in there, but didn’t read so many panels there and then (instead I took photos for later reading), nor did I linger to watch all the video material.
Combinations with other dark destinations: In general see under Sarajevo.
The most obvious combination has to be the museum’s sister institution, the Sarajevo Siege Museum, which is also very similar in style. Also nearby and thematically closely related is the “Srebrenica 11/07/95 Gallery”, which despite its name is not only about Srebrenica but also features the theme of the Siege of Sarajevo, especially through film material.
A bit further away, the War Childhood Museum picks up one of the thematic strands of the genocide and crimes against humanity museum, namely the experience of war through the eyes of children, which it covers in much greater depth.
Yet another exhibition about the siege can be found at the Modern History Museum out by the Hotel Holiday, plus there’s the small private Ratni Muzej in a residential area on the other side of the river. Finally, the City Hall includes an exhibition about the ICTY and the crimes against humanity that it dealt with.
Combinations with non-dark destinations: See under Sarajevo – given the museum's central location most of the mainstream tourist sights are nearby.
