1. Forgiving the Unforgivable
Lesson 1
A personal experience of the Bosnian War
Kemal Pervanic – Part 1
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2. A personal experience of the Bosnian War
Who is Kemal Pervanic?
In pairs read the passage in your student booklets, discuss it in your pairs and complete the profile of Kemal as a teenager.
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3. A personal experience of the Bosnian War
Ground rules when exploring personal stories
1. Do respect the fact that your opinion is personal to you and may be different to your classmates.
2. Do take part in open discussions and value this as a positive activity, however refrain from making personal remarks which are negative.
3. Do be patient and wait until another student has finished before offering your opinion, idea or question.
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4. A personal experience of the Bosnian War
Ground rules when exploring personal stories
The Bosnian War is a particularly complex conflict from recent European history. It may involve language or concepts which may be unknown or confusing to you.
During the film make as many notes as you can in your student booklet of words you don’t understand or parts of the story you would like to discuss afterwards.
Please remember this is one person’s story, told from his own individual perspective.
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5. Please click here to launch the video
Kemal Pervanic’s story
Please click here to launch the video
Alternatively copy this link into your browser:
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6. A personal experience of the Bosnian War
Follow up discussion
As a class, discuss any words, events and/or actions that were discussed in the film that you are confused about or unclear on; or give your initial thoughts on Kemal’s story.
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7. A personal experience of the Bosnian War
Timeline of a journey towards forgiveness
In pairs or small groups create a timeline to show what happened to Kemal from 1) - When people in Yugoslavia (the name of the country which Bosnia used to be a part of) started to face economic hardship, through to 8) - When Kemal and his brother were being detained indefinitely in Omarska camp, when he was 24 years old.
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8. A personal experience of the Bosnian War
Suggested timeline sequence
1. People in Yugoslavia started to face
economic hardship.
2. Politicians and leaders started promoting policies of nationalism.
3. Kemal’s family started to be targeted by Serbian neighbours for the rights to their family land and some Serbian friends started ignoring him and not wanting to socialise with him.
4. Kemal’s village started to be attacked with shells and his family and most Bosnian Muslims in his village fled for safety on a riverbank.
5. Families were split up and taken in buses to
different camps. They did not know where they
were being taken to.
6. Kemal recognised many of the Omarska guards as being former teachers, friends and neighbours, but was treated appallingly by them.
7. As time went on the guards treated the detainees less like neighbours and less like human beings, and started to demonise them.
8. Kemal, his brother and the other detainees had no idea how long they would be detained.
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9. A personal experience of the Bosnian War
Class discussion
Why did the Bosnian War start?
What triggers were there?
Why were Kemal and his family targeted?
Are there any parallels between the treatment of some ethnic groups in current conflicts?
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10. A personal experience of the Bosnian War
Next Lesson
In the next lesson we will explore Kemal’s time in Omarska concentration camp and how he came to cope with his ordeal.
Question to think about before the next lesson: How would a person feel if their friends and teachers turned against them and became part of a large group that persecuted them and their family?
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