Abstract
Does a comparative approach to genocide in modern history make sense? Taking the Holocaust as a starting point, in this paper I analyse the use that has been made of the term 'Holocaust' and references to it - also as a moral and political category - in the international media and in the proceedings of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) where, for the first time, 'genocide' for the events in Srebrenica appeared among the charges. I first search for references to the Nuremberg Trial in the ICTY proceedings, in the press and in the words of politicians. I also highlight the use of a comparison with the holocaust in the ICTY proceedings and in official speeches. Secondly, I highlight in the media debate that has developed around the war in Bosnia references to what happened in Europe between 1943 and 1945, both to the establishment of concentration camps in northern Bosnia from 1992, and to the genocide in Srebrenica in July 1995. I therefore analyse images, headlines and articles from newspapers, mainly British and American, in which the holocaust is explicitly referred to. In conclusion, I intend to emphasise the influence of the holocaust in interpreting the events surrounding the Bosnian war and the extermination of Srebrenica not only in the public debate but also as a legal category.