A survivor of Europe’s worst genocide since the Second World War shared his story with students from four schools.

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On July 11, 1995, General Ratko Mladić and his Bosnian Serb forces marched into the town of Srebrenica, in Bosnia, and systematically murdered 8,372 Bosnian Muslim men and boys.

Bosnian Muslim Hasan Hasanović, aged 19 at the time, walked 63 miles over gruelling terrain in five days and six nights to the Muslim territory of Tuzla to escape certain death at the hands of Bosnian Serbs.

Mr Hasanović lost his father, brother and uncle, but was reunited with his mother, younger brother and grandparents. He told his story to pupils at Hampton School on Monday.

A recent study showed more than 80 per cent of young people were unable to name an act of genocide since the Holocaust and Mr Hasanović, now a curator at Bosnia's Srebrenica-Potočari Cemetery and Memorial Centre, said it was vital to discuss such atrocities with a younger generation.

He said: "It is very important to tell that after World War Two genocide had happened and similar things can still happen all over the world.

"The students were very attentive and I hope they are thankful living in this wonderful country and cherish and embrace living in this culture."

The talk, organised by charity Remembering Srebrenica, was introduced by journalist Ed Vulliamy, who said there has been a blackhole in the collective memory concerning this brutal war, and that he hoped this surge of interest was gratifying for those who survived and the bereaved who believed they had been forgotten.

He said: "Young people are demanding answers, amazed that such atrocity could have been allowed to happen and I say hats off to the boys at Hampton School for ensuring this episode is entered into the annals of history from which it had been banished."

Pupils from Hampton School, Hampton Academy and Waldegrave took part in the talk, and Hampton School student James Ingram, 17, said that through these tragic events people like Hasan show there are amazing people in the world.

He said: "Men like Hasan show that we can adapt and succeed in the face of adversity."

For more information, visit srebrenica.org.uk.