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Abstract
In this article I present a decade-long affair over the erection of the Monument in Belgrade to those killed in the wars of the 1990s where the official Serbian policy was to manage its contested past through cover ups and cultural reframing rather than public acknowledgement. I demonstrate here that, though the open competitions to erect a monument dedicated to the fallenFootnote1 of the wars of the 1990s were an opportunity to negotiate different mnemonic agendas, the ruling political elite, as the dominant actor, promoted Serbian victimhood as it meant to bridge gaps in the opposing domestic and international demands. I suggest here that the mnemonic battle in present-day Serbia proves to be an exemplary case of how a post-conflict nation state mediates its contested past when caught in the gap between the domestic demands and those of international relations.
Notes
1. This was the most contested issue and was changed in every open competition formulation.
2. Belgrade's mayor since 2008.
3. Close to 75,000 dollars.
4. This research is based on the fieldwork I conducted from 2009 to 2012 consisting of about 40 semi-structured interviews with representatives of the memory entrepreneurs and groups who participated in and influenced the political space surrounding the competitions to erect the monument. In addition, I collected and analysed rich archival data and numerous newspaper articles on the subject from daily Serbian newspapers.
5. The examples for the first kind of monuments is to be found, for example, in the “Eternal flame” monument, built during Milošević's regime and monument for the children killed in NATO aggression, while the illegally erected monuments are numerous and are spread all over Belgrade.
6. Some politicians and smaller political parties did try to implement at least partially the idea of acknowledging Serbia's responsibility, such as Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), but their influence was marginal.
7. This silence is a direct result of the fact that the majority of the current leadership were in some decision-making position during the wars. Ch. 6.
8. This is a statement attributed to Danica Drašković, at the time the chair of the “committee for Monuments, Names of Squares and Streets”.
9. Radmila Hrustanović.
10. Words of ŽeljkoVasiljević, published in a booklet called “Memory Politics” (p. 4) published by the “Monument Group” as part of their artistic project. These words refer to former statements made by Committee chair Danica Drašković, also the wife of Vuk Drašković, a nationalist oriented and influential politician at the time. She was determined that erecting such a monument was a politically wrong move. What is more, Željko Vasiljević, the president of the War Army Invalids, repeated these same lines during our interview conducted on 28 April 2011.
11. The committee consisted of four sculptors, one historian, a professor at the Faculty of Architecture, a professor at the Faculty of Chemistry, an architect, an archeologist, a lawyer, a journalist, a Yugoslav Army representative and several City Assembly Representatives.
12. Present Dragomir Vasić from the Army War Invalids, Ratko Zorić from the Fighters of the Wars of the 1990s, Slobodan Ilić, Committee chair, Yugoslav Army representative and three sculptors.
13. From the interviews conducted with all veteran members personally involved in the “monument affair”, it is exceedingly clear that Dragomir Vasić, a member of the committee, was solely responsible for pushing the initiative.
14. Slobodan Ilić.
15. Dragomir Vasić, interview conducted on 10 May 2011.
16. Such as topography of the terrain, requirements for the project's submission and awards.
17. My emphasis.
18. Submitted on 6 January 2003 in 110 copies, signed by 19 members of the Monument Group.
19. The clerk asked to stay anonymous.
20. Interview with a clerk conducted on 9 May 2011.
21. Slobodan Ilić, chair committee.
22. A letter from the committee, addressed to Nebojša Milikić, a Monument Group member, 11 August 2003.
23. Mostly veteran organizations and the group of individuals and artists involved in the affair.
24. Nenad Bogdanović – member of Democratic Party.
25. Taken from the website of the Monument Group http://grupaspomenik.wordpress.com/timeline/.
26. Dragomir Vasić i Ratko Zorić.
27. Nenad Konstantinović.
28. Nenad Konstantinović.
29. Radmila Hrustanović, a previous Belgrade mayor.
30. Lacks any date but it is easy to place it somewhere before the announcement of the new committee gathering, i.e. meaning in the second part of 2004. I received it from a clerk in charge of the monument at the Ministry of Culture, and the Belgrade municipality.
31. It is important to mention that there are also significant disagreements among them.
32. The Union of Veterans of World War I, the Union of Veterans of World War II and the Army War Invalids (from the wars of the 1990s).
33. D̵ord̵e Bobić.
34. There had been a long-term plan to restore the area and make some major changes regarding traffic. This meant serious work and investment. The drainage and sewerage system were to be replaced together with pipes, installations and other massive infrastructural work that was needed.
35. Mia David i Filip Zarić.
36. Interview with Mia David on 18 May 2011.
37. This was stated over and over again, without exception, in all the interviews I have conducted with members of various Veteran organizations and their families.
38. Dragan D̵ilas.
39. A Belgrade Mayor Dragan D̵ilas’ opening speech at the Monument opening event.
40. Interview conducted with Bane Pejčinović on 19 May 2011.
41. Dragan D̵ilas.
42. Interview conducted with Zoran Alimpić on 4 May 2011.
43. Zvezdara Park.
44. Savski squere, near the main train station.
45. Bane Pejčinović.
46. Bane Pejčinović
47. Ratko Zorić.
48. Legendary teenage Partisan hero from World War II.
