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Abstract
Bosnia and Herzegovina is politically fragmented, and so is the memory landscape within the country. Narratives of the 1992–1995 war, the Second World War, Tito's Yugoslavia, and earlier historical periods form highly disputed patterns in a memory competition involving representatives of the three “constituent peoples” of Bosnia and Herzegovina – Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks – but also non-nationalist actors within BiH, as well as the international community. By looking especially at political declarations and the practices of commemoration and monument building, the article gives an overview of the fragmented memory landscape in Bosnia and Herzegovina, pointing out the different existing memory narratives and policies and the competition between them in the public sphere, and analyzing the conflicting memory narratives as a central part of the highly disputed political identity construction processes in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina. The paper also discusses the question whether an “Europeanization” of Bosnian memory cultures could be an alternative to the current fragmentation and nationalist domination of the memory landscape in BiH.
Notes
This article was originally published with errors. This version has been amended. Please see Corrigendum (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00905992.2013.863513
1. http://www.bosnjaci.net/prilog.php?pid=43001 All internet sources were last accessed on 10 January, 2012.
3. Own observations in Stolac in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
5. http://predsjednikfbih.org/index.php/mediji/priopcenja/170-estitka-za-dan-domovinske-zahvalnost.html
6. For an overview of the political system of BiH and the political evolution since the war, see Gavric and Richter (Citation2010).
7. On the role of the SDP among the political parties: Gavric and Richter (Citation2010, 870).
8. On the role of the international community in BiH, Gavric and Richter (Citation2010, 850–852).
9. See below
10. Public Call Important dates, 18/3/2010: http://www.fmbi.gov.ba/bosanski/aktuelno/aktuelno.php?akt_id=750
11. See more below
12. See below
13. Cp. Smail Čekić, Bosnia and Bosniaks – past, present and perspectives, 30.11.2010, http://www.bosniak.org/bosnia-and-bosniaks-past-present-and-perspectives/
14. Ib.
15. See, for example, his speech on 23/9/2008 at the UN: http://www.responsibilitytoprotect.org/files/bosniaherzegovina_en.pdf
16. See reactions in Dnevni Avaz 23., 24. and 26.11.2011
17. “Bosniak official apologizes for crimes”, B92 1.11.2010: http://www.b92.net/eng/news/region-article.php?yyyy=2010&mm=11&dd=01&nav_id=70633
18. See for example Dnevni Avaz, 2.11.2010
19. See for example Smail Čekić, as footnote 13.
20. Cp. below. See also Sorabji Citation2006, 10.
21. On the edition of Musalla in 2011: http://www.medzlis.info/vijesti/sanski-most/1418-uspjena-organizacija-manifestacije-musalla-2011.html
23. See for example http://www.ljutibosanci.com/bosna/opcenito-o-historiji-bih/historijski-presjek.html
25. Smail Čekić, quoted in Oslobodjenje 29.11.2011
26. Smail Čekić, as footnote 13.
29. See for example the declarations from Milorad Dodik around the 20th anniversary commemorations of the RS in January 2012: http://www.glassrpske.com/vijest/2/novosti/68622/lat/Milorad-Dodik-Republika-Srpska-najbolji-je-dar-srpskom-narodu.html
30. “Bosnian Serbs issue apology for massacre”, AP, 11/11/2004, http://www.bosnia.org.uk/bosrep/report_format.cfm?articleid=1147&reportid=166
31. On the current situation in Prijedor, see Brenner (Citation2011).
32. One example is the placement of a big orthodox cross in the vicinity of the Mrakovica-Memorial, erected in Yugoslavia to commemorate the killed Partisans during the battle of Kozara in 1942. As for Serb nationalism in general, the Orthodox religion is an essential part of Bosnian Serb identity constructions, as is apparent in the use of Orthodox religious symbols on war-related monuments and from the fact that war-related commemorations are organised with the participation of the Orthodox Church. Similarly, the use of Catholic symbols is very strong in Bosnian Croat commemorative practices.
33. http://www.hrt.hr/index.php?id=48&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=73027&cHash=51f3ef8ca2. Chetnik symbols appear also during official RS-commemorations, see for example: http://www.starmo.ba/films/item/1941.html
34. For example in Čavaš the 11.8.2010 (Nezavisne Novine 12.8.2010) or in Čelinac the 16.10.2011 (Nezavisne Novine 17.10.2011)
35. Website Donja Gradina Memorial: http://www.jusp-donjagradina.org/eng/
37. Concerning the justification of Srebrenica through Jasenovac, see for example Dodik's declarations quoted in Oslobodjenje 25.5.2011. For the use of the term genocide in the last war, see for example the website http://bradina.com/: “Crimes of genocide against Serbs in the municipality of Konjic (1992–1995)”.
38. http://www.predsjednikrs.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8289%3A-70-ii-&lang=en
40. Vlada Republike Srpske/ Odbor za njegovanje tradicije oslobodilačkih ratova: Kalendar obilježavanja znaćajnih istorijskih događaja oslobodilačkih ratova, Banja Luka [2008]
44. On the commemoration see for example: http://srb.time.mk/read/ba51dd25c6/60c490da33/index.html
45. Kalendar obilježavanja znaćajnih istorijskih događaja … (see footnote 40), 4.
47. Fokus 30.11.2011.
48. Bosna Daily 28.12.2011.
49. Examples of destructions named in Karačić (2012, 26–29).
50. See for example the monuments in Trijebnja and Hodova nearby Stolac.
51. Novi List (Rijeka), 9.5.2005.
54. Program HDZ BiH, 13.7.2011, http://www.hdzbih.org/e-dokumenti/hdz-bih.html
55. For reactions on Josipovics visit in Croatia and in BiH, see: http://www.camo.ch/josipovic_u_posjeti_bih.htm
56. Annual commemoration in Grabovica (near Jablanica) on 9 September, cp. Dnevni List 9.9.2010
62. SDP-resolution 2007, http://www.sdp.ba/dokumenti/dokumenti/4.Kongres_SDP_BiH-Zakljucci.pdf
65. http://www.poskok.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12657%3Akomsitito-je-bio-osoba-koja-je-podarila-razdoblje-prosperiteta-i-bezbrifnog-fivljenja-&Itemid=103. Another example quoted in Hajdarpašić Citation2010, 209.
67. http://www.slobodnaevropa.org/content/zrtve_ubijene_u_kazanima_se_ne_smiju_zaboraviti/24404901.html
68. On Rasim Delics funeral see http://www.slobodnaevropa.org/content/rasim_delic_komemoracija/2018013.html
69. http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/6373.html. SUBNOAR changed its name in SABNOR in 2006.
70. See for example http://www.buka.ba/zlatko-brani-sarajevo . The figure of Vladimir Perić Valter was especially immortalized by the successful movie “Valter defends Sarajevo”(1972).
72. http://www.sarajevo-x.com/bih/drustvo/zatvoren-festival-sedmica-bosanskih-kraljeva/100706098 . More generally on the event see: http://www.bosnae.ba/, and http://www.mozaik.ba/index.php?id=tbk1
75. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4474316.stm, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/world/europe/11balkans.html
76. During a public discussion organised by Centre Malraux on 6 December 2010 in Sarajevo, when faced with reproaches about France's non-intervention during the war, the French Ambassador Gilles Roland referred to “the 73 French soldiers who died in BiH” as proof of French commitment.
77. Cécile Jouhanneau is currently preparing her PhD at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris on war memories and memory policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially through an analysis of the situation in Brčko.
78. Own field research in Stolac and Sarajevo 2010. See also the statements of the Zagreb Helsinki Committee and the Youth Forum Stolac from May 2010: http://www.bosniaks.net/prilog.php?pid=38058
80. Dnevni List 26.11.2011, Oslobodjenje 28.11.2011 and 5.12.2011.
81. Dnevni List 26.11.2011.
82. Ibid.
83. See for example Smail Čekić, footnote 13.
85. See footnote 52
86. One example of the grassroots level is work by the European Association of History Educators “Euroclio”, including the launching of the project ”Bosnia-Herzegovina: Bridging histories” with history educators from BiH. http://www.euroclio.eu/new/index.php/bosnia-herzegovina-mainmenu-854
87. The report with the French proposals for 2014 can be found on: http://www.defense.gouv.fr/actualites/memoire-et-culture/prefiguration-des-commemorations-du-centenaire-de-la-premiere-guerre-mondiale. – On the perceptions of Gavrilo Princip cp. Ramet, Dissolution, 33 and 41, and: http://www.kip.ba/2011/05/17/tri-videnja-historijepovijesti-u-bih-gavrilo-princip-%E2%80%93-junak-ili-terorista/