{"id":135347,"date":"2015-10-12T12:50:36","date_gmt":"2015-10-12T11:50:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.recom.link\/?p=135347"},"modified":"2015-10-12T12:51:38","modified_gmt":"2015-10-12T11:51:38","slug":"distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Distorted Remembrance Culture \u2018Traps Bosnia in Past\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.recom.link\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/birn.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-118418\" src=\"http:\/\/www.recom.link\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/birn.gif\" alt=\"birn\" width=\"132\" height=\"96\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Interview with professor Ljubinka Petrovic-Ziemer<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Bosnia\u2019s wartime divisions are being passed to onto the next generation, because there is no systematic approach to remembering the 1992-95 conflict, a Bosnian professor warns.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"author\">Denis Dzidic,<\/span> <span class=\"source\">BIRN,<\/span> <span class=\"location\">Sarajevo<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Bosnian university professor Ljubinka Petrovic-Ziemer says the culture of silence in Bosnia &#8211; and the selective or politically motivated cultures of remembering the war &#8211; are holding back meaningful reconciliation.<\/p>\n<p>Her warnings are contained in a new paper titled: <a title=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cultures-of-history.uni-jena.de\/debating-20th-century-history\/bosnia-and-herzegovina\/cultures-of-remembrance-in-sarajevo-or-the-protracted-search-for-multiperspectivity-and-integration\/\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cCultures of Remembrance in Sarajevo, or the Protracted Search for Multiperspectivity and Integration<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are trapped in the past,\u201d she told BIRN. \u201cWe put faith in war crime prosecutions and in our visions about justice we gave courts supernatural powers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[But] each national group hoped the verdicts would match their expectations. This is why the disappointment on all sides is great\u201d, Petrovic-Ziemer added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow, we are continuing the fight for justice through the media to compensate. We read daily about mass graves, commemorations and burials. We do not allow ourselves or others a break from the war.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we analyze those reports, we can see they take a form much like a verdict, in which a victim and perpetrator are named. Satisfaction is sought outside the courtroom,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Petrovic-Ziemer explains that the 1992-5 war continues to affect people\u2019s daily lives and interactions, especially between the different communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Bosniak-Serb discussions, even the most unpolitical dialogue will inevitably turn to a few key issues of characterizations of the war and classification of the crime in Srebrenica,\u201d she observed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhether one is accepted as trustworthy or friendly is not decided on character of an individual, but through a catalogue of war-related questions,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Turning to the selective and politically motivated official remembrance cultures in the three main Bosniak, Croatian and Serbian communities, Petrovic-Ziemer says it is vital to determine which memories are tabooed and why.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know too little about the phenomena of silence. We mostly see it and judge it on others. Silence is like crimes: We justify our own and condemn others for it, because we only see it as denial of crimes. Understanding our own silence can help us approach others with true dialogue and not condemnation, which is destructive,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n<p>Another divisive issue affecting the way the past is remembered, according to Petrovic-Ziemer, is war memorials, which are being constructed without planning and control.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are on a good way to become a country of necropolises. I often recall the words of German sociologist Welzer in regard to this, who said: \u2018As the horizon of the past is bigger, the perspective for the future is narrower,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Divisive places of remembrance:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In her paper, Petrovic-Ziemer discusses the roles of the exhibition about the siege of Sarajevo in the Historical Museum and the permanent exhibition on the genocide in the \u201cSrebrenica 11\/07\/95\u201d gallery, in developing inclusive remembrance cultures.<\/p>\n<p>She notes that the Sarajevo exhibition classifies the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina as an \u201cact of aggression\u201d, although this issue is hotely contested by most Serbs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor young people to be able to identify with a state institution in Sarajevo, it is important when discussing sensitive issues to\u2026 present different perspectives on the same event,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe exhibition about Sarajevo could stimulate critical thinking if it presented different positions regarding the character of the war,\u201d Petrovic-Ziemer added.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, the questions of whether the massacre in Srebrenica constitutes an act of genocide or not remains a sensitive issue.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNone of us can forget Srebrenica, regardless of how we view the crime. Living with the fact that genocide took place in our country affects us all. It is a crime that literally cannot fit under the skin,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, however, Srebrenica is sometimes used to \u201csilence and blackmail\u201d people, she continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne reaction to the need to discuss crimes against Serbs in Sarajevo is that these crimes cannot be compared to Srebrenica,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut for coexistence in Sarajevo to survive, crimes against minority groups must receive more recognition, because silence about these crimes increases the wish of minorities to leave and threatens Sarajevo\u2019s future as a multicultural city,\u201d Petrovic-Ziemer continued.<\/p>\n<p><strong>No reconciliation without recognizing crimes:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Although war crimes are mostly individual acts, Petrovic-Ziemer says society has a political and societal responsibility to victims, which has to be met in order for coexistence to flourish.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeaceful coexistence rests on respecting the do-no-harm principle. If a crime happens, it must classified as socially unacceptable and the victim must be guaranteed that it will not be repeated. If such minimal conditions aren\u2019t met, it is not responsible to ask refugees to return for instance,\u201d Petrovic-Ziemer said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCollectivization of guilt \u2013 which I believe is not productive \u2013 from the position of the victim is a tool used to show that the community in which the crimes took place has still not transformed into a community which can guarantee the crime will not be repeated. In essence, this means the do-no-harm principle has not been made again,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking about her motivation to write the paper about the culture of remembrance in Sarajevo, Petrovic-Ziemer says that she wanted to highlight the fact that crimes against Serbs in Sarajevo are not part of the integrated memory of the siege of the city, and that it was possible to write about this deficit without relativizing the horror suffered by Sarajevo citizens through attacks by the Republika Srpska army.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy strongest motivation is the responsibility I feel toward future generations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCollectivization of guilt is part of the public memory, which is forcing new generations to remember the war from the trenches. Postwar generations are not war criminals or victims. Refusing to be a victim and refusing collective blame must not lead to forgetting. I think none of us has the right to trap young people in antagonized collectives and prevent a common future,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey must not become hostages to our frustrations and failed expectations\u201d, she concluded.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.balkaninsight.com\/en\/article\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past--10-09-2015?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LatestHeadlinesFromBosniaAndHerzegovina+%28Bosnia+and+Herzegovina%3A+Latest+Headlines%29\" target=\"_blank\">Published on BIRN, <span class=\"location\"><span class=\"published_date\">12 Oct 2015<\/span><\/span><\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Interview with professor Ljubinka Petrovic-Ziemer &nbsp; Bosnia\u2019s wartime divisions are being passed to onto the next generation, because there is&#8230; ","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":135348,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[594],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transitional-justice"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Distorted Remembrance Culture \u2018Traps Bosnia in Past\u2019 - REKOM ~ KOMRA ~ RECOM<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Distorted Remembrance Culture \u2018Traps Bosnia in Past\u2019 - REKOM ~ KOMRA ~ RECOM\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Interview with professor Ljubinka Petrovic-Ziemer &nbsp; Bosnia\u2019s wartime divisions are being passed to onto the next generation, because there is...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"REKOM ~ KOMRA ~ RECOM\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ZaREKOM.PerKOMRA.ForRECOM\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-12T11:50:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-10-12T11:51:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/LJubinka.Ziemer.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Recom Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@REKOM_KOMRA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@REKOM_KOMRA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Recom Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/\",\"name\":\"Distorted Remembrance Culture \u2018Traps Bosnia in Past\u2019 - REKOM ~ KOMRA ~ RECOM\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/LJubinka.Ziemer.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-12T11:50:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-12T11:51:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/0b0fce47cdf986c8b4194146b69999a3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/LJubinka.Ziemer.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/LJubinka.Ziemer.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":480},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Distorted Remembrance Culture \u2018Traps Bosnia in Past\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/\",\"name\":\"REKOM ~ KOMRA ~ RECOM\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/0b0fce47cdf986c8b4194146b69999a3\",\"name\":\"Recom Editor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b345ee03975bccfc62280b0fd1ffd916?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b345ee03975bccfc62280b0fd1ffd916?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Recom Editor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/author\/jelanag\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Distorted Remembrance Culture \u2018Traps Bosnia in Past\u2019 - REKOM ~ KOMRA ~ RECOM","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Distorted Remembrance Culture \u2018Traps Bosnia in Past\u2019 - REKOM ~ KOMRA ~ RECOM","og_description":"Interview with professor Ljubinka Petrovic-Ziemer &nbsp; Bosnia\u2019s wartime divisions are being passed to onto the next generation, because there is...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/","og_site_name":"REKOM ~ KOMRA ~ RECOM","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ZaREKOM.PerKOMRA.ForRECOM\/","article_published_time":"2015-10-12T11:50:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-10-12T11:51:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":480,"url":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/LJubinka.Ziemer.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Recom Editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@REKOM_KOMRA","twitter_site":"@REKOM_KOMRA","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Recom Editor","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/","url":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/","name":"Distorted Remembrance Culture \u2018Traps Bosnia in Past\u2019 - REKOM ~ KOMRA ~ RECOM","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/LJubinka.Ziemer.jpg","datePublished":"2015-10-12T11:50:36+00:00","dateModified":"2015-10-12T11:51:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/0b0fce47cdf986c8b4194146b69999a3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/LJubinka.Ziemer.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/LJubinka.Ziemer.jpg","width":640,"height":480},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/distorted-remembrance-culture-traps-bosnia-in-past\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Distorted Remembrance Culture \u2018Traps Bosnia in Past\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/","name":"REKOM ~ KOMRA ~ RECOM","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/0b0fce47cdf986c8b4194146b69999a3","name":"Recom Editor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b345ee03975bccfc62280b0fd1ffd916?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b345ee03975bccfc62280b0fd1ffd916?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Recom Editor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/author\/jelanag\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135347"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135347"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135353,"href":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135347\/revisions\/135353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.recom.link\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}