Das Haager Jugoslawien-Tribunal schreibt keine Geschichte
The Hague Yugoslav Tribunal Does Not Write History

Summary/Abstract: Widespread criticism after the ICTY’s acquittal of several high-ranking military leaders stressed its negative consequences for reconciliation between ex-Yugoslav societies. However, this assumption is based on an overestimation of the ICTY’s influence on the public perception of the 1990’s wars. The ICTY is seen by these societies as a political court run by “foreigners”. This deprives it from being an instrument of reconciliation. Moreover, the ICTY’s attempt to “write history” has failed in the legal field as well. New categories as the “Joint Criminal Enterprise”, meant to describe the planning and managing of big crimes as ethnic expulsion and “cleansing”, were not successful in the court room. Future generations of researchers might nevertheless profit from the huge amounts of sources collected by the ICTY. But in order to advance historical research and improve the regional discourse about the past, more has to be done. A proposal by Wolfgang Klotz should be taken into consideration – namely to establish a “German Historical Institute on Southeast Europe”, which would link researchers from the region with their colleagues not only in Germany but in Europe as a whole.

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