The Pilica Cultural Centre: A Site of Recurrent Genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1992 and 1995
The Pilica Cultural Centre: A Site of Recurrent Genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1992 and 1995

Author(s): Muamer Džananović
Subject(s): Military history, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Politics of History/Memory, Wars in Jugoslavia
Published by: Institut za istraživanje zločina protiv čovječnosti i međunarodnog prava Univerziteta u Sarajevu
Keywords: Bosnia and Herzegovina; 1992-1995; Pilica; detention camps; schools and cultural centres; genocide; memory politics;
Summary/Abstract: During the 1992–1995 aggression against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the authorities of the self-proclaimed Republika Srpska (RS) established a system of camps and detention sites in which schools and cultural centres were used for mass detention, torture, and killing of civilians, primarily Bosniaks. This article analyses the systematic character, geographical spread, and scale of these crimes, with particular focus on Pilica as an example of recurrent genocide: in 1992 against Bosniaks from the Petkovci and Zvornik area, and in 1995 during the genocide in and around Srebrenica. By examining the chain of detention facilities, the study demonstrates the spatial, institutional, and methodological continuity of genocidal practices. It also addresses post-war attitudes toward these sites, marked by insufficient memorialisation, denial and relativisation of crimes, and the role of the educational system in sustaining a culture of genocide and war-crimes denial.

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