Von Gedächtnisorten und Erinnerungslandschaften in Robert Prossers Roman Phantome

Author(s): Marijana Jeleč,Ivica Leovac / Language(s): German Issue: 10/2021

Schon in den ersten Jahren nach den Jugoslawienkriegen erschienen auch im deutschsprachigen Literaturraum zahlreiche Romane, die den Zerfall des Landes und seine Folgen als Schwerpunkte setzten. Literarische Reisen ins Nachkriegsbosnien unternehmen sowohl Schriftsteller deutschsprachiger Herkunft als auch jene aus dem ehemaligen Jugoslawien. Die seit Jahrzehnten stetig wachsende Zahl an Romanen über den Zerfall Jugoslawiens zeugt eindeutig davon, dass das Thema weiterhin aktuell ist. Von der Aktualität des Themas zeugt auch der Roman Phantome (2017) des österreichischen Schriftstellers Robert Prosser, dem sich dieser Beitrag unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Gedächtnisorten und Erinnerungsprozessen widmet und den Fragen nachgeht, wie Erinnerungen an das kriegszerstörte Bosnien-Herzegowina konstruiert werden, welche von der Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaftlerin Aleida Assmann hervorgehobenen Impulse zum Erinnern bei den Figuren im Roman Phantome ausgemacht werden können und welche Funktion die Erinnerungen der einzelnen Figuren haben. Als zentrale Funktion der Erinnerung im Roman erweist sich nach der Analyse die Rekonstruktion von Vergangenem und das entscheidende Medium dieser Rekonstruktion die Sprache bzw. die Niederschrift des Erlebten. Die Rekonstruktion wiederum dient in Prossers Text der Bewusstmachung der Vorgänge und der Identitätsvergewisserung.

BOSNA I HERCEGOVINA U POLITIČKOJ ORBITI KARAĐORĐEVA I TIKVEŠA

Author(s): Adnan Velagić / Language(s): Bosnian,Croatian,Serbian Issue: 6/2021

During the 1980s, socialist Yugoslavia was hit by various social problems, which disintegrated the fragile tissue of Tito's state-political legacy. In the early 1990s, when the unstoppable phase of dissolution of this country began, national-chauvinist pretensions resolved to realize their old great-power ambitions in a period of general disruption surfaced. Although in this whirlwind of social turmoil the method of military force was used as the dominant and indispensable factor, behind the scenes political arrangements were very often much more effective in realizing certain goals. Sometimes conducted in public, and sometimes secretly, such negotiations were most often a typical expression of grand national aspirations. In this context, one can certainly observe one of the most famous separate negotiations in the 1990s on the soil of the disintegrating Yugoslavia, conducted between Slobodan Milosevic and Franjo Tuđman. Although these talks have not been published to date, many close associates of the Serbian and Croatian presidents, as well as participants in various political sessions, clearly indicate the presence of a high degree of their mutual agreement on the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this paper, the author tried to shed light on the separate Serbo-Croatian efforts to divide the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina through the statements of Tuđman and Milosevic, and the speeches of their close associates and participants in numerous political talks.

Architectural Ruins ad Cultural Construction After NATO’s Bombing of Yugoslavia

Author(s): Ana Curk / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2021

The broad intention of this paper was to examine architectural ruins as cultural indicators of one society, and how the importance of certain buildings in collective consciousness can be transformed by the act of destruction, but also by the act of reconstruction. The narrower focus of the research is on the consequences of the NATO bombing of Belgrade in 1999. The cases of three buildings of different political and cultural characters will be analyzed – Ušće Business Center, Radio Television of Serbia headquarters, and the building of Yugoslav Ministry of Defense, with the intention to understand the relationship between their current condition and cultural significance.

Nekoliko riječi prigodom osnivanja Spomen-zbirke 1992. - 1995. sa Spomen-sobom odbrane Gračanice

Author(s): Edin Šaković / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 52/2021

Within the activities of the public institution The Bosnian Cultural Center Gračanica has launched an initiative to collect museum material and historical documents from the 1992-1995 period. It is planned to form a special museum exhibit from the collected material – a memorial room commemorating the defense of Gračanica, intended for the general public, while a collection of relevant historical documents on Gračanica and its surroundings in the 1992-1995 period would be formed next to the planned memorial room (a historical-documentary collection, intended for the narrower, professional public). After the preparatory activities a public invitation to collect museum and historical material was sent out on the 1st of September 2019. Until the opening of the exhibition 55 citizens responded to that invitation. The collected museum material was professionally processed and entered into the museum records. In the meantime, the room itself had been renovated and an exhibition set-up was arranged. The memorial room was ceremoniously opened on the 1st of September 2021 (on the occasion of the Day of the 11th/21st mountain brigade Gračanica). This project was sponsored by the mayor of Gračanica. It is planned that the memorial room will be used for cultural and commemorative, educational and other purposes, and it will be constantly expanded and supplemented.

Nihad Halilbegović, Počeci odbrane Sarajeva. Kako smo dolazili do naoružanja, municije i potrebne opreme prvih dana napada na Sarajevo

Author(s): Edin Šaković / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 52/2021

Review of: Nihad Halilbegović, Počeci odbrane Sarajeva. Kako smo dolazili do naoružanja, municije i potrebne opreme prvih dana napada na Sarajevo, autorsko izdanje, Sarajevo 2021.

Uspomene brigadira Ivana Plasaja, zamjenika zapovjednika II. operativne zone Bjelovar, iz Domovinskog rata iz 1991. godine

Author(s): Željko Karaula / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 15/2021

The paper presents the memoirs of Brigadier Ivan Plasaj, Deputy Commander of the 2nd Operational Zone Bjelovar on the 1991 events from the Homeland War. The memoirs have been critically tackled from the scientific perspective, and an introduction into the biography of Ivan Plasaj and the formation of the 2nd Operational Zone Bjelovar in the Homeland War has been added.

Trans/realna poetika beletrizma u (trans)noveli/(trans)romanu Greta Faruka Šehića

Author(s): Selma Raljević / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 83-84/2021

Faruk Šehić’s 2021 long novella/short novel Greta, subtitled “The Ballad about Migfold/Dark, Emotional Transrealism”, is a transrealist refugee story about one Bosnian and Herzegovinian boy/young man and his family who dream of returning home, and finally come home to a town ravaged by war. Greta deals with their brutal war and refugee reality and, simultaneously, with the higher reality in which their life is embedded. It is a fairy tale for adults. The story is retrospectively narrated by a boy/a young man named Uviđavni (Ar./Tr. Truth teller). Greta, the title character, is his non blood related family member and his own Lady of the Light. Even though Greta is the story about the darkness of a war, it is also the story about the power of imagination, hope, and dreams that all together bring light into the dark reality. Therefore, Greta can be seen as a transrealist fiction about light. This paper will deal with the trans/realist poetics of belletrism in Šehić’s Greta, as well as with its off modern Weltanschauauung, and then with Šehić’s poetic aim to praise the mutilated world in his own way.

Christopher Catherwood, Churchill and Tito. SOE, Bletchley Park and Supporting the Yugoslav Communists in World War II.

Author(s): Klemen Kocjančić / Language(s): Slovenian Issue: 2/2021

Book-Review: Christopher Catherwood, Churchill and Tito. SOE, Bletchley Park and Supporting the Yugoslav Communists in World War II. Barnsley, S. Yorkshire: Frontline Books, 2017, 196 strani. Reviewed by: Klemen Kocjančič.

Od­go­vor­nost Sr­bi­je

Author(s): Emir Suljagić / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 1/2007

Mo­de­li zaštite jav­nog sećanja u bor­bi pro­tiv po­ri­ca­nja zločina

Author(s): Vladimir Petrović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 1/2007

Pod­stak­nut ak­tu­el­nom glo­bal­nom de­ba­tom o po­ri­canju ho­lo­ka­u­sta, pri­log raščlanjuje društvene me­ha­nizme zaštite jav­nog sećanja i kritički ana­li­zi­ra načine na ko­ji oni ob­li­ku­ju mo­de­le zaštite jav­nog sećanja. Pri­me­rom neuspešnog mo­de­la ko­jim je socijalistička Ju­go­sla­vi­ja štitila sećanje na žrtve Dru­gog svet­skog ra­ta ističe se važnost cen­tri­ra­nja mo­de­la oko me­ha­nizma kre­di­bil­nog utvrđivanja činjenica. Raz­ma­tra­ju se pro­jek­ti ko­ji u post­ju­go­slo­ven­skom kon­tek­stu fa­vo­rizu­ju ovaj me­ha­ni­zam.

RAD NA STALNOJ MUZEJSKOJ POSTAVCI MUZEJA “ALIJA IZETBEGOVIĆ”

Author(s): Amra Madžarević / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 7/2010

Alija Izetbegović, the first president of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is one of the most important figures of the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The museum dedicated to and named after him was put together by Sarajevo Museum experts, and opened in two Ottoman-period gatehouses forming part of the Vratnik ramparts, very close to the grave of the President and his fellow combatants. The first gatehouse, the Ploča gatehouse, contains exhibits representing Alija Izetbegović as a writer, thinker and politician, as well as certain personal effects revealing his private life. The Širokac gatehouse is dedicated to his role as Supreme Commander of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the part he played in the defence of the country.

MUZEJ “ALIJA IZETBEGOVIĆ” - SVEJDOČANSTVO ZA BUDUĆNOST

Author(s): Elvis Kondžić / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 6/2008

The period of the life of Alija Izetbegović, and the era of the earliest past of Bosnia and Herzegovina are only about to become the subject of research and professional analysis. It is unquestionable that any serious scientist, researcher, journalist...shall soon realize how effortlessly can one write about the distant past of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for its actors can no longer speak. It is much more difficult to research the subject matter related to the role, image, and work of Alija Izetbegović, for it is, on the one hand, indivisible from the distant past and, on the other, the historical period related to Izetbegović has occurred just recently. It is left to each one’s conscience and morale to research and analyze such topics in their own way. However, on that path, the Museum “Alija Izetbegović” can and does play a significant role, a role that consists in presenting the pure and simple truth for the purpose of accurate recording of history about Bosnia, which is attacked by some to this very day. The Museum “Alija Izetbegović” is located in the kapi-kulas (gatetowers) Ploča and Sirokac. Tire symbolism is clear. Since their very creation, the wall and towers are the symbol of defense and freedom, while the Martyr’s cemetery reminds us from one day to the next of the price that had to be paid for that. Both of these stories are closely tied to Alija Izetbegović. His story filled the centuries-old empty stone towers with life, and, thus, indicated the continuity of Bosnia. The Museum “Alija Izetbegović” serves as a reminder, as well as a message to future generations. The message that anything valuable is worth fighting for, as well as that anything worthwhile is not just one’s own matter, but the future of all generations,. The message that anything worthwhile ultimately survives and overcomes barbarism and savageness. The message that anything worthwhile must be just, even at the expense of one’s own life and freedom. The message that Bosnia wall always subsist.

BORBE NOP ODREDA OKO SARAJEVA 1941.

Author(s): Moni Finci / Language(s): Croatian,Serbian Issue: 2/1966

L'etablissement des détachements de partisans »Romanija«, »Zvijezda« et du détachement de Kalinovik, effectué selon les recommandations et les décisions de l’Etat-major du Mouvement pour la Liberation Nationale prises a Stolice, a ete realise au cours du mois d’octobre 1941. Cela voulait dire qu'on avait renonce a l’idee de former un regiment dans la montagne Romanija et une brigade dans la region situee entre le mont Jahorina et ie village de Kalinovik. Le détachement, en tant qu'unite militaire, partout où il était forme s’est avéré reel et justifie et a contribue a un essor plus important de la revoile populaire, au toujours croissant nombre de partisans et aux grands succès obtenus en 1941. Bien que les trois détachements des partisans des environs de Sarajevo aient eu une activité presque indépendante, au moment où l'Etat-major de Sarajevo fut supprime, leurs activités, mises sous le commandement ue l’Etat-major du Mouvement, pour la Liberation Nationale de Bosme-tlerzcguvine, ont ete tres coordonnées, il était evident qu' il existait un plan d operations militaires bien defini, d'operations qui furent toujours compte Lement réalisées. C'était le pian on plutôt ia tache primordiale primitivement destinee a l’Etat-major ae ta region de Sarajevo, pian qui prévoyait le »nettoyage« des environs de Sarajevo, l'encerclement et la liberation definitive de ia ville. C'est pourquoi on a prêté une attention particulière a l'augmentation du nombre de combattants, tache qui fut le mieux realisee a Romanija. Les unites des partisans des environs de Sarajevo comptaient en tout, a cette epoque, environ 7.500 combattants. On entreprenait egalement des operations systématiques en vue de détruire toutes les voies de communications, des ponts, des lignes de chemin de 1er, des lignes téléphoniques et télégraphique^, ce dont n reste assez de documents bien conserves témoignant de arrêt total ou partiel de toute circulation sur les voies de communications menant vers Sarajevo. Cela entraînait un veritable désarroi dans l'organisation et le fonctionnement des autorités »oustaciii« (»oustachi« étaient des collaborateurs fascistes recrutes parmi les Croate et les musulmans du pays) du soi-disant »Etat Croate Indépendant«, ce qui était tres important d'autant plus que c’est une region abondant en richesses naturelles auxquelles l’occupant nazi s'intéressait particulièrement. Le remorcement des unites partisanes et les attaques effectuées sur les voies de communications, caractéristiques d’une guerre de partisans, de meme que les attaques inattendues et les diversions, la prise des bourgs moins importants, ont permis le changement du caractère des operations: on procédé aux operations plus importantes permettant un »nettoyage« plus efficace et la prise permanente du territoire, effectues par les trois détachements. , Les trois derniers mois de 1941 sont caractérisés par des luttes toujours plus acharnées, par une intese activité et initiative des forces libératrices dans cette region. Au cours de ces trois mois on a realise les fronts dits »de lutte« aux environs de Rogatica, Kalinovik, Visegrad, Olovo, Pale et de Varež. Maigre les frequentes contre-attaques des Aitemends et de leurs collaborateurs, malgré les mesures répressives les plus drastiques, qui traduisaient sa rage et son impuissance, l’ennemi essuyait de très grandes pertes et était extrêmement menace et force a se détendre. Vers ta fin octobre la ville de Rogatica a ete liberee, le village de Tmovo au commencement du novembre. A la même epoque la région ou opérait le détachement »Zvijezda« a été complètement »netoyee« dans la direction des villes de Vareš et d'Olovo; le territoire libère du détachement »Romanija« s'est répandu jusqu’aux villes de Visegrad et de Goraide - le même détachement a pris les positions stratégiques très importantes des Roches Rouges et des d’Aigle du mont Romanija. Au mois de decembre les partisans ont attaqué le village de Pale, un des bastions protégeant la ville de Sarajevo; ils ont libéré la ville d'Olovo, la vallée de la Krivaja; ils attaquèrent également la ville de Vares qui fut complètement cemee par des unités partisanes. Une telle situation a fait que le général plénipotentiaire de Zagreb demandât au Haut commandement de faire venir une division allemande du front oriental. , Car, vers la fin décembre 1941, toutes les positions ennemies ont été liquidées sauf quelques unes à proximité immédiate de la ville de Sarajevo. De cette façon-la ont été remplies toutes les conditions permettant la réalisation de la tâche et de la conception capitales: libération de la capitale de la Bosnie-Herzégovine.

Uzroci, tijek i posljedice akcije „Trebević-2”

Author(s): Mijo Beljo / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 1/2022

In October 1993, the Muslim political and military leadership, with the full support of the President of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alija Izetbegović, planned and implemented a military-police operation that was, officially, supposed to introduce order among the ‘renegade’ commanders of the 9th Motorised and 10th Mountain Brigades of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina (AB&H). However, a reconstruction of the events that led up to the initiation of the mentioned operation casts doubt on the official version of the events. Namely, the Muslim political and military leadership had been aware of certain inappropriate activities of some units under its command as early as the first half of 1993, but failed to take any concrete actions to sanction them. On the contrary, despite being clearly aware of these problematic activities, the leadership of the AB&H continued to use such units in combat. In September 1993, parts of these units were actively involved in the operation ‘Neretva 93’, during which war crimes were committed against Croatian civilians in the village of Grabovica on 8 and 9 September. After a meeting held on 4 October 1993, the Muslim leadership headed by Izetbegović reached a decision to deal with the problematic military commanders of the AB&H and a part of the units under their control. However, this process of facing the criminal activities performed by members of the AB&H concealed the real conflict, which was the conflict about who had supreme influence over the army and in politics, and was actually between Izetbegović and the leader of the AB&H Chief of the General Staff, Sefer Halilović. The successful results of operation ‘Trebević 2’ left Izetbegović without any serious challengers to his authority.

„Kristalna noć” u Zadru. Činjenice i mit

Author(s): Darjan Godić / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 1/2022

On 2 May 1991, Serbian property in Zadar and its surrounding area came under attack. The attacks took place after months of tensions between Croats and Serbs, and later became known as the ‘Night of Broken Glass’. These tensions were the direct consequence of the Serbian armed rebellion that erupted in northern Dalmatia, Lika, and the hinterland of Zadar in August 1991. The public security system that met the rebellion was created in January 1990, when the Secretariat of the Interior for the area of the Benkovac, Biograd na Moru, Obrovac, Pag, and Zadar municipalities was established in Zadar. In this area, Croats were an absolute majority in the Biograd na Moru and Zadar municipalities, and the Serbs in the Benkovac and Obrovac municipalities. The rebellion prompted divisions not only among the population, but also among the police. By January 1991, most policemen of Serbian nationality had left the Zadar police force and joined the rebels. Despite being weakened in terms of manpower, the Zadar police for the most part managed to successfully preserve public safety. The security situation worsened after a skirmish between Croatian police and rebel Serbs at the Plitvice Lakes on 31 March 1991. A significant increase in shootings, setting of bombs, road blockades, and other forms of criminal activity, mostly nationally motivated, was recorded. In addition to the rebel Serbs, the instability was caused by the Yugoslav People’s Army (YPA), which deployed its forces in Zadar’s hinterland in early April 1991, causing alarm among the Croatian population. This deployment was part of a broader plan through which the YPA sought to set up a ‘buffer zone’ in order to close off the areas held by rebel Serbs and prevent the Croatian police from interfering. On 2 May 1991, the security situation throughout Croatia, and therefore in the area under the jurisdiction of the Zadar police, collapsed. Serb rebels killed 12 Croatian policemen in Borovo Selo near Vukovar, and severely wounded Zadar policeman Franko Lisica in Polača near Biograd na Moru; he soon died of his wounds. Despite the Croatian authorities’ calls for peace, spontaneous unrest erupted throughout Croatia, and Serbian property and companies were attacked. Furthermore, there were incidents involving the YPA. The mood of the Croatian population in Zadar after the murder of the policeman Lisica was similar to that in other parts of Croatia. Despite the municipal authorities’ calls for peace and their organising of a peaceful protest march, various uncoordinated groups demolished and plundered Serbian property on 2 May. The Zadar police failed to stop them because most of the policemen were engaged in the area affected by the Serb rebellion, while others were busy protecting the residential buildings in Zadar in which members of the YPA and their families resided. Soon, due to a feeling of insecurity, a mass exodus of Serbs from Zadar took place; these Serbs took refuge in the areas occupied by the rebels. Apart from the Zadar Serbs, Croats in the areas held by Serb rebels also began to leave their homes in early May 1991. On 1 May 1991, rebel Serbs drove many Croats from the areas around Knin. On the night of 6 to 7 May, as an act of revenge for the events in Zadar, the property of Croats, Albanians, and Croatian companies was attacked and plundered. Different sources give different data regarding the extent of the damage caused to Serbian property. Criminal charges raised by the Croatian police against unknown perpetrators on 2 May 1991 mention that 175 catering establishments, commercial premises, stands, kiosks, and automobiles were damaged. Apart from the property of Serbs, property belonging to Croats, Muslims, Roma, and Croatian companies was also damaged. There are numerous prejudices and controversies regarding the ‘Night of Broken Glass’, which mostly ignore the then security-political context. Certainly, there were those among the Croats who did not consider the attacks on Serbian property and their exodus from Zadar as anything controversial, but available sources clearly point towards the conclusion that the destruction of Serbian property was not organised and was not a part of the policy of the Croatian leadership.

Mala priča o velikoj ambiciji ili Mendeljejev za sirotinju

Author(s): Mesud Šadinlija / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 1/2022

Reaction/Polemic

Život u Sarajevu pod angloameričkim bombama (1943-1945)

Author(s): Sanja Gladanac-Petrović / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 20/2021

The article analyzes the Anglo-American bombardment of the city of Sarajevo and its surroundings from 1943 to 1945. Based on the original sources of local authorities and the press at the time, the author describes aerial attacks and reconstructs the events on the ground after the bombardment and points out how the organs of local civil protection, local authorities, and population reacted. Emphasis was placed on the implementation of the preventive protective measures (construction of a network of public shelters, blackouts of residences), material destruction, human tragedy and the repair of the damage that occurred. The considered aspects of air attacks on the town reflect the difficult destinies and social deviations (theft, rise of prices) in which the town dwellers lived during the Second World War.

Mother and Child in the Crime of Genocide Against Bosniaks

Author(s): Adib Đozić / Language(s): English Issue: 10/2021

The genocide verdict against Bosniaks of the UN Protected Area Srebrenica, before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the verdicts of German courts (Higher Regional Court in Dusseldorf), the crimes of genocide in Doboj and other places in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the verdicts of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina are paradigmatic evidence of genocidal destruction of Bosniaks, because the analysis of specific socio-historical processes, in the form of national liberation movements and nation-building in South Slavic and wider Balkan areas, continuously, as an integral part of them, genocide against Bosniaks took place. There is a lot of evidence of genocide against Bosniaks that are explicit and unquestionable as social, historical and legal facts, but one of them stands out and that is the genocide against a mother and a child as sources of holiness of life. In this paper, we will work on concrete sociohistorical examples of the suffering of mothers and children in the genocide against Bosniaks from the beginning of the so-called “National liberation movements” in the early 19th century, through the Balkan Wars, the First and Second World Wars, to the war against Bosnian society and the state in the period of 1992-1995 using only relevant theoretical and methodological postulates, to prove and show that the last genocide against Bosniaks in Srebrenica, in July 1995, was not an individual and isolated case of genocidal extermination of Bosniaks but, on the contrary, a paradigmatic example, i.e. a part of continuous genocide, as a means of “national liberation movements” from the neighborhood of Bosnia and Herzegovina, derived according to the Jacobin formula “one state-one (ethnic) community.” By analyzing the suffering of mothers and children in the genocide against Bosniaks, we will open the question of ruling false narratives (historical, political, “cultural” and others), about national liberation movements from the position of the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as progressive civilizational achievements.

The Influence of Genocide on Bosniaks on Demographic Changes in Srebrenica and Bratunac from 1991 to 2021

Author(s): Muamer Džananović / Language(s): English Issue: 10/2021

The basic thesis of this paper starts from the fact that the crimes committed against the Bosniaks of Podrinje in Bosnia and Herzegovina, more specifically in the municipalities of Srebrenica and Bratunac, in the period 1992-1995 are an integral part of the Greater Serbia genocide against Bosniaks, which they have been continuously carrying out in stages for over two centuries. That, due to the Greater Serbia genocidal ideology, politics and practice, Bosnian society was destroyed and ties between cultures “were broken”, although for centuries “mixed” and formed a “unity of differences”, we will prove by comparing the demographic picture of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with special focus to Srebrenica and Bratunac, analyzing the last two censuses. Also, the denial of genocide against Bosniaks and the celebration of crimes and criminals, by followers of the Greater Serbia ideology, is very relevant since the end of the aggression until today. Frequent physical attacks on Bosniak returnees, threats and discrimination in various fields, especially in negation of identity characteristics of Bosniaks and their constant propaganda dehumanization also has a negative effect on the relatively few Bosniak returnees who have returned to their homes. All of the above results in the departure of the biologically productive population, and the remaining “elderly” households, thus continuing the process of “ethnic cleansing” of Bosniaks in Bratunac and Srebrenica, twenty-six years after the aggression and genocide, is still being conducted and is nearing its completion.

New Trends in the Search for Forcibly Missing Persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Author(s): Meldijana Arnaut Haseljić / Language(s): English Issue: 10/2021

The aggression against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was carried out with well-thought-out planning, preparation and execution of crimes. This was followed by concealment of the crimes committed, followed by a precisely elaborated denial process. It is the concealment of crimes that results in a large number of forcibly missing persons. The aim of concealment and denial is to prevent prosecution for committed crimes (without a body there are no crimes), and then to avoid adequate sanctions provided by international and national legislation against perpetrators. Special emphasis should be placed on the specificity of this form of crime, especially characteristic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where forcibly missing persons were mostly found in mass graves in a hidden locality. This is important to emphasize given the fact that a large number of people are still being searched for while the sites of the tombs containing the remains are a well-kept secret. Numerous families have not yet, in the third decade after the end of the aggression, exercised their basic humanitarian right to know the truth about the fate of their loved ones and to bury the remains in an appropriate manner. The total number of registered forcibly missing persons during the aggression against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina is about 32,000. About 7,546 more people are wanted. With this in mind, it can be stated that the issue of enforced disappearances has not yet been resolved, and that it significantly burdens relations in the region. Participants in armed conflicts - states created by the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia - are still looking for ways to improve the process of searching for the missing. Due to the social significance of this issue, which still problematizes and burdens relations in the country and the region, it is important to look at the new trends established in the new circumstances and frameworks, which search for the still large number of forcibly missing persons.