War on memory – Museums and Memorials in Croatia and Bosnia 30 Years after the Yugoslav Wars

This article examines the development of politics of history and the culture of remembrance in Croatia and Bosnia through contemporary memorial museums. The Yugoslav wars of disintegration are also seen here as a “war on memory” of the unresolved legacy of World War II – above all, the civil war between the Croat fascist Ustasha regime, the Serb Chetniks and Tito’s Partisans. Museums dedicated to the wars of the 1990s show how contentious and emotionally charged these memory conflicts remain today.

The representations in the memorial museums in Croatia and Bosnia examined here also move beyond the “inner-Yugoslav” frame of reference, depicting one’s own community as the “new Jews” and the enemy as the “new Nazis”. Alongside appeals to the viewer’s empathywith the victims, there is often a clear intent to demonize the other side and create moral clarity – whether through self-stylization as a “pure” victim or by highlighting heroic military resistance and victory.

The instrumentalization of history and the use of demonizing enemy images block the path to peaceful and thriving coexistence. What’s needed is a civil society-driven, nuanced and critical examination of the shared responsibility of the respective “we-group”. However, the concept of “reconciliation” must not be misused to settle scores or to avoid addressing who bore the main responsibility and who suffered the most.