Transgenerational Memory

This edition of the Knowledge Transfer Module: The Art of Understanding #3 – Kulture of Knowledge presents a structured tool for education, reflection and critical engagement with the challenges of memory. 24 figures from the former Yugoslavia respond to five questions, offering diverse insights and perspectives on transgenerational memory.

How is memory transmitted between generations, what conditions shape its transmission, and how does it influence contemporary society? TRANSGENERATIONAL MEMORY refers to the passing of historical experiences, traumas and narratives from one generation to another. It encompasses the ways in which individuals, families, communities and societies transmit knowledge and the consequences of past events - through education, storytelling, culture, media or institutional frameworks. Beyond basic remembrance, transgenerational memory shapes how history is understood, confronted or denied over time. It plays a crucial role in forming collective identity, influencing intergenerational relationships, and shaping how societies deal with injustice, conflict, and accountability.

This challenge is particularly visible in post-conflict societies where violence was not committed in secret, but before the eyes of institutions, local communities and the international community. In such an environment, the problem is not a lack of evidence, but the political struggle over how that evidence is used, distorted or erased. When institutions fail to resist this process, they become part of the problem, which is why societies across the former Yugoslavia continue to struggle with transgenerational memory, in which public discourse is shaped not by genuine confrontation with the past but by its manipulation and suppression.

We are faced with three generations, each shaped by a distinct relationship to this history. The first generation is those who lived through the war and still contend with the legacy of unfulfilled justice and contested truth. The second generation is those born at the end of the war in 1995, now turning thirty, who grew up in a society that frequently denied or distorted the facts of the war and its consequences. Many of them came of age without access to reliable information about the dissolution of Yugoslavia or were taught narratives that minimise or relativise war crimes and the genocide in Srebrenica. The arrival of the third generation - those born in 2025 - presents both a challenge and an opportunity. What this generation will know thirty years from now, and how they will come to know it, will depend on how we define, structure and prioritise transgenerational memory.