“Transgenerational memory is not a museum. It’s a living being”

DRAGAN BURSAĆ - columnist, professor of philosophy [Bosnia and Herzegovina]

GENERATION OF LIVED HISTORY

The war does not end with the cessation of the conflict. Survivors continue to carry it deep inside them. The way post-war society relates to war affects individuals and shapes transgenerational memory.

• How has the generation that lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region during the wars in the former Yugoslavia – and especially during the genocide in Srebrenica – experienced and shaped this history in the past 30 years: through personal memories, reflections, but also through narratives in the media, films, books, textbooks and rituals of remembrance?

"The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina did not end with Dayton – it just got a different format. Those who survived carry it like a silent shrapnel in their souls. In the 30 years that followed, the war was filtered through countless narratives: through tears at funerals on the one hand, and through forged textbooks on the other, through repressed trauma, documentaries, but also through filthy political speeches. In this spectrum, there is everything — from suffering to denial, from documentation to mythomania. The generation of lived history today lives between two realities: its own wounds and the public denial of those wounds. And between that gap — the silence yawns. Or worse - manipulation."

A GENERATION BORN IN HISTORY (THOSE BORN IN 1995)

Thirty years later, we are once again witnessing the shaping of history amidst political manipulations of narratives. That is why transgenerational memory is required to carry a culture of remembrance and responsibility to the truth – in the name of future generations who must learn how peace is built and preserved.

• How does a generation born in the year of the Srebrenica genocide today understand this history? And how did growing up in this heritage shape their sense of identity, memory, and responsibility?

"Born in 1995, they are not only children of war — they are also children of the truth that no one wanted to tell them. If we talk about Serbia or the Republika Srpska, for example, they grew up in a country and entity in which crime was institutionalized as heroism, and the victim was crossed out with a rubber band of revisionism. But precisely because of this, this generation is now increasingly digging beneath the surface, searching for answers in documents, judgments, stories of their parents — but also in silence, which often speaks more than noise. Their identity is fractured between the collective amnesic pressure and the personal need to gain freedom through memory. They are not just a generation of memories — they are a generation of questions. Of course, when I say this, I mean a minority or a minority of a minority. They remained in the world of indoctrination of parents and (false) authorities."

TRANSGENERATIONAL MEMORY DYNAMICS (1995-2025)

Society in Bosnia and Herzegovina is still marked by war traumas. Prevailing ethno-national policies keep citizens in fear, under constant threat of a new war – for their own interests. Politics has instrumentalized trauma.

• How – and whether – generations from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the regions that lived through the wars in the former Yugoslavia, especially the events of 1995, and the generation born that same year have shaped mutual understanding of the past? To what extent are their views aligned today – and how do they differ?

"There is no unique memory. There are only fragments: ethno-national, personal, academic, alternative, and if you want, media. Those who survived in 1995 remember through pain, while those born in the same year remember through written traces. However, both generations are hostages to the same policies that make trauma a prey. In some points, they touch: in the solidarity of minorities, in non-governmental attempts to tear the truth from the jaws of denial. Anyway, the key difference is this: the elders are still trying to figure out how it all happened, while the younger ones ask — why didn't anyone do anything when it was already known? And I'm telling you again, it's about those who are on the path of discovery."

REGIONAL FUTURE: TRANSGENERATIONAL MEMORY, HERITAGE OR TRAUMA (2025-2055)

Thirty years after the war, ethnic identity still dominates the civic. In post-war society, the structure of ethnically divided space often makes civic initiatives impossible, as they are automatically attributed an ethnic sign.

• How could political, social, educational and cultural development in Bosnia and Herzegovina – and more broadly in the region – affect how transgenerational memory will be preserved, reinterpreted or denied in the next 30 years?

"If transgenerational memory continues to develop under the baton of ethnonationalism, then in 2055 we will have societies in which both the descendants of the perpetrators and the descendants of the victims will repeat the same sentences — which were once fronts for crime. But if the door of education is opened free of ideological shackles, if the culture of memory is based on documents, not frescoes, if survivors are given a voice, not forgers — there is a chance. Small civic initiatives, art and courageous individuals are the leaven of that potential. Without them, only the trauma on the repeat remains. However, if Serbian society does not systematically stand behind them, for example, we will again talk about prosperity against all kinds of fences in the narratives of memory."

GLOBAL FUTURE: TRANSGENERATIONAL MEMORY, INDIFFERENCE OR REVISIONISM (1995-2025-2055)

In the modern world, geopolitics is rapidly conditioning historical narratives and transgenerational memory – openly trading influence in conflicts and party choices through daily-political revisionism.

• How could global political disruptions, conflicting international historical narratives, and changing norms on justice and human rights shape the ways in which knowledge of wartime events from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the region will be transmitted, challenged, or withheld across generations over the next 30 years?

"The world of 2025 is already like Orwell’s “1984” with truths changed daily. Geopolitics selectively extinguishes and ignites truth, and power decides who is the victim and who is the terrorist. Transgenerational memory in this context becomes hostage to foreign policy interests. If international norms of justice and human rights continue to be relativized, the memory of Srebrenica, Prijedor, Ahmići and all other crimes can only become a "version of the story". "One of the narratives". And the versions don't bite. Versions do not disturb. Ultimately-versions relativize truth. And to preserve the truth, we will have to harass-every lie, every forgery, every revision-every time.

Transgenerational memory is not a museum. It is a living being – that can be nurtured, abused, raped or saved. It is our responsibility to feed it with truth and empathy. Because if we do not preserve the memory – memory will preserve us. And it will not be merciful."



The opinions and insights expressed in this text reflect solely the views of the author. We publish these contributions to encourage reflection and open space for diverse perspectives on the topic of transgenerational memory in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the wider region.