“An organized social oblivion was planned and implemented”

Prof. dr. VESNA RAKIĆ-VODINELIĆ - retired law professor [Serbia]

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?

"I live in Serbia. The majority position was and remains the negation of the genocide in Srebrenica. The prevailing attitude, which is persistently repeated and aggressively imposed by the government, is that a bigcrime "occurred" in Srebrenica, but that this crime was not genocide. The verdict of the International Court of Justice, as well as the verdicts of the War Crimes Tribunal of certain defendants, have not significantly changed the ruling narrative. Unfortunately, the majority accepted the negative attitude. Only exceptionally and occasionally, mostly among peace activists, the memory of genocide is renewed.

A certain change came with the film "Quo Vadis, Aida?", which "personalized" genocide to its individual victims. However, the film's messages did not reach a large number of people. Research by domestic humanitarian organizations reached a small number of people.

An organized social oblivion was planned and implemented. The regime believes that social oblivion here will lead to general oblivion.

Moreover, reminders of genocide are indirectly punished. An activist who threw eggs at a mural of war criminal Ratko Mladić was fined for "disturbing public order and peace" decades after the Srebrenica genocide."

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?

"Today's 30-year-olds could be roughly divided into three groups. The largest is the group of indifferent, which can be considered a "success" of the government, its negatory attitude. Only occasionally, some people get cured if/when they are reminded, but this does not change indifference, it does not change organized oblivion.

The second group consists of aggressive deniers, whose identity is not formed by forgetting and indifference, but by active denial. That part of the generation has grown into active ethno-nationalists, who perceive the reminder of the genocide in Srebrenica as an "Ustasha" attitude and, when they have the tiniest reason, react with fusion violence. The smallest number are those who are aware that the crime of genocide was committed in Srebrenica, and who are ready to publicly state the facts about the genocide and to publicly defend that position. They do not hide behind the generation that was then made up of adults and are ready to take some of the social responsibility on themselves. Unfortunately, there are very few of them."

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?

"Generations of adults and those who were born at the time of the Srebrenica genocide, in Serbia, are not significantly different. For most of them - silence is common. The elderly are silent, because they know what they "need" to keep quiet about in order to maintain the apparent social peace.

Most of those born in 1995 are silent and indifferent. It does not matter to them that genocide was committed at that time. Society's reaction, as if agreed: something bad happened in Srebrenica, but what do we have to do with it?"

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?

"The most effective way of transgenerational remembrance of the Srebrenica genocide would be throughschool, education in general.

We know that the same history in the region is told as several completely different histories. These different "histories" are not the result of real historical learning, but of subsequent rewriting, manipulation, presenting false narratives as true, neglect, emphasizing "one's" real or fictional sacrifices in the foreground, at the expense of those "others". The former brotherhood and unity are presented as communist, not as a civilizational creation. Since the regimes of the states in the region are more autocratic than democratic, there is no chance that the real history of the Srebrenica genocide or the assessment of the silence about it will "break through" the multitude of subsequently altered histories.

Another effective way would be impartial and responsible media. However, in Serbia, even those media that are not under the control of the regime, mention not so much the genocide, but court rulings about it, about "round" anniversaries.

If today's young generation is truly most influenced by social media - their topics are not a responsible approach to the genocide in Srebrenica, but conspiracy theories about it."

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?

"At this point, the most likely scenario is a revision of history, largely as a result of Trump's election as US president. The obvious genocide in Gaza is being vehemently denied, claiming that it is the right response to the supposedly widespread anti-Semitism in the world. The climax is the attempt to devastate universities that did not suppress student demonstrations over the crimes in Gaza. It is possible that retaliation against the best universities, in the next decade, will suppress an honest historical approach to the genocide in Srebrenica. It seems that after denying the genocide in Gaza, from a high position in the world, it is possible to deny any genocide without consequences."



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.