“Political interpretations of the past are black and white in their exclusivity”

ZLATKO DIZDAREVIĆ - journalist, writer [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 latest and post-war reality teaches us that the predominant attitude of the generation in question, towards the events of the past war, is primarily based on its own experiences and the experiences of the environment in which that time left its traces. Then, years later, following the increasingly controversial interpretations of these events in politics and the public, this relationship was reduced to relatively superficial monitoring and a loss of will and willingness to comment, explain and judge these events in the media, films, books and textbooks. Many targeted and different policy interests in these explanations weakened the interest of witnesses to all this for subsequent clarifications, leaving everything only in their own memories and conclusions."

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 generations, depending on the place of growing up, upbringing and schooling, have mostly a) less and less interest in events from the war years on the territory of the former Yugoslavia and b) living in different environments, have different narratives formed through official public interpretations, media and textbooks on this occasion. Strictly political interpretations of the past are – depending on the environment and political goals – extremely black and white in their exclusivity, while the media, films, cultural events, literature of individual authors often provoke the reaction of young people who say: 'Well, we had no idea before this how it was and who you (the older) actually were...'"

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?

"Large and radical differences regarding all that the wartime past gave, where they arose both during and after the war, were created for the public, mostly, programmatically and targeted under the influence of policies and official institutions in most often different national environments, more or less "cleaned up" by current policies. For the same reasons, as far as possible, individual, group and institutional attempts to reconcile the most often serious differences in interpretation of that past are prevented. Comparison of history textbooks in different, predominantly nationally formatted environments in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be used as an illustration of this fact."

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?

"It could have a major impact if it were possible to achieve an ideally conceived, but never realized project of organization and functioning of the state and society of BiH with the aim of primarily common interests - with all respect and specificity of the inhabitants of the entire state - which, unfortunately, is completely different from reality today. And it is predominantly aimed at the political level: to defeat the "other", and not to seek and coordinate common interests with him through full cooperation. On that ground, the transgenerational memory in the next 30 years will completely, even to the end, mutually divide today's generations living in these areas."

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?

"It will have devastating consequences for the once existing narratives in the relationships with which people lived and acted. The horrors that are shaking the world today, such as Palestine and Gaza, are found almost as much in the unimaginable crimes and genocide, primarily against civilians there, as in the "legalization" of the world's silence on this matter. The misery of the world's "justice system" in not responding with concrete actions to everything we witness, step by step becomes an everyday reality built into the way of behaviour and thinking of generations to come."



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.