engleski

Exhibiting Jasenovac: Controversies, Manipulations and Politics of Memory

Jasenovac is a site of memory where the dominant narrative is not easily converted into political memory by the state, but rather is frequently contested by multiple actors, both domestically and internationally. At the heart of these contestations are rival interpretations of the nation- and state-building processes invariably linked with the wars of the last century, and the problematic categorization of victims, perpetrators, and heroes from these conflicts, as well as how they are mediated. Since Croatia’s entry into the European Union in 2013, various Croatian governments shifted the emphasis of the commemorative speeches from being part of the European Holocaust remembrance paradigm to allowing space for revisionist interpretations and even silencing of the commemoration. Right- wing Croatian nationalists have sought to minimize the numbers of victims and the nature of the Jasenovac camp, alleging that the majority were actually Ustaša prisoners killed by the communist authorities after the end of the war. Meanwhile, the Bosnian Serb political leadership in the Republika Srpska entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), has increasingly used the cultural memory of Jasenovac to perpetuate ethnic distance from Croats and Bosniaks. In the Republika Srpska narrative, Serbs are the only true anti-fascists and victims, while Croats and Bosniaks are associated with the Ustaše, even though both Croats and Bosniaks significantly contributed to the Partisan movement and were likewise victims of Ustaša concentration camps. This article examines above mentioned misuses of Jasenovac past, on basis of two recent and highly propagandistic museum exhibitions related to Jasenovac.

Jasenovac, politics of memory, misuses of the past, propagandistic museum exhibitions

Accessing Campscapes: Inclusive Strategies for Using European Conflicted Heritage (HERA 15.092 iC-ACCESS 2016-2019)