Museums “in waiting”

The intensive geopolitical, social, and cultural changes that have marked the last two decades of the turbulent 20th century and the equally dynamic and dramatic start of the 21st century have followed closely the rapid development of information and communication technologies and of the globalization process. Numerous theoreticians in the fields of social sciences and humanities point […]

Why did the Nazis want to clean Roma from the face of the earth? Elimination of Roma during World War Two

Between 250,000 and 500,000 Roma were brutally killed during the Second World War Genocide (Holocaust Encyclopedia, 2020). This act of torturing and murdering Roma is also known as ‘Samudaripen’ in the Romani language. Thus, 2nd of August (International Roma Genocide Remembrance Day) and 16th of May (Romani Resistance Day) are dates when Roma remember the ‘Samudaripen’. Although[…]

WHO OWNS JASENOVAC?

"The concentration camp is imaginable only and exclusively as literature, never as reality. (Not even–or rather, least of all–when we have directly experienced it.)" Imre Kertész Photo: Vesna Lalić Certain policies have not been defeated, not even after the collapse of their primary ideologues and leaders, as it was in the case of Slobodan Milošević’s fall in[…]

Republic Srpska lives in a political dictatorship

The director Jasmila Žbanić, regarding the film "Quo vadis, Aida?" about the genocide in Srebrenica, about the film premier in Srebrenica, the relationship towards it, as well as the events it depicts in Republic Srpska, Oscar candidacy as an opportunity for more people to see the film. Photo: Aleksandar Roknić Translation: Luna Đorđević Right after the war[…]

Instead of Substance, Spectacle

Photo: BIRN For quite some time, the “economic normalization” between Serbia and Kosovo has been one of the crucial topics for the Serbian public. This has particularly been the case in the last three weeks, ever since the meeting in the White House and the signing of those documents. Even more than the general public, notable experts[…]

Facing your Painful Past every day: The difficulties of Dealing with the Past in the Digital Age

Photo credits: Besnike Salihu The digital era has introduced us to online media and social networking platforms, which have made it easier to obtain multiple formats of information in real time, fostered greater connection, brought people closer, and created alternative ways to network and communicate. Whilst these are positive changes, at some level the digital age has[…]

Facing your Painful Past every day: The difficulties of Dealing with the Past in the Digital Age

Photo credits: Besnike Salihu The digital era has introduced us to online media and social networking platforms, which have made it easier to obtain multiple formats of information in real time, fostered greater connection, brought people closer, and created alternative ways to network and communicate. Whilst these are positive changes, at some level the digital age has[…]

Dealing with the Forgotten

Every time I knock on the doors of families of the missing, the experience is unique. Every repeated knock is accompanied by the conscious fear that I am about to reopen old wounds. The latest experience was not any different than the other times when I have tackled this topic.   Some months ago, I went to[…]

Can over there become over here?

The past defines the present that we live in Our country is trapped, we have no understanding of democracy, our society is poisoned, our educational system is degraded, our legal system is inefficient, our minorities are discriminated, and the media is under constant attack. As I sit and read the news about events which occupy the public’s[…]