The crux of memory in the Western Balkans

How important is (collective) memory today and how useful is it to study its mechanisms in the Western Balkans? For some, memory may not be a priority. Indeed, by supporting and promoting economic reforms, as well as cross-border social and environmental activism and cooperation, reconciliation will naturally follow.

For others, this is only partially true. Studying and understanding memory in the Western Balkans is a priority as it shapes individual actions, even within the community. Memory can relate, for example, to the schooling of future citizens, who are taught a specific history and a certain truth, one that - especially in the region - changes from place to place.

In this sense, although shared activism or forms of economic cooperation may be unifying, they would hardly have the cohesive force that would come from a shared interpretation of the past.

However, active peacebuilding remains central. The second part of the event focused on the crucial role of women's peace activism in the region, whose struggles and denunciations have long and wrongly been considered secondary.

Participating in the panel discussion were Langer Prize winners Nataša Kandić (Serbia) and Vjosa Dobruna (Kosovo); Valentina Gagić and Bekir Halilović for the Adopt Srebrenica association (Bosnia and Herzegovina); and Liljana Zufić and Lalla Golfarelli representing the network of women from Bologna and Emilia-Romagna who supported the Tuzlanska Amica association in Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

A special remembrance was dedicated to Irfanka Pasagic, a key figure in peaceful activism and a neuropsychiatrist committed to helping women, men and children since the beginning of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Memory and law are strongly connected, both to each other and to the political dimension. As mentioned, because memory is fundamental, it also legitimizes itself through the laws of a state and, thus, political bodies.

Čarna Pištan of the Center for Constitutional Studies and Democratic Development highlighted how the preambles of the constitutions of the countries in the Western Balkans recall events that are both divisive and foundational. For instance, Croatia refers to the 1990s conflict as a "just war of independence", despite some of its protagonists being war criminals who persecuted minorities that are still living in the country today. In Serbia, meanwhile, the constitution’s preamble explicitly asserts that Kosovo is an integral part of the national territory.

As Jens Woelk, professor at the University of Trento, has emphasized, Bosnia and Herzegovina remains the most interesting case. Its constitution, written by the international community and annexed to the Dayton Peace Accords, has never been officially translated from English and thus did it leave room to commemorate anyone’s memory. The preamble mentions the three constituent peoples, "the others" and the "citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina", reinforcing an ethnic partition, that excludes any notion of a shared collective memory.

Collective memory, or the absence of it, and memorial laws act as a mirror of society. This is not only true for the Western Balkans, but also helps explain, for example, the revisionism Putin has used to justify the invasion of Ukraine. If memory is to be cherished and protected, how do we determine which of the many conflicting narratives in the Western Balkans is most deserving?

The solution is not simple, but remembering positive examples of interethnic coexistence and solidarity - such as those cited by historian and researcher Marco Abram of Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa - can help foster a collective and shared memory in the region. A virtuous example is also the "Ordinary Heroes" project of the Post-Conflict Research Center in Sarajevo, which tells heroic stories of ordinary people.