Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.5559/di.26.3.02
Personal Memories of Participants of the Croatian War of Independence
Andriana Benčić
orcid.org/0000-0002-4025-1176
; Jasenovac Memorial Site, Jasenovac; University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam
Abstract
Based on the analysis of in-depth interviews of oral history
with 50 participants of the Croatian War of Independence,
this article aims to analyze, comprehend and explain
meanings which these 50 participants attribute to the
Croatian War of Independence. The article examines the
construction of the personal memories of those social actors
who did not have political power during the period of war,
and the central focus is placed on the social and cultural
circumstances that influence the construction of personal
wartime narratives. The article discusses and ultimately
concludes that the personal narratives are largely witness to
the previously planned, aggressive and genocidal nature of
Serbian politics led by Slobodan Milosevic which served as
the cause and start of the Croatian War of Independence.
Furthermore, personal narratives reveal the large-scale
destruction of Croatian cities during the war (urbicide and
culturocide), and the distancing of interpersonal (inter-
-national) relationships as a consequence of the war.
Ultimately, although multilayered in their narrative
explications, the personal narratives of people who
experienced the Croatian War of Independence are
compatible with the concept of the Croatian War of
Independence as an aggression towards Croatia, with the
aim of destruction of the Croatian national identity and
conquest of Croatian territory.
Keywords
the Croatian War of Independence (the Homeland War); collective memories of war conflicts; oral history; personal memories; public memories
Hrčak ID:
187729
URI
Publication date:
17.10.2017.
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