SYMPOSIUM
Muzej sjećanja na civilne žrtve rata
22.5.2017. POU Petrinja, Croatia
PROGRAM AGENDA
9:30 Departure from Zagreb
11:00 Arrival in Petrinja
11:30 Introduction to the project
12:00 Panel 1 Identification and representation of victims and perpetrators in the
memorialization process
Nataša Mataušić, Croatian History Museum
Richard Jezierski, Centre de la mémoire d'Oradour
Corine Defrance, French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS)
Moderator: Nikola Puharić, YIHR
14:00 Lunch
16:00 Panel 2 The role of museums in historical, political and human rights education
Ivo Pejaković, Jasenovac memorial site
Kerstin Stubenvoll, Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz Gedenk
Christian Melka, Mémorial du Camp des Milles
Moderator: Sven Milekić, BIRN
18:00 Closing speeches
18:20 Departure from Petrinja
Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) in cooperation with the Goethe Institute and the
French Institute in Zagreb with the support of the Elysee Fund is organizing a symposium
entitled Museum of Memory of Civilian Victims in Petrinja.
YIHR has been conducting an advocacy and consultation process for the establishment of
the Museum of Memory of Civilian Victims in Petrinja for a number of years.
Goal of this symposium is to include experts dealing with issues of social memory, history,
museology, pedagogy and other stakeholders such as the local community and youth for the
purpose of making recommendations and analyzing best European practices for
establishment of a museum which deals with a troubled past.
SYMPOSIUM
Muzej sjećanja na civilne žrtve rata
22.5.2017. POU Petrinja, Croatia
Rationale
YIHR Croatia has a strong track record of working in the field of memorialization, since it
implemented many initiatives aimed at remembering victims of atrocities on local, national
and regional levels. Most notably, YIHR Croatia implements a long-term Youth Memories
project (youthmemories.org) and has worked with the International Commission on Missing
Persons on coordination with victims’ organizations on the issues of memory and
reconciliation. YIHR helped the establishment of victim’s organization Protiv zaborava and it
cooperated on research project with organization Suza from Serbia. YIHR is also one of the
founders of Initiative for RECOM, regional commission for the establishment of facts about
war crimes and other serious violations of human rights committed in the former Yugoslavia.
Through this initiative YIHR held many consultations with victim’s organizations throughout
the Croatia and the region.
Through its work in the field, YIHR Croatia noticed a very notable gap in memory initiatives
as a part of transitional justice processes in the region. They are almost entirely either
directed at commemorating (a) fighters and (b) specific group of victims (most regularly
connected by ethnicity). This trend in memory contributes to furthering the gaps in historical
narratives as well as to perpetuating conflict attitudes, rather than contributing to
reconciliation. Many independent reports like recent report by Commissioner for Human
Rights of Council of Europe had emphasized shortcomings regarding transitional justice in
Croatia which also includes memorialization as a crucial aspect. In report published last year
YIHR emphasized how the Croatian Government openly sponsored and actively promoted,
even imposed, a single narrative based on nationalist myths. Last year, former Minister of
culture relativized and denied some of the worst atrocities committed during World War II by
the Croatian Fascists and promoted identification with those who committed them before and
during commemorations at Jasenovac, most notorious concentration camp in Croatia during
WW2. This had worried and angered representatives of the country’s Jewish and Serb
community, who saw this as the peak of the Government’s revisionist policies. This process
can lead to potentially grave issues and even brings into question the process of sustaining
peace in the country and the region.
Petrinja is a small town in central Croatia, which was highly affected by the war from 19911995. For a long time, different ethnical groups lived together in this region – Croats and
Serbs were the biggest majority. During the war Petrinja was a part of Republic of Serbian
Krajina, self-proclaimed state inside of the state of Croatia. Firstly, Croats and other NonSerbs were forced by the Serbs to leave their homes. In 1995 during military Operation
Storm Republic of Serbian Krajina was overrun by Croatian forces and many Croatian-Serbs
fled the region. In both cases civilians were killed. As a consequence, the demographic
structure in Petrinja and its surroundings changed permanently. Nowadays, the population of
the region consists mainly of people who dominate the Croatian historical narrative of the war
and the commemoration practices. Trough study visit and memory mapping conducted
through Youth Memories project in February and June by YIHR members and 10 young
project team members we could see that the only monument which was built in memory of
the war during the 90’s is dedicated to the Croatian fighters.
On the regional and national level, since the conflict in Croatia and former Yugoslavia had a
strong ethnic component, the divisions formed prior and during the conflict still remained a
strong element of social reality which presents a very substantial obstacle for reconciliation
and dialogue. Moreover, due to the focus of educational systems, these conflicting narratives
are being extremely deeply rooted to the generations of young people, thus contributing to
SYMPOSIUM
Muzej sjećanja na civilne žrtve rata
22.5.2017. POU Petrinja, Croatia
inter-generational perpetuation of conflicted views and perspectives. This builds long-term,
sustainable obstacle for cooperation and reconciliation even in post-conflict generations.
Furthermore, divided memorialization initiatives contribute to the same process. Finally,
young people are not being taught to critically assess the historical narratives, but rather take
them as a given. On the local level of Petrinja Croatian historical narrative of the war and the
commemoration practices emphasizing war heroes over civilian victims are dominating the
public space. The story of Serbian refugees that fled Petrinja and their memory about the war
and the town is completely forgotten and is pushed out of dominant discourses about the war
in Croatia but also in Serbia.
The process of consultation for establishing a Museum in Petrinja had a milestone in
February 2016 when YIHR Croatia organized the first public local consultations in Petrinja.
These consultations brought together, for the first time in this community, representatives of
victims from both Croatian and Serbian groups (victims’ groups in former Yugoslavia are
almost entirely organized ethnically) who shared their stories and presented their needs in
terms of commemoration and memory. Representatives of the municipal government,
professional consultants and cultural organizations as well as generally interested public,
attended the event. Apart from one local cultural organization, all participants and
representatives agreed that such an initiative would be welcome and beneficial. However,
there were reservations in terms of what should be the narrative presented in the future
museum.