essay

Recounting the dead: the rediscovery and redefinition of wartime massacres in late- and post-Communist Yugoslavia

memory, history, and opposition under state socialism • Santa Fe, New Mexico • Published In 1994 • Pages: 167-184

By: Hayden, Robert M..

Abstract
This article discusses the resurgence of nationalism in Yugoslavia, long suppressed under the period of communist rule (1945-1990), and the use by the nationalists of 'secret or hidden histories' relevant to wartime massacres and atrocities first by Germans on Serbs and Croats, then by Serbs on Croats and vice versa, in order to break up and discredit the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY) in each republic and in Yugoslavia itself. 'Thus in Yugoslavia in the 1980s and early 1990s, we can see the invocation and manipulation of hidden and oppositional histories from within and without the state socialist power structure' (p. 168). Hayden describes how the suppressed knowledge of the massacres were used to challenge the version of events that had been carefully constructed and officially approved during the communist period.
Subjects
History and culture change
Political behavior
Warfare
Aftermath of combat
culture
Serbs
HRAF PubDate
1997
Region
Europe
Sub Region
Southeastern Europe
Document Type
essay
Evaluation
Creator Type
Ethnologist
Document Rating
4: Excellent Secondary Data
Analyst
John Beierle ; 1996
Field Date
no date
Coverage Date
1980s-1992
Coverage Place
Serbia
Notes
Robert M. Hayden
LCCN
93046594
LCSH
Serbs