Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Europeanisation and Memory Politics in the Western Balkans pp 75–95Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

European Union Guidelines to Reconciliation in Mostar: How to Remember? What to Forget?

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Memory Politics and Transitional Justice ((MPTJ))

Abstract

This chapter examines two distinct processes of the Europeanisation of memory in Mostar as well as their social consequences. While analysing different phases of the reconstruction of Mostar directly handled by the European Union, this chapter firstly examines how the imposition of the reconciliation frame led to the rearrangement of the history of the city and more polarisation around a formerly common heritage. Secondly, this piece examines how local non-governmental actors framed the Partisan cemetery of Mostar into a European narrative, fitting the expectations of the Declaration on European Conscience and Totalitarianism, and how this process led to an ideological wash-out of the main anti-fascist symbol of Mostar.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Interview in Mostar, 26 June 2019.

  2. 2.

    Office of the High Representative in charge of the application of the civil chapters of the Dayton Peace Agreement.

  3. 3.

    Paddy Ashdown: High Representative in BiH from 2002 till 2006.

  4. 4.

    It is interesting to note when studying the war iconography of Mostar that a huge number of pictures used to illustrate the second war of 1993 are, in reality, images of the first war damage.

  5. 5.

    Vojislav Šešelj was the chief of the Radical Serb Party and war criminal accused of Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes.

  6. 6.

    Zalik is located at the North entrance of Mostar.

  7. 7.

    Croatian Defense Forces was the militia of the ultra-right croat “Party of Rights”. It comprised Muslims, Croats, and foreign fighters. It was disbanded after the assassination of Blaž Kraljević, its commandant, in August 1992.

  8. 8.

    Unrecognised and illegal proto-state which aimed at linking all territories where the majority of the population was Croatian and then join the Republic of Croatia.

  9. 9.

    Former Mayor of Bremen.

  10. 10.

    Mostar was composed of 7 autonomous municipalities, 3 in the West, 3 in the East and the Central Zone, designated as neutral, which was destined to be jointly administrated by both sides of the city.

  11. 11.

    The participants of the Rome conference were state level participants: signatory countries of the Dayton Peace Agreement and an EU delegation.

  12. 12.

    This is the only example of OHR taking over the governance of a city in BiH.

  13. 13.

    Personal observation, June–August 2004.

  14. 14.

    Communist and anti-fascist armed resistance movement led by Josip Broz Tito.

  15. 15.

    Interviews with visitors of the Cemetery and regular informants in Mostar 2016–2019.

  16. 16.

    Ibid.

  17. 17.

    Nezavisna Država Hrvatska or NDH: Independent State of Croatia was self-proclaimed on a part of the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in April 1941 after the invasion by the Axis Forces. It was an auxiliary fascist puppet state of the Nazi regime. Mostar was part of the NDH where the NDH regime installed the Office for Colonisation (“Zavod za kolonizaciju”) in charge of the relocation of Croatian displaced persons, as well as the distribution of agricultural land.

  18. 18.

    The author was present on site.

  19. 19.

    Safet Oručević was Mayor of Mostar from 1994 to 2001. He is now a businessman and one of the biggest media owners in BiH. Oručević is a very controversial character in Mostar who said he retired from politics but is always very present on the local scene in various occasions.

  20. 20.

    “Zadatak Centra je spriječiti da se zaboravi zlo kroz koje su prošli građani Mostara i Hercegovine svih nacionalnosti, te da istina o stradanju Mostara i Hercegovine bude nezaboravno svjedočanstvo i opomena budućim generacijama ove zemlje”. Translation by the author.

  21. 21.

    Personal communication, 12 June 2019, Mostar.

  22. 22.

    Personal communication, 22 June 2019, Mostar.

  23. 23.

    Prisoners of concentration camps in the Mostar area during the last war.

  24. 24.

    Radivoje Krulj, Orthodox Bishop of Mostar.

  25. 25.

    Fieldnotes, May, Mostar.

  26. 26.

    Fieldnotes, 6 March 19, Mostar.

  27. 27.

    Fieldnotes, 22 June 2019, Mostar.

References

  • Ashdown, P. (2004). High Representative’s TV Address. www.ohr.int/?ohr_archive=high-representatives-tv-address. Accessed 15 February 2019.

  • Bieber, F. (2005). Local Institutions Engineering: A Tale of Two Cities, Mostar and Brčko. International Peace Keeping, 12(3), 420–433.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bing, J. (2001). Ideas and Realities: Rebuilding in Postwar Mostar. Journal of Architectural Education, 54(4), 238–249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bjelaković, N., & Strazzari, F. (1999). The Sack of Mostar, 1992–1994: The Politico-Military Connection. European Security, 8(2)‚ 73–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bollens, S. (2007). Cities, Nationalism and Democratization. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Calame, J., & Pašić A. (2009). Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Mostar: Cart Before the Horse (Working paper n°7). Conflict in Cities and the Contested State. www.conflictincities.org. Accessed 1 December 2016.

  • Carabelli, G. (2012). Readdressing Mostar, the Architecture of Everyday Life. Queen’s University Belfast.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carabelli, G. (2018). The Divided City and the Grassroots- The (Un)making of Ethnic Divisions in Mostar. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cateux, A. (2018, October 28). The Partisan Cemetery of Mostar: The Instrument, the Monument, the Nostalgia. Edinost. http://edinostcall.alessiomazzaro.com/2018/10/28/the-partisan-cemetery-of-mostar-the-instrument-the-monument-the-nostalgia/?fbclid=IwAR328UztVhWEsjZYrsNIRjNmqOWd_ElSFMdhVsjpR7TBECieCQfdHdJI_8w. Accessed 15 February 2020.

  • Centar za mir. (2019). 14. Februar Dan oslobodjenja Mostara Partizansko spomen groblje. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOX43BVLy-c. Accessed 15 August 2019.

  • Deutsche Welle. (2018, May 10). Čiji je antifašizam u Mostaru? https://www.dw.com/bs/čiji-je-antifašizam-u-mostaru/a-43732112. Deutsche Welle. Accessed 18 November 2019.

  • Djurasović, A. (2019). Divided Cities as Complex Cities: Transition and Complexity in Mostar. Space and Polity. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562576.2019.1635446.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dodds, J. D. (1998). Bridge Over the Neretva. Archaeology, 51, 48–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • European Parliament. (2009). European Parliament Resolution of 2 April 2009 on European Conscience and Totalitarianism. https://www.europarl.europa.eu. Accessed 15 August 2019.

  • Greiff, T., & Greiff, J. L. (2014). The “Need for Success”: Untying International Peace Intervention in Mostar. Alternatives Global, Local, Political, 39(2), 108–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grodach, K. (2002). Reconstituting Identity and History in Post-war Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina. City, 6(1).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hromadžić, A. (2013). Discourses of Trans-Ethnic Narod in Postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina. Nationalities Papers: the Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity, 41(2), 259–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hromadžić, A. (2015). Dissatisfied Citizens: Ethnonational Governance, Teacher’s Strike and Professional Solidarity in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina. European Politics and Society, 16(3), 429–446.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jansen, S. (2013). If Reconciliation Is the Answer, Are We Asking the Right Question? Studies in Social Justice, 7(2), 229–243.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jauković, M. (2014). To Share or to Keep: The Afterlife of Yugoslavia’s Heritage and the Contemporary Heritage Management Practices. Croatian Political Science Review, 51(5), 80–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jouhanneau, C. (2008). Les cimetières partisans: discours politiques et souvenirs privés. Le courrier des pays de l’Est 2008/3 (n°1067), 77–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kappler, S. (2012). Mysterious in Content: The European Union Peacebuilding Framework and Local Spaces Agency in Bosnia and Herzegovina. University of St Andrews.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirn, G., & Burghardt, R. (2012). Jugoslovenski partizanski spomenici. Između revolucionarne politike i apstraktnog modernizma. Jugolink. Pregled postjugoslovenskih istraživanja. https://jugolink.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/jl_2_1_kirn_burkhardt.pdf. Accessed 20 August 2019.

  • Lawler, A. (2013). The Partisan’s Cemetery in Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina: Implications of the Deterioration of a Monument and Site. KUL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leboš, S. (2019, June 28). Nepodnošljiva lakoća depolitizacije. Viz Kultura. https://vizkultura.hr/nepodnosljiva-lakoca-depolitizacije/. Accessed 30 June 2019.

  • Makaš, E. (2007). Representing Competing Identities: Building and Rebuilding in Postwar Mostar, Bosnia-Hercegovina. Cornell University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malas, M. (2013). Urban Palimpsest: Reconstruction and the Politics of Memory. University College London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milošević, A., & Touquet, H. (2018). Unintended Consequences: The EU Memory Framework and the Politics of Memory in Serbia and Croatia. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 18(3), 381–399.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pagani, F. (1996). L’administration de Mostar par l’Union Européenne. Annuaire français de droit international, 42, 234–254.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palmberger, M. (2013). Practices of Border Crossing in Post-War Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Case of Mostar. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 20(5), 544–560.

    Google Scholar 

  • R. D. (2018, May 19). Antifašisti o posljednjim aktivnostima na Partizanskom groblju: Više štete nego koristi. Klix.ba. https://www.klix.ba/vijesti/bih/antifasisti-o-posljednjim-aktivnostima-na-partizanskom-groblju-vise-stete-nego-koristi/180519025. Accessed 10 July 2019.

  • Rolland-Traina, S. (2004). Autochtones étrangers: les déplacés à Mostar après la guerre de Bosnie-Herzégovine. Balkanologie, 3(1).

    Google Scholar 

  • Rolland-Traina, S. (2011). Paysages religieux après la bataille. Ethnicisation du territoire urbain à Mostar à la fin du XXème siècle. Études balkaniques-Cahiers Pierre Belon, 18, 89–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, E. (2009). The View from the Old Bridge: How Mostar Is (Re)constructed by Tourists and for Tourists in the Post-Conflict Present. The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology, 29(1), 26–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spagosmail. (2019). Dani antifašizma u Mostaru: Korak od sedam milja. http://spagosmail.blogspot.com/2019/02/dani-antifasizma-u-mostaru-korak-od.html. Accessed 18 November 2019.

  • Suri, S. N. (2012). Two Cities with No Soul: Planning for Division and Reunification in Post-War Mostar (48th ISOCARP Congress). New Delhi.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO. (2004). Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar. Youtube. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/946/. Accessed 16 November 2019.

  • Wollentz, G. (2017). Making a Home in Mostar: Heritage and the Temporalities of Belonging. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 23(10), 928–945.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yarwood, J. (1997). The Urban Planning Work of the European Union Administration of Mostar, Bosnia-Hercegovina, 1994–1996. The Town Planning Review, 68(4).

    Google Scholar 

  • Yarwood, J. (1998). Rebuilding Mostar: Urban Reconstruction in a War Zone. Liverpool: Liverpool Press University.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Heleen Touquet for her comments and advices, as well as to Taylor McConnell, and our editors Ana Milošević and Tamara Trošt for their helpful feedbacks.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Prospective, IACCHOS, Université Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Aline Cateux

Authors
  1. Aline Cateux
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Leuven Institute for Criminology (LINC), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Ana Milošević

  2. School of Economics and Business, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Tamara Trošt

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Cateux, A. (2021). European Union Guidelines to Reconciliation in Mostar: How to Remember? What to Forget?. In: Milošević, A., Trošt, T. (eds) Europeanisation and Memory Politics in the Western Balkans. Memory Politics and Transitional Justice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54700-4_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation