Creating understanding of the WWII in the Balkans and Europe – report

(tekst dostupan samo na engleskom jeziku)

With support of Holocaust Remembrance Alliance on October 1 and 2 2015 seminar was organized in Sarajevo  aimed at encouraging public discussion on way Jasenovac concentration camp and other WWII camps (concentration camps Staro Sajmište, Kampor, Slana) are remembered in post-Yugoslav countries in order to deepen public dialogue on Holocaust and other crimes against humanity and contribute to establishing a participative culture of remembrance that fosters mutual understanding and accountability in the Western Balkans and broader Europe.

Complementary goal of the project was to strengthen exchange between crucial Holocaust remembrance museum institutions and human rights organisations in post-Yugoslav countries. Project also aimed to contribute to challenging recent wave of nationalism during which director and staff of Jasenovac Memorial Site has received death threats and advocate efficient government involvement in creating programs and infrastructures focusing on awareness on the Holocaust and contribute to combating anti-Semitism and xenophobia.

First day of the seminar was dedicated to following topics:

– occupation in the Balkans, Victims and their social acknowledgement and restitution after WWII,

– remembering resistance – from glorification to negation and Current challenges in research and

– exhibiting on WWII in the Balkans. Second day was dedicated to possibilities for preparing exhibitions on

– WWII in the Balkans. Participants expressed wish to continue with on-going and projects.