Første Verdenskrig som erindring i Bosnien, Kroatien og Serbien: fra jugoslaviske til nationale fortællinger

Translated title of the contribution: The First World War as memory in Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia - from Yugoslav to national narratives

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Abstract

In this article, we investigate the public memory of the First World War as written into the national histories of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia in the run-up to the centennial of the outbreak of the War. Assuming that public uses of history are influenced by demands in their present as well as commemorative traditions, we study the First World War in official and semi-official national narratives in the three states and in their Yugoslav predecessors. The main sources of our analyses are schoolbooks and popular history books, supplemented by history debates in the media. First World War memory is both shared and divided: Though a catastrophe everywhere, to Serbia it was a triumph on the allied side, whereas in Bosnia and Croatia it was mainly a state collapse. Yet, the War also provided the conditions for creation of the first Yugoslav state, and consequently war history was narrated within a Yugoslav context. In socialist Yugoslavia, the triumphant Serbian narrative was expanded to include the rest of Yugoslavia and a Marxist interpretation was added. After the fall of Yugoslavia, the Serbian history remains heroic, now with a strictly national focus, while different and
less prominent narratives are being created in Croatia and Bosnia.
Translated title of the contributionThe First World War as memory in Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia - from Yugoslav to national narratives
Original languageDanish
JournalNordisk Oestforum
Volume28
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)99-118
Number of pages19
ISSN0801-7220
Publication statusPublished - 2014

Keywords

  • Faculty of Humanities
  • First World War, memory, Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia

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