no exception. And as far as the cultivation of the the struggle of the communist-led partisans under
socialist memory is concerned, it is also clear that the command of Tito that was glorified. The official
the members of the victorious partisans during culture of remembrance during the times of socialist
the war and the representatives of the governing Yugoslavia promoted memories that endorsed
structures after 1945 were unable to pass on their the regime and its ideology, and repressed other
conception of the memory to new generations, narratives. After 1990, partisan monuments, and
not even through the imposing and artistic public spaces in general, underwent an ideological
monument to the Battle of Sutjeska. Nevertheless, and ethno-national transformation in order to
the dominant interpretation of the battle in the excise the Yugoslav past from the dominant historical
post-Yugoslav context, as recent examples show, narrative and to replace it with new national accounts.
reflects the intentions emphasised at the time when Today it seems that we have competing narratives
the monument was erected in Tjentište. In the of the past in the societies and states that emerged
eyes of many in the Balkans, Sutjeska continues to after the break-up of Yugoslavia. Research and
represents the symbol of the sacrifice, brotherhood scholarship that will help to deal with this “difficult
and unity of the heroic anti-Fascist struggle, heritage” by contextualising controversial events
marking a milestone on the path to victory of Tito’s and interpretations of the problematic Age of Extremes
partisans in the National War of Liberation of 1941-45. (Eric Hobsbawm) seems to be of crucial importance in
all the countries of the former Yugoslavia.
But at the same time it must be stressed that
socialist monuments did not reflect plurality, nor did
they attempt to integrate dissenting views: it was
Tjentište War Memorial | Thierry Figini via Flickr
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