“Targeting History and Memory”

In the period 2016-2018, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) participated in the implementation of the project “Targeting History and Memory”, supported by the EU Programme, “Europe for Citizens”. Together with the HLC, the partners in the implementation of this project were the Center for Dealing with the Past (Documenta) from Croatia, the History Museum of BH, and Europa Nostra from the Netherlands, with the SENSE Center for Transitional Justice from Croatia taking the lead.

The first public activity within the project included the presentation of the interactive narrative “Targeting History and Memory”, which shows the destruction of the religious and cultural heritage perpetrated during the wars in the former Yugoslavia through the testimonies of eyewitnesses, and through the evidence presented in cases before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which have been prosecuted or documented before this Tribunal.

This was followed by the exhibition “Targeting Monuments – Targeting History and Memory,” which was held in Zagreb, Belgrade, Sarajevo, Pula, and The Hague. The exhibition in The Hague was opened by Judge Carmel Agius, the President of the ICTY, and the one in Pula by Serge Brammertz, the Chief Prosecutor for the ICTY and the UN Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals.

Within the project, a study trip was held for history professors, journalists, artists and students, who visited sites of destruction of cultural and religious heritage in Sarajevo, Mostar and Dubrovnik. Also, a regional seminar for history teachers from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia was organized.

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A chronological overview of events:

18.11.2016 The interactive narrative “Targeting History and Memory” was presented in Sarajevo by the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in Zagreb by the Center for Dealing with the Past  (Documenta).

04.12.2016 The Humanitarian Law Center and the Civic Education Center presented the interactive narrative in Belgrade and in Podgorica.

29.12.2016 The interactive narrative “Targeting History and Memory” was presented in Kosovo, Priština, and the Visoki Dečani monastery.

20.04.2017 In Zagreb (Croatia), the first in the series of exhibitions on the destruction of historical, cultural, and religious monuments in the wars in the former Yugoslavia, “Targeting Monuments – Targeting History and Memory”, was opened.

The exhibition consists of photographs, videos, eyewitness testimonies and documents that speak of the enormous scale of the destruction of the cultural heritage during the armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. The exhibition is based on the narrative “Targeting History and Memory“.

27.05.2017 The exhibition “Targeting Monuments – Targeting History and Memory” was shown in Belgrade (Serbia).

23.06.2017 The exhibition “Targeting Monuments – Targeting History and Memory” was shown in Sarajevo (BiH).

23-27.06.2017 A regional seminar for those working in history education, as well as a study trip to Sarajevo, Mostar, and Dubrovnik, were held.

An educational cycle on the topic of destroying cultural heritage and religious and cultural objects during war conflicts was carried out in cooperation with EUROCLIO, the European Association of History Educators. The programme consisted of three units: expert guidance through the exhibition “Targeting Monuments – Targeting History and Memory”; a regional seminar (June 24-25); and the study trip (June 25-27).

13.10.2017 SENSE Documentation Center opened in Pula (Croatia).

On the occasion of the opening, the exhibition “Targeting Monuments – Targeting History and Memory” was opened at the Centre’s premises.

14.10. 2017 The international conference “Destroying cultural heritage, post-war reconstruction, and trust-building” began.

Its goal was to analyse what has been done and what has been learnt about the importance of cultural and religious heritage in war conflicts, and which challenges still remain regarding the reconstruction of cultural heritage, post-war peace-building, and the problems of divided societies in the region of South-East Europe.

04.04.2018 The exhibition “Targeting Monuments – Targeting History and Memory” was opened in The Hague.

The final report on all the activities implemented is available here.