War in the Balkans
The Balkans suffers from armed conflicts with great regularity in the 20th century. Not only the two World Wars have left deep scars in this part of Europe, but also the different peoples take up arms against each other on several occasions. After having put an end to Turkish domination in 1912, they fought for power among themselves in the Second Balkan War a year later. From that battle, Serbia emerges victorious. Belgrade becomes the capital of the kingdom and later the republic of Yugoslavia.
After World War II, the Balkans remains war-free within the Russian sphere of influence for a long time. But after the disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1991, rivalries between them prove intense. At various points along their shared border, Croats and Serbs commit attacks back and forth, while Serbia meanwhile tries to conquer the partly Muslim Bosnia-Herzegovina, an attempt that fails, but which does lead to the genocide of 8,000 Bosnian men in Srebrenica.
Since a pact between the warring parties is signed in Dayton in November 1995, a shaky peace has prevailed. This is also the case in Kosovo, which unilaterally broke away from Serbia in 1999. However, Belgrade does not recognize Kosovo’s independence..
Casualties since 1991: 140,000 and 14,000 missing.
‘Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center and Cemetery for the Victims of the 1995 Genocide’
Location: Bosnië | Herzegovina, Potočari
Design: 2017
Unveiling: 2017
Photo: The Jordan Times
More than 6,600 victims are buried in the cemetery near the memorial center. In total, about 8,400 Bosnian boys and men and some Croats have been killed by the Serbs in 1995. New remains are still found every year and, after being identified, are interred in the cemetery where a monument with the victims’ names commemorates the genocide. The memorial center is located in the former headquarters of the Dutch peacekeeping force in Srebrenica (1994-1995).
‘Heroinat Memorial’
Location: Kosovo, Prishtina
Design: Molos Architecten
Unveiling: 2015
Photo: Molos Architecten
This memorial commemorates the nearly 20,000 ethnic Albanian women in Kosovo who have been tortured and raped by Serbs during the Kosovo war in 1998 and 1999. Systematic mass rape is a key weapon to ethnically cleanse and demoralise communities. To this end, Serbs often set up separate concentration camps, as they did earlier in Bosnia. To date, no one has been convicted of these crimes. The women carry these horrors with them for the rest of their lives, are forever mentally, and often physically, disfigured. A ‘medal’ was made for each woman, together they form the face of the heroine of Kosovo.
‘Blue Tomb’
Location: Greece, Iona Nisia, Vido
Design: Niukola Krasnov
Unveiling: 1938
Photo: Opanak Newsletter
After Serbia is annexed by Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria in the winter of 1915-1916, the Serbian army retreats to Albania. Thousands of recruits, exhausted and suffering from dysentery, typhoid and pneumonia, are taken to the small island of Vido near Corfu to prevent epidemics. Already 300 soldiers die in the first few days. The rocky soil of the island makes it hardly possible to dig graves. The death toll later rises above 5,000. They are given their graves in the Ionian Sea.
Monument to fallen fighters in Gostilj (village) between 1941 - 1945
Location: Montenegro, Danilovgrad Municipality, Gostilj, Piperi
Design: Cvetko Radovic
Unveiling: 1971
Photo: Marianne van Twillert-Wennekes
In 1799, tiny Montenegro has become independent for the first time. But it remains combative as it covets its open connection to the sea. It succeeded in 1878. After annexation by Serbia in 1918, it becomes part of the monarchy of Yugoslavia in 1926 until its occupation by the Italians and Germans in 1941. In the ensuing freedom struggle, tens of thousands of innocent civilians are murdered. In the village of Gostilj, a population of less than three hundred, 92 men lose their lives between 1941 and 1945. To commemorate them, the residents of Gostilj have erected this monument in their village in 1971.
‘Broken Landscape’
Location: Croatia, Banovina, Čukur hill
Design: Petar Barišić
Unveiling: 2015
Photo: Ivan Dorotic & Maja Bosnic
Croatian photographer and cameraman Gordan Lederer documents the war of independence for Croatian broadcasting. In 1991, while filming, he is shot at by a Serbian sniper. As he rolls down the slope, he is targeted again. Meanwhile, his camera keeps running. He is denied a helicopter flight to the hospital. He dies in the car, on the way to the hospital. The memorial is a giant camera lens with a bullet hole and shows the last image Gordon himself saw.
Monument for Rinas
Location: Kosovo, Istog, Mojstir
Design: unknown
Unveiling: unknown
Photo: Balkan Insight
Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo have been striving for an independent state, free from Serbia, for decades. When NATO comes to Kosovo’s aid with bombing raids in 1999, Serbs expel Albanians from villages and towns at an increased pace. On 6 April, Mojstir is surrounded and shelled. Everyone flees, but Musaj and her five-year-old son Rinas are seriously injured. Grandpa is killed instantly, Rinas dies the next day. Some 863,000 Kosovars flee the country and there are 600,000 internal refugees. About 13,000 people die, mostly ethnic Albanians.