Memory, historical responsibility, truth and justice: the Balkan wars

Abstract

In 1998, during a fieldtrip in the former Yugoslavia, I interviewed members of associations of internally displaced persons (IDPs). They were petitioning the authorities to recover their homes and properties because they wanted to “go home”. They also wanted the truth told about their families, communities and the war. They presented me with photos of houses or farms, anonymous letters threatening them if they would not leave, photos of missing family members and legal papers. And they wanted justice. They wanted that those responsible for killing their kin and neighbors and driving them from their homes should be punished. Based on these and other experiences I investigate four institutions designed to learn the truth about contested historical events and their interpretation: the international criminal tribunal, the truth and reconciliation commission, the outsider commission, and political agreement between adversaries.