Serbs in the Požega County: Memory, Remembrance and National Identity

Autori razmatraju nacionalni identitet Srba, njihovo sjećanje na traumatične povijesne događaje i oblike pamćenja, posebno one koji se tiču Drugoga svjetskog rata i rata devedesetih godina, na temelju nalaza kvalitativnih polustrukturiranih intervjua provedenih u bivšoj općini Požega u studenome 2016. Rad čine dva dijela: sjećanja na Drugi svjetski rat i sjećanja na suživot u socijalizmu i ratne sukobe devedesetih godina. Sjećanje i pamćenje Srba Požeštine na Drugi svjetski rat te ratne sukobe i raspad jugoslavenske države devedesetih godina posebno su vezani za prostore njihova življenja u tim vremenima. Kako zbog teške trauma koja su ta iskustva stvorila u njihovu kolektivnom imaginariju tako i zbog marginalnoga društvenog položaja u poslijeratnom vremenu – starije stanovništvo, slaba naseljenost, stigmatiziranost nacionalne zajednice, uloga u ratu, status manjine – otežali su njihovu reintegraciju u lokalne zajednice Požeštine i očuvanje nacionalnog identiteta na tim prostorima. Istodobno, reintegraciji Srba pridonosi sjećanja na multietnički suživot u bivšemu socijalističkom poretku.The authors look into the Serbs\u27 national identity, their memories of traumatic past events and forms of remembering, especially those related to World War II and the war of the 1990s, based on the findings of qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted in what used to be the Požega Municipality in November 2016. The article is composed of two parts: memories of World War II and memories of coexistence in socialism and the armed conflict of the 1990s. The memories and remembrances of Serbs from the Požega county concerning World War II, the armed conflicts and the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, are all closely related to the spaces they inhabited at the time. Due to the severe trauma in their collective imagery suffered as a consequence of such experiences and also due to the marginal role they have played in the post-war era – older population, sparsely populated area, stigmatized national community, role played in the war, minority status – the reintegration of Serbs into the local communities in the Požega county and the preservation of their national identity in the area have been rather challenging. At the same time, remembering what coexistence was like in a multi-ethnic environment in socialism could contribute to the reintegration of Serbs