The Public Secret and Private Pain of Wartime Sexual Violence: Comparing the Heroinat Memorial and the 2020 Newborn Monument from the Perspective of NGOs in Kosovo

In a rare year where there are two monuments dedicated to survivors of wartime sexual violence in Kosovo, the permanent Heroinat Memorial and the year-long Newborn Monument have different approaches and effects in their processes of commemorating wartime sexual violence. This paper approaches a comparison of these two monuments through four interviews with representatives of women-centered civil society organizations in Pristina, Kosovo. This paper finds that the Heroinat Memorial and the 2020 theme of the Newborn Monument are sites of contested meanings, because of the different approaches of each respective monument, each of the monuments’ gendered implications, and the implications of the nation-building process found in both. Ultimately, the contested meanings and understandings enumerated by the participants about the monuments speak to a broader trend of contested memories of wartime sexual violence in Kosovo