The memory of ordinary, everyday intercultural or interreligious relationships, in brief
The very close relations between Muslims living here and their Orthodox Christian neighbours are widely known thanks to a video with interviewees shortly before the Muslims of this village left the area under the control of Bosnian Serb forces in 1994, the context for which came to be debated at the trial of Ratko Mladic. No one has cast doubt on the strength of the good relations between neighbours of different faiths here, though there remains much that could be better understood.
The context in which these relationships made a difference at the time
Vhrbarje is a small village whose residents are recorded in a series of censuses between 1874 and 1991 as being entirely, or almost entirely, Muslim. Their neighbours live nearby, and a number of factors may have encouraged close relations. Water resources have been shared, for instance. The villagers are some distance from the nearest towns, Sokolac and Rogatica, situated on an upland karst which can be difficult to access in winter, but which provides good pasture which supports the independent farmers of the region. The strength of relations was tested during the Second World War, when the Germans arrested local Orthodox villagers on suspicion of a partisan killing – and villagers from Vhrbarje vouched for the detainees, securing their release. This, it has been speculated, may have influenced the support which they received from their Orthodox neighbours after the Sokolac Crisis Committee took charge of preparations for dealing with non-Serbs in the region in 1991. In the video of 1994, Muslim residents of different ages insist they never faced any disagreements or pressure – let alone violence – from their beloved neighbours, and they underline the tradition of mutual aid which was so important in their continuing friendship. The interviewees do not mention that Muslim villagers had to perform forced labour, as emerged in court documents after the war. Whereas Muslims of Vhrbarje and nearby Butina were allowed a somewhat protected status during the war, as non-Serbs who were considered to have demonstrated loyalty to the Republika Srpska, other Muslim settlements in the region were the subject of much more brutal ethnic cleansing.
What has happened since, which makes the memory valuable
The post-1995 political context imeans that the memory of strong local Muslim-Christian ties continues to attract different kinds of attention, some seeking to show that the authorities of the region during the war were benevolent and protective, others that whatever the brutality and corruption of politicians may wreak, and whatever misrepresentations are created by the media, the goodness of ordinary people persists. After 1995, the processes ethnic segregation continued to deepen in locations across Bosnia and Herzegovina. The fact that interethnic friendship could be felt so deeply in the midst of ethnic cleansing is arresting. The conditions which supported this can also be easily contrasted with the alienation experienced by many in post-socialist Bosnia and Herzegovina, meaning that this story of neighbourliness and solidarity speaks to citizens who see community and family under pressure, even in locations in which interethnic proximity and distance is felt less immediately.
How might the memory be used in bringing people together in practice now?
The Memory Bank team are looking to engage with a range of partners for whom the history of Vhrbarje’s positive relationships are meaningful. These relationships constituted a resilient community in peacetime, and they counted practically in recurrent crises.
Additional context/Some additional readingThis video has b
een widely shared internationally, and included in a wide range of media situated on diff
erent ’sid
es’ of th
e current political divides in Bosnia and Herzegovina.