Paper short abstract:

An analysis of death as notion related to certainty trough the narratives of a former Serbian paramilitary unit member. Death seen as imminent event and an ultimate experience, which is to be given, shared and endured; a form of social power to be distributed and/or (meritoriously) survived.

Paper long abstract:

The theme of death although so obviously connected to the military activity is narrowly mentioned in the narratives of former members of Serbian paramilitary units. However this central motif is recurrent in the indirect forms of expressions in which the feelings of the individual, his understanding and his imaginary related to war-experience and to the ideology - as motivational mechanism - are mirrored.

The aim is to explore the notion of death as leading motive of wartime experience trough the narratives of a former Serbian paramilitary unit leader. Accused for war crimes, facing the Special War Crime Tribunal in Belgrade, a former leader of a notorious paramilitary unit, which participants committed two of most infamous massacres during the armed clashes of former Yugoslavia, explains -while justifying his actions and those of his subordinates- the meaning of a state which he repeatedly compares to a dominion 'of death and life'. An imminent, forthcoming experience such as death, is put in contrast with uncertainty and inconsistence of the social environment. Death as ultimate experience is glorified because it is lived first handed: it is survived, shared and given. A symbol of power - a form of ceremony - whose participants are contaminated with it for life. While living at present a different social reality, expecting social support and recognition for it, this former experience is deconstructed and relived trough personal interpretations.