Paper short abstract:

This paper deals with relation between representations of memory and politics of forgetting in Post-War Bosnia and Herzegovina. The practices of creation, representation and usage of a monument and a heritage site are in focus: who owns a monument and how is it used, by whom and why?

Paper long abstract:

Experiences of War of the 1990s, the political transition and the establishment of a new social framework of ethno-national identification has caused the internal dynamics of a group memory and forgetting in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B-H). This paper deals with relation between representations of memory and politics of forgetting in Bosnia and Herzegovina in general and in town of Visegrad in particular. The world cultural heritage site "Bridge over Drina" and nearby "Monument over a fallen soldier" in Višegrads city centre, carries a physical and mental presence that is influenced by, and influence everyday life in this locality. The practices of creation, representation and usage of a monument and a heritage site by a wide range of events and actors are in focus. The paper generally addresses both historical and present relevance of the monumental heritage: who owns a monument and how is it used, by whom and why?

Methodologically, this phenomenological investigation focuses on how experiences are set out in action and what the consequences of these actions are. Ethnography highlights the dynamics between four different levels that are part of the production of meaning: the local, the national, the transnational (in the post-Yugoslav context) and the international

Keywords: post-war society, (ab) use of world heritage sites, strategies and tactics of silence, cultural remembering and forgetting, commemoration, lieux de mémoire, space of appereance, state of denial.