The Memorial Center of Republika Srpska presented the exhibition “Learn About Serbian Suffering” at the United States Congress, opening up space in one of the world’s most important political centers for documents, testimonies and historical facts about the suffering of the Serbian people.
The exhibition was presented at the “Rayburn House Office Building,” one of the main buildings of the U.S. House of Representatives, in an area through which members of Congress, their staff, employees, journalists and visitors pass every day. For this reason, Washington is not merely another address for an international campaign, but a place where Serbian history reaches an audience directly connected to American political and institutional life.
The exhibition tells the story of the suffering of the Serbian people during the 20th century, from the major tragedies of the First and Second World Wars to the wars of the 1990s. Its aim is to raise, in the American public sphere, questions about which too little has been said regarding Serbs, and which have often been presented through simplified political interpretations of the wars in the former Yugoslavia.
For Denis Bojić, director of the Memorial Center of Republika Srpska, presenting the exhibition in Congress represents an important step in efforts to give the issue of Serbian suffering space within the American political and institutional environment.
“An extremely important step for Republika Srpska and for the national question of the Serbian people. We established very important contacts with important people from the U.S. administration and received a firm promise that the issue of Serbian suffering will be highly positioned, presented and shown in the coming period in places where our suffering deserves to be recognized.”
Bojić emphasizes that the goal is to present Serbian suffering not only as part of the history of one people, but also as an issue important for understanding the Balkans and broader international relations.
“Through persistent, systematic work and the idea that Serbian suffering is an issue that is important not only for understanding the Balkans and everything that happened to us, but also for understanding international relations in general, we have managed to raise what was on the margins of public opinion truly high.”
The exhibition in Washington was also visited by Željka Cvijanović, the Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who pointed to the significance of the fact that the exhibition was presented precisely at the U.S. Congress.
“I think it is very important that an exhibition like this is presented precisely at the U.S. Congress. This gives all visitors, as well as members of Congress, an opportunity to become better acquainted with history, to learn about Serbian suffering and about some things that for a long time were covered by a veil of secrecy, a veil of silence, or were distorted facts that essentially obscured the extent of the Serbian people’s suffering.”
Speaking about the exhibition, which covers a hundred years of history, Cvijanović particularly pointed to the suffering of the Serbian people in the First and Second World Wars, but also to the need to shed additional light on the events of the Defensive-Fatherland War and the enormous sacrifices endured by the Serbian people. She described support for the work of the Memorial Center as significant precisely because such exhibitions allow history to be viewed in a broader temporal and historical context, rather than only through individual events and years.
“We must put things into a broader context and see the extent of the suffering and how much injustice was inflicted upon those victims. So, their mission is to correct the injustice done to victims who did not receive enough respect and recognition around the world.”
The Washington exhibition also demonstrates how important it is where a particular historical subject is discussed. The exhibition, displayed in Congress, is accessible to people who are part of the American political system and who pass through the “Rayburn House Office Building” every day. For the subject of Serbian victims, whose visibility in the American public sphere is limited, this fact gives particular weight to the entire project. This is also confirmed by Bob McEwan, a former U.S. congressman, who spoke about the importance of new generations of American political representatives understanding the history of the Serbian people.
“It is important that every new generation of congressmen, congressional and political leaders understands the significant role Serbia has played in development – economic, political and in the struggle for peace. The whole world should know what is presented here, so that such things never happen again.”
For Brandon Welsh, who visited the exhibition, the display itself revealed historical content with which he had previously been unfamiliar.
“Honestly, until today I was not familiar with all of this, and I truly think this is an important story that members of Congress, congressional staff and everyone who passes through Rayburn today should learn about.”
His reaction simultaneously reveals one of the reasons why the American space is important for the Memorial Center’s international campaign. If a visitor to one of the congressional buildings says that he had not previously been familiar with part of the history presented, then it is clear how significant the opportunity is to present historical facts directly to an audience that previously did not have the opportunity to hear about them. History is also carried by people who moved from one place to another but preserved their memories and experiences as part of their own identity. That story is being carried in Washington by Serbs who live and work in the United States.
Dušan Marinković, an international trade expert at the U.S. Department of Commerce, says that he is familiar with a large part of Serbian history, but considers it particularly important that it is being discussed in a setting like this.
“I am glad that you organized this so well and that at least we have institutions and people who care about preserving the memory of the victims, about things like this, and that events like this are organized in places like this, so that this can be heard by Serbs, because we all know that, unfortunately, most of the world is not familiar with these things. The more opportunities we have to talk about this, the more people will become familiar with these things. We are aware that for years we have had to watch our history somehow being removed from the media, with only one side being presented, while everything else that happened, unfortunately, is left aside. This is how we preserve our history.”
Željko Damjanković, a Serb who lives and works in the United States, believes that public presentation is one of the ways to make Serbian historical experiences more accessible to a wider audience.
“The truth that we Serbs carry with us needs to be presented publicly, in a certain way. This is one of the ways for us to tell the world about it. In this case, the United States. And we Serbs have the right to transparently and publicly tell the truth about the suffering of the Serbian people in the territories of the former Yugoslavia. It is very important that it is displayed precisely in an institution like this. Because many people pass through here, above all politicians who work in this building, and the very possibility for them to visit an exhibition like this shows that there is a way to reach those people.”
That is why, Damjanković says, it is important that the exhibition is in Congress:
“You know, these are the most powerful people on the planet, let’s not kid ourselves, and their general policy has a significant influence on all world affairs, all countries around the world and so on. So, it is very important that this was done here.”
The international digital campaign of the Memorial Center of Republika Srpska, “Learn About Serbian Suffering,” is being carried out in Washington with the support of the Ministry for European Integration and International Cooperation of Republika Srpska and the Representation Office of Republika Srpska in Washington. Following New York, Vienna and Rome, its content has now reached one of the centers of American political life.
For Drina Vlastelić Rajić, head of the Representation Office of Republika Srpska in Washington, the significance of the exhibition lies precisely in the fact that Serbian history, culture and suffering are being discussed before American and international audiences, in a place where many important international issues are addressed.
“It is particularly significant that this exhibition is being presented at the U.S. Congress in Washington, a city that brings together people from different parts of the world and where many important international issues are discussed. I believe this exhibition will help stories about the victims of the Serbian people reach people who until now have not had the opportunity to hear them.”
The Memorial Center of Republika Srpska has so far collected more than 1,500 audiovisual testimonies about Serbian suffering. Presenting them outside the Serbian-language and political sphere is therefore not merely a matter of promotion, but an effort to make documented testimonies about Serbian victims accessible to those who previously did not know enough about them. This is precisely the significance of Washington, where the international “Learn About Serbian Suffering” campaign has arrived following New York, Vienna and Rome.
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Source: Memorijalni centar Republike Srpske, Foto: Memorijalni centar Republike Srpske
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