A square for the victims of Ahmići: What and how to remember?
A terrifying anniversary, and a political question
[photo: SENSE]
This week many people will mark the passing of 30 years since the massacre in Ahmići, where on 16 April 1993, an early morning attack by HVO and the Military Police unit known as „Jokers“ killed at least 117 civilians. The attack is well documented and confirmed by verdicts from criminal trials; a great deal has been written about it. The best overall source for details on the attack is the online presentation from the SENSE agency, „Ahmići: 48 hours of ashes and blood.“ The presentation contains links to evidence and to the most important documents related to the events.
Let's put a couple of things out of the way right now. Any time somebody like me (or somebody unlike me) mentions a crime of this type, somebody is bound to jump up and say „why didn't you mention this other one?“ It's because the importance of one crime does not rise or fall depending on the existence of another crime. Maybe somebody will also say „why are you living in the past?“ We all are, we live in the past because we live, we are human, and we know things.
In any case, we do not only live in the past, the past lives in us. Some of us see it as a resource out of which we can mine resentment, some of us see it as a source of responsibility. Among the people seeing it as a source of responsibility is a group of civil activists in Croatia, who tomorrow will organise a public showing and discussion of the interactive resource linked above (here it is linked again, if you want it), and will invite people to a standing protest in honour of the victims of the Ahmići massacre at Ban Josip Jelačić square. At the protest the participants will present their principal demand, which is that the name of the square be changed from „Ban Josip Jelačić square“ to „The square of the victims of Ahmići.“
A quick word about the square. Earlier known informally as Manduševec and Harmica, it was officially named Jelačić-plac (let's say loosely, Jelačić's plaza) from 1848 to 1947. From 1947 to 1990 it was Trg republike (Republic Square), to be named after Jelačić again, but in a more formal way, from 1990 onward. It is right in the centre of Zagreb, just below the main market, and if you are going to meet someone in town it is likely to be there („under the tail,“ as they say, referring to the large equestrian statue of Josip Jelačić).
Right, so we know what happened in Ahmići and why it was important, who was Josip Jelačić and why does he matter? Let's be as brief as we can: 19th century political and military figure, born in Serbia to Hungarian nobility and decided he was Croatian, and that the best way to be Croatian was to support Austria in its fight to put down the Hungarian rebellion in 1848, hoping that he would ingratiate himself with the Austrians (he did, they made him governor, or „Ban“) and in that way get autonomy for Croatia (he didn't). Eventually a lot of Croatians decided they liked him and a lot of Hungarians didn't – see what Sándor Petőfi wrote about poor old Joe.
Did you get all that? Don’t worry, it does not really matter much. The point is this: Jelačić is remembered as a national hero. And all national heroes are the same. They have their legend and they have their purpose in the whole national story that gets constructed, but scratch the surface a little bit and they are not really so heroic, or even so very national. This means that the question of whether the big square in the middle of the capital city should be named after them is at least open. “Square of the Republic” was a pretty serviceable name, but probably we can accept that for some people it had bad associations.
The proposal to rename the square after the victims derives from an admirable motivation. Certainly victims should be remembered, and the motivating force here is to broaden the boundaries of remembrance so that the people remembered are not all from the same demographic group as the ethnic majority making the decisions. So this is a good thing. And certainly states and societies should accept their historical responsibilities and show recognition for these responsibilities in both material and symbolic ways. So this is also a good thing.
But behind all of these admirable purposes there is a big problem lurking, and that is the tendency of these discussions to operate with a one-dimensional understanding of memory. Memory is not all lionising and honour. The figures remembered can also become objects of resentment. It is not hard to imagine the victims of Ahmići becoming objects of this type, if national romanticists see the victims as the thing that delivered the square named after their semifictional idol into the hands of the forward-thinking people of the country. And then you might say that really they have suffered enough. The other dimension of memory we tend to neglect is that the more it becomes a part of everyday experience the less salience it has. If „The square of the victims of Ahmići“ becomes the place where people swing by for shopping or relax with an excellent coffee (because the purpose of the square will not change), then we will see a paradoxical result, where by being placed in the centre of attention, the victims recede from attention. Maybe in that case a victim might want something other than a name. A victim might want peace and safety so that other people's children do not also become victims.
So is the proposal to rename the square after the victims of Ahmići a good one? That’s a political question, you will have to answer it yourself. It is also probably a little bit of a moot question, since the demand is not likely to be accepted any time soon. If I am going to contribute my two lipe, I’d say this: naming a street or park after someone is just as likely to trivialise them as to keep them memorable, and the best names are ones that have a practical purpose. “The square that is pretty close to the market” or “The place where it is always convenient to get a tram” are names that pass the test of history (by confusing the examiner).
[photo: in 2010, Croatian president Ivo Josipović lays a wreath in memory of the victims of the Ahmići massacre. Behind him is reis-al-ulema Mustafa Cerić.]