Elisa Satjukow

Vor 20 Jahren beendete die NATO ihre Luftangriffe auf die ehemalige Republik Jugoslawien. Der Krieg im Kosovo war damit vorbei, doch der Konflikt beschäftigt die Gesellschaft bis heute. Und auch Konfliktforscher und Historiker streiten über die Deutung der Ereignisse und ihrer Folgen.

The hostage crisis known as Kosovo, in which the populations of both Kosovo and Serbia are held as ideological hostages by their own political elites, has already been going on for twenty years. This issue of Perspectives on the 20th anniversary of the Kosovo War and the NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, is dedicated to ordinary citizens. These are the people who, to this day, live with the consequences of war, even if they took no part in it; the youth raised to hate; anti-war activists who are considered enemies of the state; minorities that are used as pawns in political maneuvering; victims of war crimes and victims of the NATO military campaign.

Interview zum 20. Jahrestag der NATO-Intervention im Kosovokrieg am 24. März 1999 im Programm "Aus Kultur- und Sozialwissenschaften" im Deutschlandfunk

Three buildings in former Yugoslavia are the protagonists in this story of war, destruction, collective identity and cultural heritage. These three buildings in Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina are examples of three different ways societies deal with the structural remnants of an armed conflict. Documentary by Klemens Czurda.

Am 24. März 1999 begannen die NATO-Luftangriffe auf die damalige Bundesrepublik Jugoslawien. In Serbien ist die 78-tägige Bombardierung bis heute ein zentraler Erinnerungsort. Seit Aleksandar Vučićs Aufstieg zum Präsidenten wird mit tradierten Opfernarrativen wieder Politik gemacht.

Beitrag über die derzeitige Situation in Serbien nach der Wahl von Aleksandar Vucic zum neuen Präsidenten. Es geht um den Vorwurf der Wahlmanipulation und zunehmenden Einfluss des autokratischen Presidenten auf Polizei und Justiz. Es gibt außerdem einen kleinen Einblick in die serbische Protestkultur und dem TeilnehmerInnen-Spektrum.

On the evening of the 24th of March 1999 the first air strikes hit multiple targets in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Operation Allied Force had begun. The air raids lasted for 78 days. During this time, everyday life in the Serbian capital was reshaped by the bombardment. This did not only affect the infrastructure of the city, but turned its inhabitant's days and nights upside down. People were helplessly waiting for the war to end. But simply waiting cannot fill a day – waiting for the next alert, for the electricity to come back on, for the bombs to stop falling. Suddenly the normally busy city slickers found themselves confronted with endless time windows. This meant to fill everyday with new tasks, to create new routines. The Milošević regime was aware of these needs. It used the state of exception to further and deepen its own propagandistic imperatives of national unity and to advertise the necessity of the „war of defence“ within the nation. The state started to offer a wide range of events that did not only entertain, but did create spaces to meet and to ‘ally’ against the enemy. Beyond the state-prescribed cultural events, numerous efforts sprouted throughout the city to maintain a social and cultural life. This paper will tell of the diverse ways the people of Belgrade spent the time between and during the air raids.