7 - Neighbors again? Intercommunity relations after ethnic cleansing

Summary

How can survivors of wars inflamed by ethnic hatred rebuild their lives? How do they describe their former enemies, now their neighbors? What role does justice play in the process of rebuilding communities? And what will it take to re-establish trust among former neighbors torn apart by communal violence?

In the summer of 2000, we set out to answer those questions through a series of long-term studies in three war-ravaged cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Mostar and Prijedor) and Croatia (Vukovar). As Weinstein and Stover have noted in the Introduction to this volume, these cities, once vibrant and thriving urban centers, are now deeply divided along ethnic lines. While the “ethnic divide” in Mostar is facilitated by the River Neretva, with Bosniaks living on the east bank and Croats living on the west bank, neither Vukovar nor Prijedor has such a physical demarcation. Instead, a “psychological wall” exists in both these cities, separating Croats from Serbs in Vukovar, and Bosniaks from Serbs in Prijedor. In all three cities, people from opposing ethnic groups who once lived together peacefully now harbor deep-seated resentments and suspicions of one another, making it difficult to renew social relationships or to form new ones.

Our studies examined the views of residents in these three cities regarding war, justice, and the prospects for reconciliation. In Mostar and Vukovar, we studied the daily lives of residents over a two-year period.