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Violence and the Production of Borders in Western Slavonia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Mila Dragojević
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Abstract

This article examines how the production of a dividing line, through violence, the accompanying narratives, and the policing of a physical border from 1991 to 1995, shaped and influenced the lives of ordinary people, all residents of Western Slavonia. How was it possible for people to be divided so abruptly and effectively in a community with a history of multiethnic solidarity? How were these new social divisions produced and reproduced over the course of warfare on a social level? By considering new archival sources, in-depth interviews, and recent scholarly publications, this study argues that such dividing line made the process of ethnicization, or of polarization, possible. Thus, by representing the space where the top-level political cleavages, local-level cleavages, and individuals’ beliefs and momentary choices meet, the wartime dividing line effectively transformed former neighbors into political enemies who were no longer familiar, visible, or accessible on a human level.

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Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 75 , Issue 2 , Summer 2016 , pp. 422 - 445
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Inc. 2016

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References

Research for this article was supported by the Appalachian College Association (ACA) Faculty Fellowship, The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Grant, as well as several internal grants from the University of the South, including the James D. Kennedy III Fellowship, Barclay Ward Faculty Research Fund, and Faculty Development Research Grants. I would like to thank the staff of the Croatian National Archives (HDA) located in Zagreb, Slavonski Brod, and Požega, The Croatian Memorial Documentary Center of the Homeland War (HMDCDR), Documenta, the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research in Zagreb, and the National and University Library for their invaluable research assistance. I am greateful to Vesna Ivanovic, Vjeran Pavlaković, Branka Bosanac Radošević, Dea Marie, and Max Bergholz for sharing their knowledge, support, and helping with the field research. Also, I am thankful to Susan Woodward, Roger Petersen, Igor Mrkalj, Jasna Čapo Žmegač, Helga Paškvan, Mate Subašić, Ena Bebek, Ivica Šustić, Slaven Rašković, Darija Marie, Eugen Jakovčić, Tanja Petrović, Samuel Helgeson, Andjelka Grubišić Čabo, Vjeko-slav Perica, Jadran Kale, Cody Brown, Maja Povrzanović Frykman, Antonija Petričušić, Aco Džakula, Igor Graovac, and many other dear colleagues and friends for their insights and assistance in different stages of the project. Finally, I am thankful to the anonymous reviewers, Sarah Marhevsky, Manuel Chinchilla, and Irm Haleem for their comments and suggestions on this manuscript, Christopher Van de Ven for creating a map for this article, and Christian Kroll Bryce for conversations in the early stages of this project.

1. Borders, particularly state borders, change in a number of ways other than through direct gains or losses of territories in warfare, for instance, as a result of secessions, political victories, or agreements following negotiations.

2. Dubljević, Maja, ed., Sjećanja na rat u Pakracu, Lipiku i okolnim mjestima [Remembering the War in Pakrac, Lipik, and the Surrounding Region] (Zagreb, 2010), 21 Google Scholar.

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9. Pakrački list from 1992 through 1995 in the Croatian State Archives regional office in Požega.

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11. Abbott, “Things of Boundaries,” 857.

12. Tilly, Identities, Boundaries, and Social Ties, 7-8,132-46.

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14. Ballinger, Pamela, History in Exile: Memory and Identity at the Borders of the Balkans (Princeton, 2003)Google Scholar.

15. Brubaker, “Neither Individualism nor ‘Groupism’: A Reply to Craig Calhoun,” 554; Craig Calhoun, “‘Belonging’ in the Cosmopolitan Imaginary,” Ibid., 27; Kalyvas, “The Ontology of ‘Political Violence’: Action and Identity in Civil Wars”; Kalyvas, The Logic of Violence, 374-76.

16. Tilly, Identities, Boundaries, and Social Ties, 135-36.

17. Barth, “Ethnic Groups and Boundaries (1969)”; Malešević, Identity as Ideology, 157; Tilly, Identities, Boundaries, and Social Ties. Concepts similar to that of “political ethnicity” have been employed by other scholars of ethnic politics and nationalism in different contexts, such as the study of the shifting identification of the Czech aristocracy throughout the 20th century with the changing national/political boundary as a result of revolutionary movements, wars, and regime changes. See Glassheim, Eagle, Noble Nationalists: The Transformation of the Bohemian Aristocracy (Cambridge, Mass., 2005)Google Scholar.

18. Abbott, “Things of Boundaries”; Abrams, Dominic and Hogg, Michael A., Social Identifications: A Social Psychology oflntergroup Relations and Group Processes (New York, 2006), 13 Google Scholar; Petersen, Understanding Ethnic Violence; Tajfel, Henri et al., “Social Categorization and Intergroup Behaviour,” European Journal of Social Psychology 1, no. 2 (April/June 1971)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Tajfel, Henri and Turner, John C., “An Integrative Theory of Intergroup Conflict,” in Austin, William G. and Worchel, Stephen, eds., The Social Psychology oflntergroup Relations (Monterey, 1979)Google Scholar; Tilly, Identities, Boundaries, and Social Ties; Turner, John C., “Some Current Issues in Research on Social Identity and Self-Categorization Theory,” in Ellemers, Naomi, Spears, Russell, and Doosje, Bertjan, eds., Social Identity: Context, Commitment, Content (Oxford, 1999)Google Scholar.

19. Abrams and Hogg, Social Identifications: A Social Psychology oflntergroup Relations and Group Processes, 7.

20. Ibid., 13.

21. Jr.Gagnon, V.P., The Myth of Ethnic War: Serbia and Croatia in the 1990s (Ithaca, 2004)Google Scholar.

22. “The list of Serbs who were not in our ranks by towns” (“Spisak Srba po mjestima koji nisu bili u našim redovima”), HR-HMDCDR-15, SO Pakrac, Box 3 (PAK.5).

23. Foucault, Michel, The History of Sexuality: Volume 1, An Introduction (New York, 1978), 137 Google Scholar. See also other scholarship linking biopolitics and mass violence: Agamben, Giorgio, Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life (Stanford, 1998)Google Scholar, Kindle file; Roberto Esposito, Bios: Biopolitics and Philosophy, trans. Campbell, Timothy (Minneapolis, 2008)Google Scholar; Esposito, Roberto, Immunitás: The Protection and Negation of Life, trans. Hanafi, Zakiya (Cambridge, Eng., 2011)Google Scholar; Žunec, Ozren, Goli život: socijetalne dimenzije pobune srba u Hrvatskoj (Zagreb, 2007)Google Scholar.

24. Foucault, , The History of Sexuality: Volume 1, An Introduction, (New York, 1978), 137 Google Scholar.

25. Even in the Pakrac police station, where there might have been more direct pressure to join than among the general population, not all ethnic Serbs joined these efforts to establish SAO Krajina, Miškulin, Ivica, “Srpska pobuna u Općini Pakrac 1990-1991: Uzroci, nositelji i tijek,” Scrinia Slavonica 11 (2011): 378 Google Scholar.

26. SAO Krajina was formed on December 21,1990 in Knin by the SNV (Srpsko naci-onalno vijeće, Serbian National Council) and the Temporary Presidency of the Community of Counties of Northern Dalmatia and Lika, Baric, Nikica, Srpska pobuna u Hrvatskoj, 1990-1995 [Serbian Rebellion in Croatia, 1990-1995] (Zagreb, 2005), 95 Google Scholar.

27. Dubljević, Sjećanja na rat u Pakracu, 39; Miškulin, Ivica, “Stranka ugroženog naroda djelovanje Srpske demokratske stranke u zapadnoj Slavoniji 1990-1991,” in Miškulin, Ivica and Barać, Mladen, eds., Srpska pobuna u Zapadnoj Slavoniji 1990-1995: Nositelji, institucije, posljedice (Zagreb, 2012), 378 Google Scholar.

28. Dubljević, Sjećanja na rat u Pakracu, 38.

29. Ibid.

30. Barić, Srpska pobuna u Hrvatskoj, 1990-1995, 114; Sekula, Janja, “Ustroj i djelovanje Sekretarijata unutrašnjih poslova Okučani,” in Miškulin, Ivica and Barać, Mladen, eds., Srpska pobuna u zapadnoj Slavoniji 1990-1995 (Zagreb, 2012)Google Scholar. This meeting was convened as an emergency meeting on an initiative by the head of the local committee of the SDS party (Srpska demokratska stranka, Serbian Democratic Party), Veljko Džakula, on February 22,1991, a day after Sabor, the Croatian Parliament, passed a resolution regarding the secession from the SFRJ (Socijalistička Federativna Republika Jugoslavia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), Miškulin, “Srpska pobuna u Općini Pakrac 1990-1991,” 375. The Secretariat for Internal Affairs, which was autonomous from the police forces of Croatia, was formed in Knin in the beginning of January of 1991, Barić, Srpska pobuna u Hrvatskoj, 1990-1995, 105.

31. Ćurak, Mato, Ratni doživljaji kroz fotografile: Domovinski rat 1990-1995 (Bjelovar-Zagreb, 2009), 9 Google Scholar.

32. Miškulin, “Srpska pobuna u Općini Pakrac 1990-1991,” 379-80. Even though the JNA forces were present in Pakrac, their main role at the time was to prevent the escalation of the conflict, as evident in the military report on this incident, HR-HMDCDR, 2., Box 5006, Rupić, Mate, ed., Republika Hrvatska i Domovinski rat 1990-1995: Dokumenti, Knjiga 1: Oružana pobuna Srba u Hrvatskoj i agresija oružanih snaga SFRJ i Srpskih paravojnihpostrojbi na Republiku Hrvatsku (19901991) [Republic of Croatia and the Homeland War, 1990-1995, Documents, Book 1: Armed Rebellion of Serbs in Croatia, 1990-1991] (Zagreb, 2007), 92 Google Scholar. It was not until the late summer of 1991 that the JNA first openly attacked the Croatian state proving that the JNA did not represent a nonpartisan force on the territory of Croatia, Goldstein, Ivo, Hrvatska 1918-2008 [Croatia, 1918-2008] (Zagreb, 2008), 670 Google Scholar.

33. Miškulin, “Srpska pobuna u Općini Pakrac 1990-1991,” 379.

34. Barić, Srpska pobuna u Hrvatskoj, 1990-1995; Miškulin, “Srpska pobuna u Općini Pakrac 1990-1991,” 380; Goldstein, Hrvatska 1918-2008; Ramet, Sabrina P., The Three Yugoslavias: State-Building and Legitimation, 1918-2005 (Washington, DC, 2006)Google Scholar; Rupie, Republika Hrvatska i Domovinski rat 1990-1991, Dokumenti, Knjiga 1. The Command of the 5th Army District of the JNA issued the following statement regarding the Pakrac incident on March 4,1991: “Everything is accompanied by the frequent misinformation and rumors that are aimed at frightening the public further and at influencing citizens using psychology of propaganda,” original document cited as HR-HMDCDR, Box 2, 6037, Ibid., 92.

35. Ćurak, Ratni doživljaji kroz fotografile, 10.

36. Barić, Srpska pobuna u Hrvatskoj, 1990-1995; Goldstein, Hrvatska 1918-2008, 670. Other sources also show how the media played an important role in exaggerating this event, reporting a significant death toll, or otherwise falsely reporting the Pakrac incident, in Boljević, Ivan, et al., Reči i nedela: pozivanje i podsticanje na ratne zločine u medijima u Srbiji, 1991-1992 [Words and Misdeeds: Mobilizing and Inciting for War Crimes in the Media in Serbia, 1991-1992] (Belgrade, 2011)Google Scholar; Milošević, Milan, “The Media Wars: 1987-1997,” in Udovički, Jasminka and Ridgeway, James, eds., Burn This House: The Making and Unmaking of Yugoslavia (Durham, 2000)Google Scholar; Tanner, Marcus, Croatia: A Nation Forged in War (New Haven, 1997), 241-42Google Scholar.

37. Miškulin, “Srpska pobuna u Općini Pakrac 1990-1991,” 380.

38. Tilly, Identities, Boundaries, and Social Ties, 139.

39. When the HDZ won in the 1990 multiparty elections, Stipe Mesić first served as the Prime Minister of Croatia and later as the President of the Former Yugoslavia in 1991, the year that the country dissolved.

40. Documenta interview 229, Western Slavonia January 25, 2012 (video transcribed and translated by the author).

41. Local rallies of nationalist-oriented parties contributed to some unease among residents who felt excluded by the discourse of the party leaders, as evidenced by a document from the local community (mjesna zajednica) meetings of Veliki Bastaji, Koreničani, and Bastajski Brđani dated July 21, 1990, HR-HMDCDR, “Predmet: Izvod iz zápisníka o međunacionalnoj mržnji,” Oblasno vijeće, Narodna skupština, Općine, Box OV, 90.

42. Documenta Interview 175, Western Slavonia, October 14, 2011 (video transcribed and translated by the author)

43. Dubljević, Sjećanja na rat u Pakracu, 29.

44. Barić, Srpska pobuna u Hrvatskoj, 1990-1995; Sekula, “Ustroj i djelovanje Sekretarijata unutrašnjih poslova Okučani,” 136; Žunec, Goli život: socijetalrte dimenzije pobune srba u Hrvatskoj, 272-73.

45. Interview zsl2, Western Slavonia, male, age 60, May l, 2014.

46. Interview zsll, Western Slavonia, maie, 50, May 1,2014.

47. Interview zsl4, Western Slavonia, maie, 57, May 31,2014.

48. “The list of Serbs who were not in our ranks by towns,” HR-HMDCDR-15, SO Pakrac, Box 3 (PAK.5).

49. Petar Bašić and Ivica Miškulin, “Ratni zločini srpskih snaga nad civilnim stanovništvom u zapadnoj Slavoniji 1991,” in Ivica Miškulin and Mladen Barač, eds., Srpska pobuna u zapadnoj Slavoniji 1990-1995, 231.

50. Interview zsl, Western Slavonia, female, 68, May l, 2014.

51. Bašić and Miškulin, “Ratni zločini srpskih snaga nad civilnim stanovništvom u zapadnoj Slavoniji 1991,” 222.

52. Ibid., 223.

53. Ibid., 222-32.

54. Interviews conducted in Western Slavonia on May 1, 2014: zs2, male, 60; zs3, female, 74; zs6, female, 77; zs7, male, 76; zs8, female, 64; zs9, female, 75; zslO, female, 69; zsll, male, 50; zsl2, male, 60; zsl3, female, 46; on May 31, 2014: zsl4, male, 57; zsl5, female, 61; zsl7, female, 53.

55. Dubljević, Sjećanja na rat u Pakracu, 117-35.

56. Štefančić, Domagoj, “Autocesta-okosnica rata u zapadnoj Slavoniji,” Radovi Zavoda za hrvatsku povijest 43 (2011), 427–55Google Scholar. This highway portion used to be part of the highway that stretched from Slovenia through Macedonia with the symbolic name of “Brotherhood and Unity Highway.”

57. HR-HMDCDR, Oblasno vijeće, Národná skupština, Općine, Box OV, “Otvorená pitanja utvrđivanja granica zone pod zaštitom Ujedinjenih nacija i ostvarivanje mirovnog plana u zapadnoj Slavoniji,”[“Questions Regarding the Determining of the Borders of the Area Under the Protection of the United Nations and the Implementation of the Peace Agreement in Western Slavonia”], (ZS.84), 1-32.

58. “Ima li sreće za dimnjačara?” [“Is there luck for a chimney sweep?”] Pakrački list, April 22, 1993, 16; “UNPROFOR izmedju terorista i pravosudja” [UNPROFOR between terrorists and the law] Pakrački list, January 21,1993,3; “Nevolje s četnicima” [“Troubles with Četniks”] Pakrački list, January 21, 1993, 3; HR-DASB-70, Republika srpska krajina. Srpska oblast Zapadne Slavonije. Oblasno vijeće Okučani, Box 1, Minutes from the Fifth Regular Session of the Parliament, March 21,1993, (70.14). In WWII, Četniks were predominantly ethnic Serbian military forces that collaborated with fascists. They fought against the Ustaša and the Partisans. The Ustaša were predominantly ethnic Croatian military forces of the fascist regime in the NDH (Independent State of Croatia). The Partisans, in turn, were a multiethnic guerilla resistance movement against the Ustaša regime in Croatia.

59. “Ima li sreće za dimnjačara?” [“Is there luck for a chimney sweep?”] Pakrački list, April 22, 1993, 16.

60. “Nevolje s Četnicima” [“Troubles with Četniks”]; “UNPROFOR izmedju terorista i pravosudja” [UNPROFOR between terrorists and law] Pakrački list, January 21, 1993, 3, “Opasnosti stalno prisutne” [“Dangers constantly present”] Pakrački list, April 22, 1993; “Tanka linija razgraničenja” [“A thin dividing line”] Pakrački list, June 25, 1993, 3.

61. Three Croatian citizens died, and eleven attendees were wounded, together with one UNPROFOR soldier who was also wounded. See “Masakr u Kusonjima” [“Massacre in Kusonje”] Pakrački list, September 24, 1993. The paper reported an increase in tensions between the two sides of the dividing line in the month of September of 1993: “Nema mira na liniji razgraničenja” [“There is no peace on the dividing line”] Pakrački list, September 24, 1993, 8-9.

62. “Ubijeno pet civila” [“Five civilians were killed”] Pakrački list, May 25, 1994, 3. The killing of Croat civilians was reported by the local radio on the Serb side of the divide several days before the newspaper article was published, and the report blamed a group of extremist paramilitary Serbs: HR-HMDCDR-15, SO Pakrac, Radio Z. Slavonija, Pakrac, May 13, 1994, Box 6, (PAK.46), 2.

63. Interview zsl7, Western Slavonia, female, 53, May 31,2014.

64. HR-DASB-PŽ-97, Srpska oblast Zapadne Slavonije. Skupština opštine Pakrac 1991-1995, Box 3, Reguest of the residents of M. Stanivuković, 1994, (97.64).

65. HR-DASB-PZ-97, Srpska oblast Zapadne Slavonije. Skupština opštine Pakrac 1991-1995, Box 6A, “Requesting information about the buffer zone on the territory of Pakrac, especially on the territory of Bukovčanska Street,” (97.74).

66. HR-DASB-PŽ-97, Srpska oblast Zapadne Slavonije. Skupština opštine Pakrac 1991-1995, Box 6A, “A Request for Urgent Meeting with UNPROFOR, October 5, 1994,” (97.80).

67. HR-DASB-PŽ-97, Srpska oblast Zapadne Slavonije. Skupština opštine Pakrac 1991-1995, Box 6A, “Protest,” October 7, 1994, (97.79).

68. HR-DASB-PŽ-97, Srpska oblast Zapadne Slavonije. Skupština opštine Pakrac 1991-1995, Box 6A, “Conclusion,” October 13, 1994, (97.76). This decision was affirmed by the local leaders, HR-DASB-PŽ-97, Srpska oblast Zapadne Slavonije. Skupština opštine Pakrac 1991-1995, Box 6A, “Conclusion of the Executive Council of the County of Pakrac,” November 15,1994, (97.73).

69. “Zajednički nadzor policije i UNPROFOR-a” [“Collaborative supervision of police and UNPROFOR”] Pakrački list, November 8, 1994, 3.

70. HR-DASB-PŽ-97, Srpska oblast Zapadne Slavonije. Skupština opštine Pakrac 1991-1995, Box 7, “Determining wider buffer zone...,” letter from the SO (Municipal Parliament of) Pakrac to the Government of the RSK on January 24, 1994, (97.93). See also, HR-DASB-PŽ-97, Srpska oblast Zapadne Slavonije. Skupština opštine Pakrac 1991-1995, Box 8, “Request for the Opening of the Bukovčanska Street for Civilian Traffic,” letter from SO Pakrac to the U.N. on January 12,1994, (97.94).

71. Dubljević, Sjećanja na rat u Pakracu, 28.

72. Some people tried to leave their “ethnic side of the divide” when the war had already started, HR-DASB-PŽ-97, Srpska oblast Zapadne Slavonije. Skupština opštine Pakrac 1991-1995, Box 7, Minutes from the Meeting of the Executive Council of Pakrac, August 26, 1992, (97.89), 1.

73. Interview zsl, Western Slavonia, female, 68, May l, 2014.

74. Ibid.

75. Orthodox holiday that falls on August 19 and marks the end of summer.

76. In the first phases of the conflict, when the first barricades were set up, there was no evidence of a formal order preventing the movement of people; however, local Serb authorities controlled the movement of people after the dividing line was established and UNPROFOR arrived, HR-DASB-PŽ-97, Srpska oblast Zapadne Slavonije. Skupština opštine Pakrac 1991-1995, Box 1, Minutes from the Council of the County of Pakrac Meeting held on July 8, 1992, (97.25), 2.

77. Interview zs8, Western Slavonia, female, 64, May 1, 2014.

78. Dubljević, Sjećanja na rat u Pakracu, 27. In the words of respondent in this interview, those who left were perceived by those who remained as if they decided that they were Serbs, Ibid.

79. Interview zs4, Western Slavonia, male, 75, May 1, 2014.

80. Documenta interview 202, Western Slavonia, November 15, 2011 (video tran scribed and translated by the author).

81. Passes for Thursday meetings on the dividing line in Pakrac were introduced in the meeting of the Executive Council of Pakrac on August 26,1992, HR-DASB-PŽ-97, Srpska oblast Zapadne Slavonije. Skupština opštine Pakrac 1991-1995, Box 7, Minutes from the Meeting of the Executive Council of Pakrac, August 26,1992, (97.89), 1-2.

82. “Vojvode prijete-UNPROFOR radi” [Četnik Leaders Threaten-UNPROFOR works”] Pakrački list, 4 February 4, 1993, 3. The RSK government of Western Slavonia declared the state of emergency as a result of the losses suffered following the Croatian military operation in Maslenica, document written by the Secretary of Information of the SAO Western Slavonia on January 26, 1993, HMDCDR, RSK, Serija V, Općina Okučani, Box 3, (ZS.16).

83. “Ponovno susreti na rampi” [“Meetings on the ramp again”] Pakrački list, July 16, 1993, 3. The meetings on the checkpoint resumed when the local government determined that it was again possible to guarantee the security of the population on the territory under the control of the RSK forces and government, “Minutes” (“Zapisnik”), Archive in Požega, HR-DASB-PŽ-97, Srpska Oblast Zapadne Slavonije, Skupština opštine Pakrac, 1991-1995, Box 2, (97.42), 6.

84. “Smrt s krivé strane Hnije razdvajanja” [“Death on the wrong side of the dividing line”] Pakrački list, July 7,1994, 2.

85. Interview zsl6, Western Slavonia, maie, 64, May 31,2014.

86. Interview zsl9, Western Slavonia, female, 67, May 31, 2014.

87. “Dvosmjerni povratak” [“A Two-Directional Return”] Pakrački list, July 14, 1995, 3.

88. “Krenuli kuna, mirovine, opskrba, struja” [“Croatian Kuna, Pensions, Provisions, and Electricity Started”] Pakrački list, May 16, 1995, 3.

89. “Polovina izabrala odlazak” [“One Half Chose Departure”] Pakrački list, May 16, 1995, 3; “Ostanak u interesu Hrvatske” [“Staying is in the Interest of Croatia”] Pakrački list, May 27, 1995, 3.

90. “Ostanite, bit cete sigurni i slobodní” [“Stay, You Will Be Safe and Free”] Pakrački list, May 27, 1995, 4.

91. “Zadovoljstvo pomiješano sa zabrinutošću” [“Happiness Mixed with Uneasiness”] Pakrački list, May 16, 1995, 13.

92. Ibid.

93. Documenta interview 229, Western Slavonia, January 25, 2012 (video transcribed and translated by the author).

94. Interviews conducted in Western Slavonia on May 1, 2014: zsll, male, 50 and interview zs9, female, 75.