Banja Luka

Whether it’s from nature or nurture, I think it’s only human to want to find the “bad guy” in a situation. I believe it makes conflict easier to understand when there’s an easy enemy to identify and blame. At the point in the program where we visited the Bonja Luka, this “enemy” seemed was Republika Srpska and the Serbs. 

During our visit to RS, I found it harder and harder to paint this side as these 100% “heartless, anti-muslim, monsters” in my mind. After Srebenicia, in all honesty, it was hard for me to think any other way. My emotions had consumed my opinions of a group of people, which this trip has taught me is an extremely dangerous way to think. 

I walked through the WWII exhibit at the museum and saw the horror of the genocide of Serbian people. I saw the bodies of children and babies that were killed at a childrens-only concentration camp. I saw the knives and hammers used to slaughter hundreds of thousands of people because guns and gas were not available methods. I saw the signs of the Ustashe, that can still be seen today. This was the moment where I really started to understand the deep emotions on the side of the Serbs. 

After talking with the politicians from the Republika Srpska, I did understand their side even more, even though I did not agree. I do “understand” why it’s “annoying” that whenever there are major projects like bridges and 4G networks that need to be accomplished, Bosnians stall the project because of the definition of genocide. Let me be clear. Srebenica was a genocide. Just because I “understand” that the Bosnian Serbs want to move past the war and move forward does not mean that I agree. I don’t. Not fully addressing the past can doom a country’s future and I think that this is Bosnian Serbs’ fatal flaw. I fully believe that the question of whether or not Srebrenica was a genocide (it was) can trigger other massive political problems that could easily spiral out of control. 

I did what Professor Sullivan said and I fully leaned into the raw emotion of Srebrenica. I let myself feel that pain and cry over it. And yet after I leaned out and looked at the Bosnian Serbs and the Serbs in general in a different light. It’s this confusing balance of “leaning in” and “leaning out” that I’m trying to master throughout this trip because I truly believe I will get the most out of understanding different sides this way.