The Balkans and the Caucasus regions include those states on the Balkan peninsula, those on the Anatolian Peninsula, and those in the area around the Caucasus Mountains. These states are grouped together because of the intense ethnic struggles within and between many of them. These modern states were all part of the Ottoman Empire and 20th-century political realignments created national polities that included sizable ethnic minorities. Although most of these states had some level of historical engagement with the Holocaust, many of them view World War II almost strictly in terms of their own national histories. The Holocaust, therefore, is generally not a substantial topic of interest unless it fits into a larger national narrative.
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA committed itself to including Holocaust education in its national curriculum at the 2000 Stockholm Forum, though it has yet to fulfill its commitment. This delay is due in part to the country’s long rebuilding process following the 1990s civil wars as well as its federated government structure, which impedes uniform curricular reform. read more
Bosnia and Herzegovina organized with UNESCO, a meeting in December 2012 on “Holocaust education and intercultural understanding in South-East Europe: renewing the ‘Ex-Yugoslav’ Pavilion in Auschwitz Birkenau”. The purpose of the meeting was to continue discussions on the renovation and transformation of the (former Yugoslav) block nr. 17, situated within the State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau, and the creation of a joint exhibit (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) on the Holocaust.
RESOURCES
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES ON HOLOCAUST EDUCATION: Trends, Patterns, and Practices, a publication of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Salzburg Global Seminar, 2013
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UNESCO: Why Teach About the Holocaust?, 2013
LINKS
Jewish Museum in Sarajevo
http://www.muzejsarajeva.ba/EN/