Post-war reconciliation in Croatia and in the region is a key element of the organization’s vision, to which the Initiative has been contributing since its founding. The lack of commitment to reconciliation and bridging past conflicts is a direct investment in future conflicts and contributes to general social, political, and economic insecurity. At the same time, the ways in which societies remember their past reveal a great deal and significantly influence contemporary social realities. After violent conflicts and deep societal divisions, memory is often institutionalized and promoted in a one-sided and exclusive manner. This perpetuates and maintains divisions, contributing to discrimination, marginalization, or even nurturing of hatred toward various social groups, which are generalized as enemies. Therefore, the Initiative advocates for inclusive remembrance and promotes the exploration of the past from diverse, even individualized, perspectives. Initiative will focus on several core programmatic concepts through which it will strategically contribute to inclusive remembrance and reconciliation in Croatia and the region:
Museum of Remembrance for Civilian Victims of War — Initiatives for inclusive remembrance are very rare and have thus far come almost exclusively from civil society organizations. Institutionally supported memorialization programs are mostly one-sided and predominantly focused on combatants, while civilians, particularly those from minority communities, are neglected. Years ago, the Initiative launched an advocacy campaign for the establishment of a Museum of Remembrance for Civilian Victims of War, with the mentorship of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience and financial support from the French-German Cultural Fund (FCFA). The Museum is envisioned as a dynamic institution that researches, collects, and preserves the memories of civilians and the families and friends of civilian victims of war. The initiative was supported by other important social actors, including the President of the Republic of Croatia. However, the City of Petrinja, where the museum was originally planned, withdrew its support under pressure from nationalist political actors. As the social need for a space of inclusive remembrance has only grown, the Initiative will, in this strategic period, establish and work to open the Museum of Remembrance for Civilian Victims of War in Zagreb. The museum will offer programs that can also be exhibited in smaller communities particularly affected by the war. In doing so, the Initiative will realize its vision of creating a central place for inclusive remembrance in Croatia, contributing significantly to the understanding of different perspectives and experiences, and reducing social divisions stemming from the recent wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the broader region. The Museum will also implement decentralized programming focused on marking unmarked sites of suffering, transforming them from places of oblivion into places of memory. This will include the development of educational tours tailored to young people.
Shared Narratives —Through the program “The Past Continues,” developed in cooperation with the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University in New York, USA, and with the contribution of activists from other societies that have recently experienced violent conflict, the Initiative has developed a methodology for building shared narratives among individuals and groups who have experienced social conflicts from different sides or who have been politically socialized into opposing dominant narratives about past conflicts. Earlier iterations of this methodology have had a particularly significant impact on participants, resulted in valuable publications and reflections, and received international recognition (e.g., the French Republic Human Rights Prize). In this strategic period, the Initiative will facilitate the annual cyclical application of this methodology on various themes and locations, organizing regional and local processes of mapping dominant narratives and developing shared narratives. In this way, it will contribute to responsible engagement with the past, reconciliation, and social cohesion. As part of this programming, the Initiative will work at the national level in Croatia to support reconciliation processes in the country and at the local level, paying special attention to communities affected by war. On the other hand, the Initiative will collaborate with the regional YIHR network to implement bilateral and regional processes based on this methodology, in order to build friendly relationships among young people in the region and bridge narratives that perpetuate conflict.