Der Zweite Weltkrieg im Fernsehen. Filmpartisanen im kroatischen und serbischen Familiengedächtnis
The Second World War on TV. Movie Partisans in the Memories of Croatian and Serbian Families

Summary/Abstract: Written from the perspective of an anthropologist and historian, this contribution examines how memory is shaped through historical film and media productions. It is possible to identify how film plots serve as models for explanations and images of the past. While narratives of the past in former Yugoslavia, especially on WW II, are influenced in significant ways by partisan films and their discourse of fear, death, and violence, the memories are still bounded by social frames of the past. How families evaluate – or fail to evaluate – the misuses of history in films of the Yugoslav period, particularly those dealing with mass crimes committed under the nazi-occupation and the role of Tito’s liberation movement, is highly relevant for the Serbian and Croatian context. The article is based on the analysis of reflections on historical films and documentaries through interviews with 40 families in Croatia and Serbia consisting of at least three living generations. Particular attention is devoted to the perspective of the grandchildren’s generation.

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