"Science is progressing, not only new sources, new data, but also new theories are being discovered that lead to different interpretations, and all of this is legitimate within science. What is not legitimate is revisionism, which implies that for certain political goals you simply remove facts from history that have been proven, insert those for which you have no proof, or even completely invent them," the historian assessed. Dubravka Stojanović answering questions about how religious communities and political parties today shape memories, influence the interpretation of history, and contribute to revisionism.
The Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral (MCP), in its response to "Vijesti", on the other hand, said that "so-called historical revisionism" is often understood as a bad practice in itself, although it is completely clear, they say, as confirmed by historians of all ideological stripes, that the reexamination of historical "truths" is necessary and entirely immanent to the scientific method.
Stojanović, a professor at the Department of History at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, however, points out that there is a line between legitimate questioning of history and politically motivated rewriting of facts, and that it is “very clear.” The historian emphasizes that the problem is that states and authorities manipulate history and that some historians participate in this, and that history is increasingly becoming a tool of political manipulation, a space in which facts are rewritten, victims are selectively remembered, and responsibility is relativized.
For years, a battle for "history" has been waged in Montenegro. Collaborationists become victims and heroes, while anti-fascism, the former foundation of the state and society, has been reduced to a political phrase. Religious communities and political parties are at the forefront of these battles, often side by side.
Instead of shared values, a universal culture of remembrance, the narrative of "our" and "their" victims dominates, while crimes are minimized, relativized, denied, or instrumentalized for daily political squabbles.
Church sermons to the Chetniks, priests at gatherings celebrating them, streets named after collaborators, petitions to erect monuments, denial of crimes, proposals for a resolution on Jasenovac as a reaction to the resolution on Srebrenica, political and religious games with the identities of victims - are all manifestations of one process.
Religious and political authorities, who publicly promote such narratives, shape society's memory, often more than the education system.
Philosopher Slađana Kavarić Mandić She emphasized that history should serve to draw conclusions, to understand the present on a value level, and to be a guideline for better understanding not only of the past but also of the context in which we live.
"However, history should not serve as the main field and reference point for critical examination of socio-political reality, much less daily political frictions and cheap electoral demagoguery. It should be a guideline for how to properly understand social movements, it can be a landmark in understanding the contemporary world, but the free interpretation of history is a dangerous field of abuse and political manipulation," she said.
"Self-victimization" - the nation as a victim
Dubravka Stojanović pointed out that "self-victimization" has become a key element of politics and that "crimes against others" are mostly not mentioned or are completely denied.
"It is also a global phenomenon, because the position of the victim is the position that gives you a free hand. The victim is allowed everything and that is a huge problem in today's world and we see that many wars in the world today are fought precisely from the position of a just victim who has the right to correct history. That, unfortunately, was the Yugoslav experience," explains Stojanović.
As an example of "our" and "their" victims, one can take the decision of the Parliament of Montenegro from June last year to adopt a Resolution on Genocide in the Jasenovac, Dachau and Mauthausen concentration camps. It was initiated by a part of the ruling majority parties. Primarily, the New Serbian Democracy (NSD) of Andrija Mandić and the Democratic People's Party (DNP) of Milan Knežević. The DNP said that the vote on this document was a prerequisite for even considering further support for Prime Minister Milojko Spajić (Europe Now Movement).
The aforementioned resolution was adopted a little over a month after Montenegro voted in the United Nations Assembly for a resolution proposing that July 11 be declared the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Srebrenica Genocide and condemning the denial and glorification of war crimes.
Kavarić Mandić assessed that "our victims" stand out because the dead, especially when they are posthumously defined and dehumanized nationally, represent a good emotional resource for creating a voter base, which is the sole goal of Montenegrin political parties.
"Backed by the wholehearted support of the church, this practice is gaining broader legitimacy, and our society is facing not only a political but also a deep value problem," said Slađana Kavarić Mandić.
Religious communities in the political sphere
Dubravka Stojanović pointed out that "religious communities would be better off not dealing with history."
"They have their own clear scope of action and the moment they leave that, which is religion, when they enter politics or when they enter history or geography, they become part of the political sphere and therefore have stepped out of their role and are subject to our criticism because they have not remained in their domain in which they have their authority," Stojanović pointed out.
An example is Chetnik commander and war criminal Pavle Đurišić, who in recent months has been the focus of stories about rewriting history.
In May of this year, at a liturgy he celebrated in Lijevče Polje, in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity of Republika Srpska, Metropolitan Joanikije of the Montenegrin-Littrian Orthodox Church called Đurišić a "great hero" of invincible character.
Head of State Jakov Milatović and Prime Minister Spajić, as well as the Speaker of the Parliament Mandić, did not immediately comment on Joanikij's statement. However, they did shortly afterwards - with that and similar statements. Milatović did not directly answer the question of whether he was concerned about the attempt to revise the history of the Serbian Orthodox Church and how he viewed Joanikij's position that Đurišić was a hero, but stated that he had said everything with his views on anti-fascist values. Mandić announced that he did not oppose the assessments of church dignitaries about the leaders of the Chetnik movement, while Spajić assessed that the whole of Montenegro was "a bit surprised by the series of statements coming from religious authorities", saying that he did not receive "advice from priests on matters of history, politics, finance, economy, sports, music...".
Following the statements from the Church, in the Berane village of Gornje Zaostro, in violation of legal regulations, a monument to Pavle Đurišić, a Chetnik commander from World War II, known for his collaboration with the occupiers and massacres of civilians, was unveiled.
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"Eternal memory to Duke Pavle and all the soldiers, warriors, officers, infantrymen and fighters of the Yugoslav army in the homeland," said Metropolitan Metodije on that occasion, unveiling the monument to Đurišić, which the crowd later transferred to the temple.
Kavarić Mandić emphasizes that the role of religious communities in Montenegro is political and that their determination regarding historical crimes should be viewed as such.
"No religious community should be abolished for their statements and positions, especially not the Serbian Orthodox Church, which in Montenegro stands out for its very dedicated involvement in daily politics while having its informal representatives and supporters in the ruling structure," she stressed, adding that the example of the memorial service for Draža Mihailović in Nikšić with the presence of politicians is an example of a malicious political message that has nothing to do with spirituality.
She said that the worldview of certain religious institutions is selective and particularistic, based on exclusivity.
"When such institutions become socially relevant, or like the Serbian Orthodox Church - an important political factor, then we should not be surprised why there is no scope for all victims equally. The church in Montenegro has never been an institution of coexistence, solidarity and equality. It is a very hierarchically organized structure, which builds the meaning of its existence on emphasizing difference. Why such an institution has any role in political life and strictly political roles is a question of the immaturity of Montenegrin society and the impotence of the Montenegrin political scene," Kavarić Mandić pointed out.
Attitude towards anti-fascist heritage
The attitude of the church and part of the political public towards the anti-fascist heritage of Montenegro can be classified as part of the current revisionist range of history.
Metropolitan Methodius, after serving the liturgy at the Podmainsko Monastery in June this year, said that Dragoljub Draža Mihailović and Pavle Đurišić were the first guerrillas to rise up against fascism in Europe, but the truth about them was later covered up with lies.
He also said then that since World War II, a "Tito-Ustasha coalition" has reigned in this region.
He then assessed that the "greatest schizophrenia" of this area was the fact that a monument to the "greatest monster" Josip Broz Tito was erected in Podgorica.
As stated at the time on the website of the Budimlje-Niksic Serbian Orthodox Church Diocese, after the liturgy, Methodius served a memorial service for the First and Second Durmitor Chetnik Brigades and the "victims of communist persecution", General Dragoljub Mihailović and members of the Yugoslav Army in the homeland.
"We don't have a grave for the greatest among us. There is no grave for Saint Sava, he was burned by those whose successors burned Dragoljub after him, and he doesn't have a grave either," Metodije said at the time.
The leader of Free Montenegro and an official of the capital city of Podgorica close to the regime in Serbia, Vladislav Dajković, on the other hand, said in May this year that he would launch an initiative to move the monument to the leader of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito, from Podgorica to Cetinje.
Slađana Kavarić Mandić pointed out that, through shining examples of the struggle for universal values, resistance and solidarity, our past is most brightly defined through the anti-fascist struggle.
"That system enabled several decades of dignified life in which the SFRY was a relevant factor in the world order, and in that sense I particularly emphasize its role in the Non-Aligned Movement, anti-colonial foreign policy, but also social awareness of the existence of the world beyond the borders of one's own state, because geography and narrow-national folklore were not the foundation of identity," she believes.
She added that it seems to her that today we have "reduced ourselves to defining national borders and emphasizing differences in similarity. Closeness is not a value, but drawing clear boundaries between us and them, so we live the so-called narcissism of small differences."
"Being emotionally constituted, the issue of nation is always a good basis for political vulgarization, simplification and abuse. The ruling political structures offer their voters nothing but caricatured reinterpretations of historical events and manipulation of victims by reducing them to 'ours' and 'theirs', and this dichotomy is the basis of far-right ideology," Kavarić Mandić pointed out.
She also assessed that the anti-fascist legacy is our brightest history and confirmation that the people living in this region were capable of being part of history.
"In this sense, a distinction should be made between history and history, because history is positive history, history rich in value, while mere history can also mean something completely negative, such as the wars of the 90s, which, although they are history, will never be history. This is the basic difference between the anti-fascist legacy and the legacy of nationalist hysteria that, unfortunately, we are predominantly living in today," said Slađana Kavarić Mandić.
MCP: What is anti-fascism and who are anti-fascists?
"The Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral (MCP) constantly cultivates the culture of remembrance," points out Igor Balaban, secretary of the Diocesan Board of the MCP, in a response to "Vijesti".
"Crimes are crimes whether they are committed in the name of the alleged good of the state, ethnicity/nation, religion, class, the pursuit of power and dominance, or material gain. Every victim, especially an innocent one, deserves a dignified memory," Balaban adds.
He said that it is true that the SPC's memorials more often mention the suffering of the people who belong to that Church, and that there is nothing unnatural or surprising about that, and that "it is the same in every other community."
"What is the pain and suffering of the people in a specific environment and specific historical circumstances, is also actualized in the church's reality. The church does not make any programs and plans, nor does it have some hidden agenda by which it highlights some victims and marginalizes others. That is not the church's job either," said Balaban, emphasizing that "it is as if some want, for their ideological-political or who knows what other reasons, not to mention all those victims whose memorial does not correspond to these and such of their views."
The Secretary of the Diocesan Board of the MCP emphasized that Metropolitan Joanikije very clearly expressed his position, "against which, it seems, no one should have anything against."
"That all victims and all crimes should be listed, so that, as he said, we can come to repentance. General, nationwide repentance, and I would add, thereby also to a kind of catharsis that will allow us to move forward, less burdened by this horrific legacy of fratricide," Balaban explains.
When asked whether one can speak of selective historical memory if the contribution of the Serbian population to the anti-fascist movement is ignored, Igor Balaban said that he believes that the contribution of neither the Serbian nor any other population to the anti-fascist movement is ignored.
"The fight against Nazi-fascism had a broad front. What, obviously, does not exist in general social agreement is the question of what anti-fascism is and who is an anti-fascist. This confusion is a product of the very complex circumstances in which World War II took place, which in our country intertwined with a bloody civil war. Unfortunately, the post-war period did not contribute to the clarification of all controversial issues. A special problem is the assessment of whether each actor in the anti-fascist struggle, during the war and after it, was always and unmistakably on the side of true human dignity and freedom, which this ideology, without any doubt, seriously and systematically threatened," said Balaban.
He said that anti-fascism represents an expression of the struggle for freedom and human dignity at a specific historical moment and against a clearly defined ideology that threatened them.
He added that many regimes, from all over, are trying to give the anti-fascist struggle their own ideological stamp and proclaim their way as the only correct one.
"There are also those who use anti-fascism as a kind of ideological bludgeon against their dissenters, not hesitating to use the same or similar methods used by Nazi-fascism," concluded Igor Balaban, secretary of the Diocesan Board of Directors of the MCP, in a response to "Vijesti".
A radical change in the education system is needed
When it comes to the education system, Kavarić Mandić said that only through a radical change in the education system can Montenegro confront the regressive and non-emancipatory political discourse of parties that define their actions through "the people", "vulnerability", "sacrifice", and "Orthodox faith", which is mainly pushed by pro-Serbian parties.
"Of course, on the same wave, everything Montenegrin, civic and anti-fascist is systematically denied. This is further aided by the hypocritical quasi-Montenegrin counterpoint, which is also defined through nationalism (they call it defensive nationalism, as if there could be a positive version of nationalism), which in turn often abuses the anti-fascist heritage, using it for strictly political purposes. There is almost no sincere concern for anti-fascism, and this is also seen through the existence of a very small number of people who consistently operate outside the nationalist discourse," she said.
Kavarić Mandić adds that, unfortunately, the parties of smaller ethnic groups in Montenegro also mostly follow the same tribal, religious-ethnic matrix.
"It is necessary to define our relationship to the homeland outside of the national habitus, in unity and universal categories, because this is in the spirit of anti-fascism, which at one point elevated us and showed us that we are capable of thinking beyond the fascist categories of blood, origin, religion and chosenness of a people. For this, it is necessary to develop critical awareness, which should be the foundation of a good education system," said Kavarić Mandić.
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