Learning from the example of Yugoslavia?

How quickly some tectonic movements that took place on the periphery of Europe (from the perspective of the West) can fall into oblivion is also shown by the example of the war in Yugoslavia. After the Russian attack on Ukraine at the beginning of 2022, the German media, and some politicians, persistently repeated that the war in Ukraine was "the first bloody conflict in Europe after the Second World War". And that despite the fact that the events in Yugoslavia in the XNUMXs could not have been missed by anyone in Germany, if for no other reason than the hundreds of thousands of refugees who largely ended up in Germany at the beginning of the XNUMXs.

Repeating mistakes?

Now the same is happening to Germany, but with refugees from Ukraine, more than a million of whom have arrived in Germany since the beginning of the Russian aggression. Will German society repeat the same mistakes as in the 350.000s when, after the end of the war, the German government (on paper) chased over XNUMX refugees from the former Yugoslavia in all directions, despite the fact that they were mostly well-integrated members of society who in their later years sorely missed, above all by the German labor market?

Even today, the strengthened right in Germany demands the return of refugees to their homes and the closing of borders. Will this government give in to pressure from the right spectrum? The organizers of the 6th Berlin Autumn Salon of the "Maxim Gorky" theater from Berlin care that the mistakes are not repeated.

"Looking back at the war in Yugoslavia gives us the opportunity to talk about what is happening today around the war in Ukraine, about the possible consequences and how we as a society will react to those changes," says Shermin Langhof, manager, in an interview with DW of the "Maksim Gorki" theater and, along with the director Oliver Frljić, one of the organizers of this year's salon, which bears the theme-oriented title "Lost - You Go Slavia".

"Long live the War!"

From September 28 to December 10 in the building of the "Maksim Gorki" theater as part of the 6th Berlin Autumn Salon, many artists connected with the area of ​​the former Yugoslavia will contribute to the search for lessons from the post-Yugoslav trauma: Oliver Frljić, who since last year has been one of artistic directors of the "Gorki" theater, presents its two premieres as part of the salon. Artists Danica Dakić and Milica Tomić exhibit their works related to the fate of Yugoslavia. Artist Siniša Labrović, who has been living in Berlin since 2018, will point out the absurdity of military rituals in everyday life with his performance "Long live the war!". At the beginning of November, the Slovenian band "Lajbah", perhaps the most famous cultural export event from the area of ​​the former Yugoslavia, will hold a concert at the salon for the first time after a long time.

As it was said at the press conference before the opening of the Salon, numerous guest appearances by theater troupes and artists from the former Yugoslavia are planned, and a series of Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav films that are rarely available to German audiences will be shown. As part of the salon, the legendary work of the Croatian conceptual artist Mladen Stilinović "Sing!" from 1980, which became the visual symbol of this year's Salon, was also exhibited.

Berlin, as Langhof believes, is the ideal forum for confronting the fate of a missing country. "We live in Berlin, where many people who have experience of suffering and persecution, suffering and war have found their homes. "You Go Slavia" will be an opportunity for them to face similar experiences," said the manager of the "Gorki" theater.

She says that it is especially important to point out that it is not about nostalgia and adds that, in addition to historical works, such as the aforementioned Stilinović's "Sing", the festival is an opportunity to get acquainted with the works of many young artists who were born after the war, like director Selma Spahić.

"These artists deal with and think about conflicts in their homeland, but also other current conflicts. "Yugoslavia is just one focus that we have determined, and we care not so much that the concept of Yugoslavia is understood, but that through the experiences of Yugoslavia, we try to understand the world," concluded Langhof.

Yugoslavia as a utopia and a dark avant-garde

Artist Danica Dakić, who is exhibiting her work "Zenička Trilogy" in Berlin, says that she is not frustrated by the sometimes wrong perceptions of Yugoslavia and the space created by its disintegration. "Those different interpretations sometimes open up space for new discussions, which then lead to new solutions," says Dakić.

She believes that the term "Yugoslavia" is becoming attractive again precisely because of its utopian dimension. "Yugoslavia was Europe before Europe. And the Non-Aligned movement fascinates many today, because it was about constructions that were oriented towards the future," said Dakić to DW.

And her colleague, the Belgrade artist Milica Tomić, who currently teaches in Graz, notes that the term "Yugoslavia" constantly arouses public interest, but at the same time it is historically decontextualized: Yugoslavia does not become a positive utopia, but a kind of warning.

"Destruction of Yugoslavia, i.e. its disappearance, it became like a dark avant-garde for Europe", concludes Tomić. As part of the Salon, she exhibits the art project "The Four Faces of Omarska", which deals with the fate of one of the darkest sites of the war in the XNUMXs, the concentration camp where Serbian soldiers kept non-Serb residents of Prijedor and its surroundings.