“News from the past” – historical illusions: misconceptions about the past and their social and political effects

Delagation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia (EIDHR)

The main goal of the project is to contribute to the reduction of mythical elements of the understanding of the past and thereby to eliminate the “curse of history” which has been affecting Serbia and its neighbours in the last decade of the 1990s and has dominated much of political thinking and decision making thereafter. The aim of BCHR is not to study the attitudes of the public and the shared images of the past and to wonder about their origin and seek explanations for their existence but to try to replace mythical images of the past by their real understanding of the past events. In other words, much of the teaching of history and the use of history for political aims has been based on the understanding of history as a vehicle for the establishment and preservation of national identity, for enhancing national pride and self-confidence and not for the transmission of objective and scientifically verified presentation of the past.A group of renowned historians, political scientists, social psychologists, ethnologists and anthropologists will establish a list of suspected misconceptions shared by the wider public. The list will serve as the basis for a questionnaire which will be distributed to a relevant sample of citizens, who will be invited to indicate which version of an account of historical event they consider to be true. The result will be compared with the scientifically established facts about the given event and the result, accompanied by a critical analyses will be published. Before the final publication, the findings of the survey will be discussed at a number of conferences and meetings to test their validity in the eyes of the representatives of other relevant professions, such as educators and persons dealing with young people. After this series of encounters, the results of the survey will be published as a book which will then be promoted and publicised with a view of influencing the teaching of history, the media, the religious communities leaders and the political decision makers.

The project is aimed primarily at influencing and changing the attitudes of those who are able to commend the attention of the majority of citizens and can act convincingly to persuade them to think differently and to revise some of their deeply held perceptions of historical events. The project will target members of the teaching profession, especially at the elementary and secondary level. The plan is to influence the teachers through the conferences and meetings organised in the framework of the project, to reconsider their perceptions of the main points in the historical past and to induce them to transmit the latter to their students. Also, BCHR will adress persons working in the media. The editors in chief and section editors of a number of influential printed and electronic media will be invited to encounters where using the result of the survey and the envisaged publication will be presented to them by historians and public personalities who commend their respect aimed at indicating the main misconceptions that have been registered in the media in the last two decades. A similar presentation will be organised for the members of the political elite. In addition to the members of Parliament, the participants will also come from the assemblies of regions and municipalities, with a special accent put on those coming from ethnically mixed areas and belonging to minorities.

The ultimate and the most important target group are naturally the citizens themselves. They will be exposed to the influence of the events surrounding the project and to the final publication. This publication will be publicised to the highest extent possible. It will be presented in the media, especially those most influential and reaching the widest audience.

BCHR hopes that project would lead to reconciliation, better understanding of the demands of the minorities and their rights and strengthen democratic institutions and underlining the importance of human rights of citizens living in multiethnic and multicultural states.