The Republika Srpska Memorial Center has launched a campaign on the streets of New York City titled “Learn About Serbian Suffering,” presenting it as an initiative to promote remembrance of Serbian victims. The campaign features a mobile multimedia exhibition traveling through Manhattan and other high-traffic locations, including areas near the United Nations Headquarters.
According to the organizers, the exhibition showcases material documenting the suffering of Serbs during World War I, World War II, and the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s. It focuses on Serbian victims in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Kosovo, as well as those affected by the NATO bombing campaign.
However, the exhibition does not address the well-documented crimes committed by Serbian forces during the Yugoslav wars, including the Srebrenica genocide and other atrocities in Bosnia and Kosovo that have been established by international courts. Critics argue that the campaign presents a selective historical narrative by emphasizing only Serbian suffering while omitting the broader context of the conflicts and the responsibility of the Slobodan Milošević regime and Serbian forces for documented war crimes.
The campaign comes at a time when issues related to the wars of the 1990s remain at the center of political and historical debates in the Western Balkans, while war crimes trials continue to attract international attention. Critics have described the initiative as a propaganda effort that uses the memory of victims to promote a one-sided version of history, relying on disputed claims, historical inaccuracies, and selective interpretations while overlooking the wider context of the Yugoslav wars and the documented responsibilities of the parties involved.
