ZAGREB, Oct 7 (Hina) - Croatian President Stipe Mesic said on Sunday that the studying of the past decade in Croatia and Serbia would be painful, adding that both countries would have to face historical facts and undergo a catharsis.
"We will also have to face the issue of guilt, not the guilt of the people but the guilt of an individual, whether it was about the guilt of an individual or a group," Mesic said at a scientific meeting held on the occasion of the sixth symposium on Croatian-Serb dialogue. The symposium, held in Zagreb over the past two days in the organisation of the "Friedrich Naumann" foundation, was attended by about 30 Croatian and Serb historians. "Dialogues of Historians" are scientific meetings on controversial topics from both countries' histories. We must stop revising history and leave it to the scientists, however, this is not sufficient. We also must correct mistakes which are the r
ZAGREB, Oct 7 (Hina) - Croatian President Stipe Mesic said on Sunday
that the studying of the past decade in Croatia and Serbia would be
painful, adding that both countries would have to face historical
facts and undergo a catharsis.
"We will also have to face the issue of guilt, not the guilt of the
people but the guilt of an individual, whether it was about the
guilt of an individual or a group," Mesic said at a scientific
meeting held on the occasion of the sixth symposium on Croatian-
Serb dialogue. The symposium, held in Zagreb over the past two days
in the organisation of the "Friedrich Naumann" foundation, was
attended by about 30 Croatian and Serb historians.
"Dialogues of Historians" are scientific meetings on controversial
topics from both countries' histories.
We must stop revising history and leave it to the scientists,
however, this is not sufficient. We also must correct mistakes
which are the result of the abuse of history in order to make it the
signpost toward a European future, Mesic stressed.
He said that in some Croatian schools history was being taught
through political pamphlets and revised handbooks. The youth must
be given handbooks which will teach them the truth and not lies,
Mesic said.
Head of the "Friedrich Naumann" foundation Hans-Georg Fleck said
that the fact that head of state was supporting dialogue between
Croatians and Serbs showed that Croatia was on the right path after
a period of "auto-paralysis and wandering". Over the past ten years
former state officials claimed it stood to reason that Croatia was
Europe and, despising the Balkans, they acted in a Balkan manner,
Fleck said.
From the German experience we knew it was not sufficient only to
create institutions, but also a political culture, turn to mutual
respect and tolerance, Fleck said. According to him, however, such
a culture cannot develop when the past is being mystified, own
nation magnified and the world painted black and white, but a nation
must face own mistakes.
Croatian and Serb historians also discussed issues such as the
modernisation and the role of elite in Croatia and Serbia, the
national identity of Croatians and Serbs, Croatia and Serbia's
casualties in 20th century, the position of Croats in Serbia and
Serbs in Croatia in the history and in the period of the socialist
Yugoslavia (1945-1990).
Inspired by similar French-German, German-Polish and other
dialogues of historians, the foundation has organised five such
meetings since 1998 which were attended by over 70 historians. This
is the first time such a meeting was organised in Zagreb.
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