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5 Europe’s “Others” Introduction: Oblivion Instead of Understanding A mere fifty years elapsed between the Holocaust and the genocide in Bosnia.1 As in most instances of manifestation of evil, here, too, evil is still present after its apparent withdrawal into the proffered oblivion instead of understanding. For most people today, the truth about the Holocaust seems to be just a figment of the prolific human imagination, rather than something that happened in recent European history. Similarly, the truth about the genocide in Bosnia already appears as a painful misunderstanding without any internal logic. The history of Bosnia, like that of any other part of the world, is not ideal. It is true, however, that for almost one thousand years the villages and towns of Bosnia were inhabited by people of different cultures. If we agree to limit culture to “meanings, symbols, values, and ideas,” including phenomena such as religion and ideology, as opposed to social structures,2 an understanding of the interconnectedness of the cultural and social spheres is of central importance in answering the question whether the interconnectedness of the Holocaust and the genocide in Bosnia, and the predominant understanding of both, can form the basis for identifying the living germ in the present that will reveal itself fully only in the future. Over a period of more than five centuries, Bosnian towns were inhabited by Christians (both Orthodox and Catholic), Muslims, and Jews. Their way of life was such that their cultural differences endured and developed, interwoven and interconnected. Within this diversity were two conflicting dynamics of history. In the first, it was their interconnectedness that was of greater importance for the future, and in this context the “meanings, symbols, values, and ideas” of cultural differences were to be understood as only superficial differences, of which the final outcome and scope could not be conflicting . In the second dynamic, the particularities and differences of “meanings, symbols, values, and ideas” were irreconcilable, and the connections were at 83 risk of being ruptured and broken. These two elements of Bosnian culture were present throughout its history, the first ensuring the survival of Bosnia’s unity in diversity over more than five centuries,3 and the second manifesting itself in numerous discords and conflicts, including the recent war against Bosnia as probably the worst manifestation of this type of understanding of culture. Both the Holocaust and the genocide in Bosnia can be explained logically and convincingly by using the model of “struggle for recognition.” If the “meanings, symbols, values, and ideas” of one culture are postulated as absolute , then a different set of relationships are understood as opposition by the Other. Any opposition is at the same time a reexamination of the absolute postulates, which is understood as animosity and non-recognition. On this basis, individual existence is transformed into a demand that others recognize the individual in the same form as he perceives himself. Recognition of the self of the one claiming recognition means subordination of the others, who are seen as hostile as long as they do not accept the understanding of the first. At this level there vanishes the ontological principle that every self actually has an equal need for recognition, and that recognition cannot be received from others until the self admits to itself and to others that, despite their differences in “meanings, symbols, values, and ideas,” the very fact of existence implies the sanctity of all others. No existence can have an advantage in principle, and only when all differences are transcended in order to attain the ultimate reality does it become possible to eliminate the demand to recognize others through subjugation, ultimately manifested in their destruction.4 Different Interpretations of the War The experience of the war against Bosnia, which must be recognized as partaking of the same nature as the Holocaust, offers itself to the European mind as a possibility to reexamine the present and future state of Europe.5 It should be emphasized that qualitative parity, which does not exclude differences in intensity or quantity, represents an important prerequisite for understanding the nature of events in time. A full circle is determined by just two points. By the same token, the ability to recognize and interpret events lies in the knowledge of the principles constituting the basis of events in time. Interpretations of the war against Bosnia are again placed between two extremes which determine the position of each individual in relation to the war itself and its effects. The first...

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