BALKAN HISTORY

The history of the 20^th century in the Balkans is still an object of much debate. The demise of communism and emergence of new states saw a need for a revision of history, since the erstwhile ruling historical narrative was now seen as ‘communist propaganda’, which was, to a certain extent, true. However, the revisions of history that followed often sought not to present a more truthful and properly fact-driven version of history, but, rather, to produce fresh historical propaganda. In these new national (and often nationalist as well) historical narratives, the local population was represented exclusively in a positive light, as heroes, victims, or saviours, while neighbouring nations were typically portrayed only in negative contexts. Thereby, these divergent local narratives about the history of the 20^th century in the Balkans ended up in direct conflict. These customised historiography narratives, predicated on a selective use of facts or half-truths, are used for base political purposes every day in all the countries of the region.

BALKAN HISTORY is a project aimed at shedding light on historical facts concerning controversial events that took place in the Balkans during the 20^th century, for the sake of providing all those who visit this webpage with the naked truth, supported by facts, unburdened by everyday politics or national interests.

Historical narratives may be many – but the truth is only one.