The Longest Winter

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When the socialist system in Yugoslavia collapsed at the end of the Cold War, the country’s constituent republics broke away from the central government in Belgrade. Serbs and Croats formed substantial majorities in Serbia and Croatia respectively, but in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which had a centuries-old tradition of diversity and multicultural tolerance, no single community enjoyed an absolute majority. Citizens of Bosnian Muslim heritage, or Bosniacs, formed the largest group, after which there were substantial numbers of Serbs and Croats, as well as Bosnians of mixed origin and other backgrounds. Family names are routinely used to attribute ‘ethnic identity’ in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and ‘ethnicity’ is used interchangeably with religious affiliation – Bosniacs are assumed to be Muslim, Croats to be Catholic and Serbs to be Orthodox. In reality there are no ethnic differences among the communities – they are all Slav – and the presumption of religious affiliation does a disservice to those who have no religious affiliation or who believe their religious practice should have nothing to do with politics.

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