THE PROCLAMATION OF HISTORIANS ON THE INVASION OF UKRAINE

04 Mar THE PROCLAMATION OF HISTORIANS ON THE INVASION OF UKRAINE

Historians from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia, signatories of the “Defend History” Declaration, issued a proclamation warning about abuses of historiographical narratives in interpretations of the aggression against Ukraine. The KROKODIL Association strongly supports this proclamation and urges everyone to read it.  

We, historians from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia, signatories of the #Defend History Declaration, condemn the falsification of history, its abuse and the use of selective historical arguments to justify a policy of war and aggression against the sovereign and internationally recognized state of Ukraine.

Several decades ago, the abuse of history for political purposes led to the tragic wars in Yugoslavia, and this is why we are warning of the danger of manipulating the past to incite hatred, provoke war, dehumanize the enemy and justify war crimes.

History is a free and autonomous scholarly discipline dedicated to researching and understanding processes from the past. History must not serve to legitimize anyone’s national aspirations and territorial claims.

We stand in defense of our discipline! We demand from all politicians, both those in our countries and those on the international arena, to pursue responsible politics of memory and history teaching, to stop abusing the past and not to rely on historians, intellectuals and special interest that fuel nationalist passions and spread hate speech to pursue their interests.

We are raising our voice in defense of our profession and the unalienable right to life and the affirmation of all individual and collective identities, and in this hour, especially the Ukrainian identity and the freedom of the citizens of Ukraine.