From 1 to 4 December 2023, we organised a meeting of war veterans and peace activists in Daruvar, Croatia.
In a relaxed working atmosphere in Daruvar, war veterans discussed the need for joint planning and next steps and reviewed their work over the past period.
In the past two years, our work with war veterans featured several different activities: attending official commemorations, veteran visits and actions to mark unmarked sites of suffering. The number of activities, as well as their demanding nature, required that we take time together to review and analyse what was done and achieved and to plan together with new ideas, but also for some rest and rehabilitation.
The group was composed of twenty-five people – peace activists and war veterans from Serbia, Croatia and BiH. We started by looking back to our joint actions and activities organised since 2022. We discussed how the presence of a mixed group of veterans was seen when we would attend official commemorations, when we would come to sites of suffering and memory, who we could rely on, who supported us and how, but also what problems and difficulties we faced in individual actions. We analysed points of resistance and the difficulties we faced, as well as how we were able to overcome them.
On the other hand, we also highlighted some actions that were in many ways pioneering and important for our work. These certainly include expanding our mixed group of war veterans and peace activists to include people from prison camp survivors’ associations on all three sides, as well as our joint visits to sites where they had been imprisoned. We have concluded that these experiences have further connected and strengthened us and that they will be useful in the future for upcoming actions in local communities where we are endeavouring to increase our presence. The general impression was that people came out of each action enriched and stronger, that together we learned much and that we are motivated to continue our activities in the future.
The second part of the meeting was dedicated to jointly planning activities and discussing new ideas and proposals. We agreed on actions planned for the upcoming period: we also included several new people, which we are particularly happy about and which gives us encouragement, as do invitations from war veterans to visit their local communities and their offer to be our associates, hosts and co-organisers for these visits.
Afternoons were reserved for field trips. We visited nearby Pakrac and the Episcopal Palace and Church, as well as the Episcopal Library, and learned more about the history of the place.
After visiting Pakrac, we returned to Daruvar where we visited the Daruvar Homeland Museum and had a guided tour that included: the memorial room dedicated to the life of Jews in Daruvar, the memorial room dedicated to events from the Second World War and the memorial room dedicated to the Homeland War in Daruvar. We also attended the event to mark the “First Day of Advent”. The next day, we went on a guided tour of the spa complex and the town centre.
Members of the veterans group welcomed this combination of work and relaxation. We forged a commitment to continue our work together, with special motivation to further strengthen engagement, given the poor political situation in the region. We are heartened by the readiness and undiminished motivation of the veterans’ group to continue working, as well as their dedication and commitment to peacebuilding, despite the adverse global situation.
