Summary of
The Bridge Betrayed:
Religion and Genocide in Bosnia
by Michael Sells
1996
1996. ISBN 0-520-20690-8 (Cloth)
$19.95.
ISBN 0-520-21662-8 (Paper, New 1998 Edition) $14.95
[This summary is by
the author]
The Bridge Betrayed portrays from a human
perspective assault on Bosnia and the resistance by Bosnians. It shows how the
genocide was motivated and justified through the manipulation of the mythology
of Kosovo which culminated at the 600th anniversary passion
play of Kosovo, the remembrance of the death of Prince Lazar--portrayed
as a Christ-figure, fighting the Turks at the battle of Kosovo in 1389,
the "Serbian Golgotha." Slobodan Milosevic and Serbian religious
nationalists, including the leaders of the Serbian Orthodox Church, worked to
militarize the Kosovo story. Through exploiting the powerful symbols of Kosovo,
Milosevic came to power, overthrew the governments of Kosovo, Montenegro, and
Vojvodina, broke apart Yugoslavia, and carried out genocide in Bosnia, and then
Kosovo.
The Bridge Betrayed also demonstrates the
activities of Croat religious nationalists in destroying non-Catholic culture
and communities throughout Herzegovina and especially in the Mostar Region,
culminating in the deliberate destruction of the ancient bridge that symbolized
the bridge of cultures, religions, and peoples in Bosnia throughout the
centuries.
At the Kosovo commemoration of 1989, Serbian religious
nationalists combined four symbols into a lethal mythology: (1) a militarized
portrayal of the sacred time of 1389, (2) the sacred space of Kosovo or the
"Serb Jerusalem," (3) the historical memory of WW2 atrocities against Serbs, and
(4) false accusations that Albanians were carrying out WW2 style genocide
against Serbs. Through media control they generated a mass psychology of fear
and hate. The militarized mythology of Kosovo was instrumentalized
by the militias, religious leaders, and secret police of Serbia throughout the
genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Kosovo story had become ideology of
Christoslavism, the view that Slavs are Christian by essence and that
conversion from Christianity entails a race transformation and a race betrayal.
Most ominously, the militarized mythology maintains that those who converted to
Islam became "Turks" and are responsible, along with their descendants, for the
killing of Prince Lazar, the Christ-prince of the "Serbian Golgotha"
of 1389.
To understand the genocidal intentions of militant Serb
nationalists we must understand Kosovo. But the cliché that the conflict is "age
old and inevitable" is false; and indeed, it reflects the distorted history of
the "ethnic cleansers" rather than historical reality. The abuse of the Kosovo
legend to motivate genocide has been carried out by Serbian religious,
intellectual and political leaders, and there was nothing inevitable
about such manipulation. Serbia will retrieve its greatness when it finds a
vision of Serbian heritage, including the Kosovo story, focused upon
building community rather than destruction. New leaders such as Father
Sava Janjic, quoted at the beginning of the new edition of The Bridge
Betrayed, offer a more inclusive and humane vision of Serbian religious
heritage.