In a time of identity crisis, history is not merely a discipline that studies the past of human society, it has become a key battleground for political conflict. This is precisely why modern-day Montenegro faces intense efforts to revise historical truth. However, this is not an academic debate or a result of new scholarly insights, but rather an organized political and cultural project aimed at changing the very character of the state.
Just as ancien régime structures once held a monopoly over historical “truth,” today’s authorities are striving to control the past. When Stalin was establishing totalitarianism in Soviet Russia, one of his first targets were historians.
Because history is powerful. If its reinterpretation does not follow scientific methodology but instead becomes a tool of political agendas, it inevitably leads to identity and cultural appropriation – the claiming of someone else’s history and territory. Two of today’s most pressing global conflicts – in Ukraine and Palestine – have, alongside military and strategic dimensions, deep cultural-historical and identity-driven roots. In multiethnic societies, cultural appropriation is especially dangerous. It is a tool that tears apart the fabric of a community because it attacks the fundamental values upon which collective identity is built. This is exactly what is happening in Montenegro today.
Identity Under Siege
Today, the state apparatus is controlled by a political front that opposed Montenegro’s restoration of independence in 2006. Leaning on electoral legitimacy, but without genuine democratic accountability, this structure is attempting to alter Montenegro’s political course and civic character. And in order to change the nature of Montenegro established in 2006, it is necessary to construct a narrative framework in which this state never had historical justification, and in which its independence is not a result of historical continuity, but a mistake of contemporary politics (according to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić), keeping it under constant pressure and uncertainty. In this strategy, revising the past plays a key role.
This revisionism, as carried out by the current government under the political oversight of Andrija Mandić and the operational apparatus of Belgrade’s nationalist agenda, does not involve correcting historical narratives based on new sources or methodologies. On the contrary, it is a case of “systematized falsification” of historical facts, especially those related to World War II, a cluster of events that continues to profoundly shape both global and Montenegrin realities.
Why World War II?
In 1943, through the decisions of the Second Session of the AVNOJ, Montenegro regained the historical subjectivity that had been violently stripped away in 1918. That same year, Montenegrin fighters against Nazism and fascism, as part of the Yugoslav People’s Liberation Movement, were recognized as a part of the global coalition led by the USA, UK, and the Soviet Union. Therefore, the anti-fascist legacy is directly embedded in the structure of contemporary Montenegrin statehood – without 1943, there would have been no 2006. But to change the identity of contemporary Montenegro, that anti-fascist legacy must be diminished and reduced solely to “communism,” thus paving the way for the rehabilitation of collaborators and war criminals from WWII – primarily Draža Mihailović and Pavle Đurišić.
In this mission, the Montenegrin government enjoys support from both the official and “deep” Serbian state, with all its propaganda and subversive capacities: financial, media, religious, intelligence, and cultural. The key figures in this project in Montenegro, in addition to the political bloc led by Mandić and ideologically shaped by the Rector of the University of Montenegro, Vladimir Božović, are also high-ranking clerics of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC): Metropolitans Joanikije and Methodius, and priest Gojko Perović – all staunch doctrinal followers of Chetnik ideology, providing this project with religious-cultural, even messianic, dimensions. Their goal is clear: delegitimize anti-fascism as the foundation of modern Montenegro and establish a new ideological order based on nationalist Orthodoxy, denial of Chetnik crimes, and cultural assimilation. The most toxic among them is undoubtedly Perović, who cloaks the Chetnik-SPC collaboration during the Italian and German occupation in human rights rhetoric, giving the entire project a veneer of legitimacy.
Denial of Crimes as National Policy
The revisionist framework does not stop at 1941–1945. It directly impacts how the wars of the 1990s are interpreted. The same political-ideological circle now denies the genocide in Srebrenica, relativizes the aggression against Croatia, downplays the mass graves in Kosovo, and promotes the idea of a “civil war” without clear aggressors or victims. This further poisons Montenegrin society, keeping it “trapped in conflict,” deeply divided along ethno-national lines and opinions on crucial facts from recent history. For when a community is stripped of its past, its present is manipulated – and that is exactly what this elite has been doing for the past five years.
In this context, the prophetic words of British historian Eric Hobsbawm are revealed: identity history in this century will be abused like heroin. We are witnessing it live: history is not used as a tool for understanding and reconciliation, but as a weapon of domination. The most recent example of this was the resymbolization of the 13 July Award.
Resistance Through Civil Society
The current situation demands that we ask essential questions: What can we do, and how do we resist revisionism when institutions are captured, the education system is vulnerable to parallel narratives, and the media and cultural institutions have been turned into tools of ideological indoctrination? The only remaining bulwark is civil society. Civic initiatives, NGOs, and independent individuals must take on the responsibility of opposing historical engineering and promoting genuine need for facing with the past.
Without sincere confrontation and acceptance of responsibility, Montenegro will remain stuck in a limbo of stagnation – with no chance for democratic renewal or a European future.
Post-war Germany is a clear example of how transformative responsibility can be. After their 1945 defeat, German society – in the late 1940s, 1960s, and 1990s – decisively confronted its Nazi and communist pasts. Without this process, Germany could never have become the pillar of the European Union that it is today. The same applies to us: unless we acknowledge responsibility for Chetnik crimes in WWII and our role in the wars of the 1990s, Montenegro cannot morally or politically join the EU.
The Bones of Freedom Are Not for Bargaining
The fight against revisionism is not just a battle for historical truth. It is a battle to preserve Montenegro as a democratic, civic community rooted in the anti-fascist struggle. In a time when “picking over bones” is being used to legitimize new political regimes, we must not forget that those very bones are the foundation of the freedom we enjoy today, and could easily lose if we hand it over to those who tamper with them, douse them in wine, and seek a “second half”!
Dr. Boban Batrićević, historian, civic activist, and professor at the Faculty for Montenegrin Language and Literature (FCJK).
Note: This column may be freely reprinted by any media outlet with attribution to the author. It is published as part of the project Understanding the Past to Build Trust and Transitional Justice, implemented by the Centre for Civic Education (CCE). The project is supported by the regional initiative EU Support to Confidence-Building in the Western Balkans, funded by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The contents of this column are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCE, EU, or UNDP.
Napomena: Kolumnu slobodno mogu preuzimati svi mediji uz navođenje autora, kao i da se kolumna objavljuje kroz projekat Razumijevanjem prošlosti do izgradnje povjerenja i tranzicione pravde, koji sprovodi Centar za građansko obrazovanje (CGO). Projekat se realizuje uz podršku regionalne inicijative Podrška EU izgradnji povjerenja na Zapadnom Balkanu, koju finansira Evropska unija a sprovodi Program Ujedinjenih nacija za razvoj (UNDP). Sadržaj ove kolumne isključiva je odgovornost autora i ne odražava nužno stavove CGO-a, EU-a ili UNDP-a.