Andy Konitzer (Associate Professor , Political Science) is in the Balkans this summer conducting research for a book project comparing Croatia and Serbia’s relations with the European Union. On June 15th he was joined by Samford Junior Jenna Edwards (International Relations, 2009). Edwards is currently a recipient of an Alabama Power Research Undergraduate Research Fellowship and she arrived in the Balkans to work with Konitzer on her study comparing Serbia and Croatia’s cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY). Over the next two and a half weeks Konitzer and Edwards conducted interviews with over 30 Serbian and Croatian government representatives, journalists, leaders of non-governmental organizations and legal advisors as well as representatives of various UN organizations and the OSCE. Along the way, they also visited former conflict zones in Croatia including Vukovar and areas which were formally part of the Serbian secessionist region of Srpska Krajina. Konitzer and Edwards plan to present results of their study at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (Washington DC) and the 2009 Southern Political Science Association Conference (New Orleans). Following these presentations, the two hope to submit a co-authored manuscript for publication in a peer-reviewed Political Science journal.
These pictures were taken during Konitzer and Edward’s visits to Vukovar and the former break-away region of Srpska Krajina. The first picture is of the heavily damaged water tower near Vukovar’s center. The tower remains one of the most recognized symbols of a battle which many see as “Croatia’s Stalingrad.”
In the second picture one can see the mixture of new development and war damaged buildings along Vukovar’s Danube waterfront.
The third picture was taken inside the Ovčara Memorial located on a sheep farm outside of Vukovar where Croatian prisoners were massacred by Serb paramilitaries following the battle. This part of the memorial features the names of victims spiraling into the candle at the center of the picture.
The final two pictures were taken in the former Srpska Krajina. These give a sense of the continuing desolation in large parts of this region of Croatia following the flight of 200,000 Serbs in the wake of Croatia’s Operation Lightning.
