Dati ime i glas žrtvi - kolektivna trauma i tema genocida nad Srbima u Nezavisnoj Državi Hrvatskoj (1941-1945) u savremenoj srpskoj književnosti

Abstract

The paper considers the phenomenon of collective trauma caused by genocide over the Serbian people in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during WW2 (1941−1945), which is sporadically present in the Serbian literature. The scale of its representation is diametrically opposite to the scale of this institutionalised crime (manifested as fascism and religious fanatism), which is saved in collective experience, memory and documents. A review of the literary production in socialist Yugoslavia indicates that only after the dissolution of Yugoslavia poetical elaborations of this topic appear, mostly in the form of poems, like in the collection Last Rites (Opela) by Milan Komnenić, and at the start of the 21st century by some refined, intimist opuses like the collection Pain (Bol) by Miroslav Maksimović, or based on the archive materials of truly recorded and revived voices of victims who were given back the dignity of existence (after mass and most violent killings, mostly without burials), like in the collection Suffering (Stradanja) by Jelena Kovačević. On the example of these three poetry collections, different stylistic and artistic methods, genesis and different approaches to the aesthetics of horror are observed. Conclusion is that only in the 21st century a fully mature, highly estheticized creation have appeared as permanent contributions to Serbian literature, serving also as a paradigm for some future works to be inspired by this topic.