WE COULD NOT HAVE ANTICIPATED THAT – NOT EVEN IN OUR DREAMS

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This paper presents mental disorders of the Serbs caused by war actions from
Balkan Wars to the wars at the end of the last century. Both the stress/traumatic events
(war actions, camps, refugees) and changes in the forms of mental disorders (war tremors
in the First World War, partisan hysteria in the partisan war and the post-traumatic stress
disorder in the wars of the 1990s) are listed. A huge lack of data for special categories of
population is evident for the First World War (civil victims, Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina) and for the Second World War (members of the King’s Yugoslav Army in the
Homeland, detainees in German and other camps, civilians in the war and after the war).
The data show that the most severe psychological consequences, in addition to the horrors
of war, were caused by torture in the camps and prisons of war

MEMORIZED COLLECTIVE TRAUMA AS A FACTOR OF NATIONAL IDENTITY

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During their existence and historical confirmation on the Balkan Peninsula,
the Serbs were exposed to great suffering by those who sought to conquer these regions.
This suffering was especially pronounced in the twentieth century, in which a full blown
genocide was committed against the Serbian people in the Independent State of Croatia.
After the Second World War, in the communist Yugoslavia, that great national trauma
was suppressed and minimized. Instead of the truth, an ideological lie was created which
is being repeated to this day in order to diminish the numbers of the Serbian victims.
The elucidation of this historical truth is a topical issue, because after half a century, the
Ustasha ideology, new crimes and pogroms against the Serbian people reappeared in order to create an ethnically cleansed Croatia. The victims were declared aggressors, and
their mass killing and expulsion is celebrated today as the biggest national holiday. This
sacralization of crimes whose historical depth hides a total genocide against the Serbian
people has become the most important factor of Croatian national and state identity. The
questionability of this monstrous project requires an adequate response. In this paper, the
author proves that such a response can only be a complete remembrance of this trauma as
a factor of the Serbian national identity.

INTRODUCTION

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ABOUT CULTURAL DIPLOMACY

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OF UNUSUAL COMMITMENT TO SOCIOLOGY

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THEIR STORY – FROM CREATIVE WRITING OF FEMALE PRISONERS TO RESTORATIVE THEATRE PERFORMANCE

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Traditional reaction to crime is inefficient and experts are searching for innovative methods of social
rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders. Restorative justice – an approach that respects interests of all the subjects affected by criminal offence, including victims, offenders and community
– is becoming increasingly widespread as an addition to classical, formal judicial processes and
punishments. Restorative process is efficient due to its powerful transformative mechanisms based
upon dialogue, mediation, negotiation, reconciliation, forgiveness, symbolic rituals, reintegrative
shaming, community support and control. Restorative elements emerge in various forms, including
innovative programmes of work with prisoners, focused on social rehabilitation and reintegration,
in order to prevent re-offending. Some of them implement therapeutic effects of art, as a means to
help prisoners to: overcome deprivations, express emotions, heal past trauma, (re)establish healthy
relationships, enhance empathy, strengthen self-confidence, rebuild positive identity and reintegrate
in the community. On the grounds of Boal’s “theatre of the oppressed”, various forms of socially engaged theatrical genres evolved, including applied theatre, surpassing the borders of classical theatre
and getting closer to performance. Theatre within the prison walls being one of them, we took the
example of the theatre performance “Her Story”, written and performed by prisoners from Correctional Institution for Women in Požarevac, Serbia. Completed through creative writing workshops
and played in this penal institution, it is an example of applied theatre based upon art therapy with
strong restorative effects. The points of intersection between restorative process and this theatre
performance, make it stand out among other forms of applied theatre, providing it with particularly
strong transformative effects. Following the case study of “Her Story”, the authors of this paper have
suggested further application of similar programmes and their promotion within the community, as
an effective method of crime suppression through healing powers of art in synergy with restorative
elements.

SYMBOLISM OF THE HEART

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From the earliest times, the heart has been one of the most studied organs. We can find records
about this organ dating from the very beginning of written history, and we understand that different
beliefs have been associated with it before. Very early on, people have noticed that the heart occupies
a central place in the body, that the cessation of its work means death in both humans and animals,
and that excitement changes the rhythm and the manner of its functioning. However, in addition to
the physiological function of this organ, throughout history, the heart has been given various magical and religious meanings. In today’s world, the heart has overcome the notion of a sign and has
become a symbol of love, connection between people and affection. In this paper, different meanings
of this symbol throughout history to the present day are presented, with the aim of understanding
it in a cultural context.

THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN NIKOLA TESLA AND ORVILLE WRIGHT KEPT IN THE SCIENTIST’S LEGACY IN THE MUSEUM OF NIKOLA TESLA

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Nikola Tesla and the Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville, have worked and created in the United
States of America in the period comprising the last two decades of the 19th and the first half of the
20th century. All three of them were visionaries and creators of the modern technical age. In the
Tesla’s legacy, apart from his personal and technical items, press clippings, monographic and serial
publications, there are also about 156,000 sheets of archival material which cover his entire life and
work, both chronologically and thematically. Among these testimonies there are four original documents (a concept of a condolence letter, a copy of the sent condolence letter, a brief gratitude note
and a formal invitation) that were exchanged between Nikola Tesla and probably Orville Wright,
between 1912 and 1920. The oldest preserved document of their correspondence is the concept of
Tesla’s condolence letter to Orville Wright on the occasion of the death of his older brother. Two
approved patents for the Wright brothers’ aircraft model have been preserved as well, which testifies
of the scientist’s interest in their work and aviation research in general. Researching the correspondence between Nikola Tesla and Orville Wright, as well as the other documents from the scientist’s
legacy preserved in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, we have tried to highlight the details of
his acquaintance with the Wright brothers, that is, a small fragment of his life and work which has
remained almost unknown until today. Results of the research, presented in the form of a scientific
research paper, contribute to a better understanding of the aviation history and reveal new details
from the life stories of our renowned scientist and the two famous aviation pioneers. The publication
of exclusive documents from Tesla’s legacy is a contribution to the wider scientific community and a
new reference point for all the researchers who are to cover similar topics in the future.

LIFE OF THE PAINTING AFTER DEATH OF THE ARTIST

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Following the path of the painting after the departure of Petar Lubarda, one of our most prominent
art figures, we are faced with the question to what extent we have fulfilled our task to protect the
cultural property that was left–donated–to us. Processing the data from the most extensive register
in the documentation of the Faculty of Fine Arts, with a multitude of actual and sensationalist titles
that follow the life of his paintings, we have learnt about the formation of a rich collection donated
by the artist’s wife, Vera Lubarda, to the City of Belgrade, about the opening of the Atelier of Petar
Lubarda and, shortly afterwards, its closing and falling into oblivion. However, in the light of one
century from the birth of our esteemed artist, a need arose for retrospective exhibitions, which have,
along with marking the jubilee and forming the Legacy of Petar Lubarda, to some extent corrected
the decades of neglect by the expert public and the responsible cultural institutions. With an objective approach to the preserved data recorded by numerous art historians, critics and journalists,
which are kept in the Petar Lubarda files, the paper presents the most current events about the life of
his paintings in the period from the artist’s death to the present day.