Q&A with Hikmet Karčić, Author of "Torture, Humiliate, Kill"
This guest author post is a Q&A with Hikmet Karčić, author of Torture, Humiliate, Kill: Inside the Bosnian Serb Camp System from the University of Michigan Press. This book is available in hardcover, paperback, and open access.
Your book is the first comprehensive study of concentration camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the Bosnian Genocide 1992-95 - why did you choose to focus on Bosnian Serb Camps for this book and your theory?
My interest in this topic was twofold. Firstly, concentration camps were the main institution perpetrators used during the Bosnian Genocide. The fact that in the post-World War Two “Never again” period this occurred on European soil was fascinating. Thus far, this phenomenon was not a subject of research, which made it more challenging. Secondly, this book is an attempt to take the first steps in filling a gap that exists in both local and international understanding, and it is regrettably necessary in the face of continued denial by the perpetrators, politicians, press, and academia in both Serbia and the Bosnian Serb entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska. Thus my aim was to show how camps functioned on a micro-level and in this way attempt to preserve the memory of those who perished.
Another valuable aspect of this book is that it uses multiple sources of evidence. The primary sources are court judgements from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia as well as the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition to court judgements, perpetrator documentation used as court evidence as well as witness statements were used as primary sources in this research. The use of this kind of archival material is rare in publications related to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and thus, this book provides a credible source of information.
Could you explain collective traumatization theory to a non-specialist? How does it function in societies?
The Bosnian Serb perpetrators invented a new purpose for concentration camps: collective traumatization. The primary aspects of the collective traumatization in these camps were torture, sexual abuse, humiliation, and killings. These were the key elements needed in order to inflict pain on a large mass of people. The establishment of camps differed from municipality to municipality. These were brutal torture and humiliation camps. In most cases, the men were kept separate from women, whether in parts of the camp or even in different camps. This was the initial shock intended by the perpetrator, the division of families. Those who were executed were considered and identified by the perpetrator as extremists of the highest category. The educated and other elites belonged in this category. Other men were beaten, tortured, sexually abused, and starved. Women and children were kept together in separate camps, where they usually spent a shorter amount of time than the men. The women and girls were raped and sexually abused. Occasionally public ritual executions would take place. Children were threatened in front of their mothers and family members. In sum, collective traumatization is inflicting long-lasting pain and trauma without necessarily physically eliminating the targeted group.
In my book I used four towns as case studies: Prijedor, Višegrad, Bijeljina and Bileća—geographically different locations—to show that a similar pattern was implemented by the perpetrators against the Bosniak and Bosnian Croat population.
What are contemporary examples individuals could point to when it comes to traumatization theory and incarceration camps?
At the time while I worked on the book, the concentration camps were set up for Uyghur Muslims in China. Based on the numerous reports from the camps, I can see certain similarities with the Bosnian Genocide, which is incomparable in size. Through the years-long persecution and traumatization process, the Uyghurs will be collectively traumatized and uprooted to the extent that it will be very hard for them to regenerate, similar to the Bosniak Muslim population in the Bosnian Serb entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
How does your book contribute to the conversations around current incarceration camps?
One of the purposes of this book is to place the Bosnian Serb camp system in its rightful place in the history of mass atrocities. Three elements of camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina stand out among other examples in history: brutal torture, rape, and sexual abuse designed to inflict maximum trauma; the presence of local perpetrators, and finally, the presence of mass graves. Most of the crimes committed were personal, and intimately so; the identity of the perpetrator was very often known to the victim and vice versa. The camps themselves were formed within the community, inside the town, visible to the public. The bodies of those who were murdered or executed were dumped into hidden mass graves with the aim of concealing the crimes committed. This personal aspect of the crimes committed is usually oversighted. This aspect and the three elements of camps previously mentioned contribute to the overall understanding of the complexity of camp history globally.
What do you hope readers will take away from reading Torture, Humiliate, Kill?
Two key points may be derived from the experience of the Serb-run camp system in Bosnia and Herzegovina. First, the Bosnian Serb authorities used detention camps and facilities as a widespread and systematic tool in their genocidal cleansing of the territories they seized. The fact that in four geographically different locations—the case studies presented in the book—a similar pattern of organized collective violence has been proved leads us to conclude that camps and facilities were a tool. They were established around the same time with the same or similar features, by similar structures, planned from one document, all linked under one figure. All of this indicates that the camps were at the heart of a genocidal campaign in the heart of Europe. Lastly, the role and functioning of state institutions show that each genocide, each camp system in history, is unique.
