Thematic Guide - Yugoslavia Archive Project
The Yugoslavia Archive Project (YAP) is both a curated collection and an archival research lab of the Blinken OSA Archivum, which comprises over 35,000 records covering the historical changes in the socio-political, economic, and cultural landscape in the Yugoslav region from WWII to 2015. The project brings together text, still and moving image and sound records in multiple languages in analog and digital format from across the archives.
The YAP is a work in progress performed by an international team of archival professionals and students in information science, international relations, law, nationalism studies, philosophy, and political science, majority coming from the former Yugoslavia. We have already reprocessed parts of the collections using the critical and self-reflexive archival methodology and we continue to add further materials as they become available. Many of the included records remain described by international descriptive standards traditionally used across the Blinken OSA Archivum. When searching the holdings of the YAP, you will therefore find analog and digital materials represented by metadata of diverse levels of granularity.
Selected Collections
HU OSA 5 Records of the Open Society Fund–Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1993-2004
Contains by-laws, board meeting minutes, annual reports, and other regular and occasional publications on the activities of the foundation regarding pre-school and higher education, study abroad, libraries, contemporary art, youth and women’s programs, health, media, culture, democracy, rule of law and prosecution of war crimes.
HU OSA 15 Kosovo Foundation for Open Society, 2000
Contains annual reports and other regular and occasional publications on the activities of the foundation, especially relating to Serb, Roma and other minority communities and decentralization in the country.
HU OSA 26 Records of the Fund for an Open Society–Serbia, 1991-2004
Includes by-laws, board meeting minutes, annual reports and other publications relating to minority rights (freedoms, language use and inclusion), education development, local community building, environmental protection, cross-border cooperation, and Europeanization of society.
HU OSA 102-2-1 Supplementary Grant Program for Students from the Former Yugoslavia, 1994 (unprocessed)
The program was launched in various host countries with significant groups of refugee students from the former Yugoslavia in 1994 and it consists mostly of grant applications. Applicants were also asked two essay questions about their reasons for fleeing and studying abroad and the possibility of their returning home upon finishing their studies.
HU OSA 205-3-11 Pursuing Balkan Peace, 1996-1997
Electronic publications circulated via e-mail documenting the ongoing process in the Balkans. News compilations covered issues associated with the regional conflict, and relevant political and social developments throughout the countries of the former Yugoslavia, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey. Available online.
HU OSA 205-4-80 Yugoslav Subject Files from the RFE/RL Research Institute, 1950-1995
Press clippings, news agency releases and publications on the social, political, cultural and economic landscape of Yugoslavia from the early 1960’s until its decline and disintegration in the beginning of 1990’s. Documents cover topics like security, church, education, the Non-Aligned Movement, the League of Yugoslav Communists, and the Praxis School, as well as the 1992-1995 Yugoslav wars.
HU OSA 205-4-81 Yugoslav Press Survey, 1994-1996
Press clippings from various newspapers, journals and magazines from Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) including excerpts from Borba, Novi List, Večernji List, Politika, Globus and others in the aftermath of the breakup of Yugoslavia.
HU OSA 205-4-90 Bosnia Herzegovina Subject Files, 1992-1997
News agency releases, press clippings and publications on the recent history of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the moment of its international recognition as an independent state in 1992 through the devastating wars to the post-Dayton reconstruction. Files cover the Srebrenica genocide, forcibly displaced people, military and security issues, privatization, unemployment and the country’s strong ties to the US, EU, and NATO.
HU OSA 205-4-91 Sarajevo Press Review, 1996
Clippings from the daily and weekly press published in Sarajevo from the first five months of 1996, covering the last weeks of the siege of Sarajevo, the longest urban blockade in modern warfare.
HU OSA 205-4-100 Croatian Subject Files, 1991-1997
Press clippings, news agency releases, articles from scholarly and other publications from Croatia. Documents cover social problems, the situation of media, minorities and the church, military issues, foreign relations, and political parties during the turmoil of the war, as well as economic matters during reconstruction and postwar privatization.
HU OSA 205-0-110 Macedonian Subject Files, 1991-1997
News agency releases clippings from press and publications and reports from Macedonia and other successor countries of the former Yugoslavia. They relate to economic policy and finance, foreign relations with specific focus on Greece, NATO and the United States, citizenship, migration, nationalism, and the local Albanian minority.
HU OSA 205-4-111 Macedonian Biographical Files, 1993-1996
Files on prominent personalities of Macedonian political life during Yugoslavia's disintegration and the country’s transition to democracy and market economy, including Kiro Gligorov, Vasil Tupurkovski, Ljupčo Georgievski, Petar Gošev and Albanian minority politician Abdurahman Aliti.
HU OSA 205-4-120 Serbian Subject Files, 1990-1997
Press clippings, news agency releases and publications on political, social, and economic issues from the times of Ante Markovic’s Federal Yugoslavia and Slobodan Milosevic’s anti-bureaucratic revolution and wars in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. Extensive biographical files present prominent political figures in the internationally isolated and sanctioned Serbia of the 1990s. Privatization, corruption, inflation, and illegal markets are also among the topics covered.
HU OSA 205-4-121 Kosovo Subject Files, 1989-1997
Media clippings and publications on the formative years of Kosovo from an autonomous province of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to Republic of Kosova. Files cover social and security issues, living standards, foreign relations, and the situation of human rights from the 1980s on, as well as a registry of contemporary political parties.
HU OSA 205-4-122 Kosovo Biographical Files, 1993-1996
Biographical files from public sources on prominent Albanian politicians and public figures from Kosovo during the disintegration of and wars in the former Yugoslavia, including Mahmut Bakalli, Adem Demaci, Azem Vlasi, and Ibrahim Rugova, the first President of the partially recognized Republic of Kosova.
HU OSA 205-4-123 Montenegro Subject Files, 1992-1996
Media clippings and publications on life during the international isolation of the mid-1990s, covering cultural, economic political and social issues, with special focus on living standards, church, minorities, and nationalism. A register of political parties and biographies of prominent Federal and Montenegrin politicians, such as Momir Bulatović, Milo Đukanović, and Milovan Đilas.
HU OSA 205-4-124 Vojvodina Subject Files, 1992-1996
This tiny collection, containing media clippings, describes the situation of the autonomous province of Vojvodina in the mid-1990s, featuring topics such as education, living conditions, minorities, migration, religion, political parties, and biographies of noticeable public figures, as well as local governments and nationalism.
HU OSA 205-4-130 Slovenian Subject Files, 1971-1996
Clippings from Slovenian press, publications and news agency releases cover economic, political and security issues, including nuclear energy, privatization, political parties, citizenship, foreign trade, and relations with ex-Yugoslav neighbors. The most outstanding chapter, labeled Terrorism, contains press reviews of “terrorist” acts committed in the federal republics and two autonomous provinces of Yugoslavia between 1971-1984.
HU OSA 208-3-3 Sarajevo Related Video Recordings, 1992-1994 (unprocessed)
Contains videotapes of edited and unedited footage from when the Bosnian Serb Army blockaded Sarajevo in 1992-1996. It includes television programs, documentaries, event recordings, news reports, and amateur footage, mostly produced by the Sarajevo Group of Authors (SaGA), a collective of multiethnic filmmakers and media professionals set to document how the siege affected the lives of Sarajevo’s inhabitants.
HU OSA 211-0-2 Sarajevo Projects, 1994-1996
Documentation of projects sponsored by the Open Society Foundations to aid the population of the besieged Sarajevo. These included, among others, the Sarajevo Water Project, which brought a complete water treatment plant into the city, the Oxford Colleges Hospitality Scheme, and Radio ZID (Radio Wall), a community radio station with local news, music programs and special blocs by and for children.
HU OSA 300-1-2 Radio Free Europe Information Items, 1951-1956
The collection contains 286 digitized Information Items, or anonymized interviews with defectors and travelers from Yugoslavia, created by Radio Free Europe in 1951-1956, covering political, economic, social, and cultural issues. The documents contain firsthand information on difficulties in the Yugoslav industry and trade, military cooperation and border defense issues, Tito’s handling of bilateral relations with Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and Romania, as well as anecdotes and jokes.
HU OSA 300-7-8 Subject Files Relating to Yugoslavia, 1951-1973
Western media clippings and news agency releases from the US Office of Radio Free Europe. They cover problems of communist indoctrination, arrest and intimidation of dissidents, the situation of human rights, concentration camps, Yugoslavia’s relations with the non-aligned movement, and hot foreign policy issues from the Cold War era.
HU OSA 300-8-3 Background Reports, 1953-1991
Contains 4,561 thematic research papers by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Research Institute on Yugoslavia, providing fact-based context on diverse topics. Reports approach the country mostly from a foreign policy perspective, covering the uneasy relations of Yugoslavia with Albania and Bulgaria or the recurring polemics of Belgrade with Moscow and Beijing. Ethnic and economic topics are also covered.
HU OSA 300-8-47 RFE/RL Situation Reports, 1959-1989
Approximately 300 digital copies of Situation Reports produced by the Balkan Section of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Research Institute. Presented as regular updates on current developments in a news format with limited editorial commentary, the reports address topics such as foreign policy and bilateral relations of Yugoslavia with Albania, Bulgaria and other Communist or non-aligned countries, dissidents, and Slobodan Milošević’s rise to power within the League of Communists of Yugoslavia.
HU OSA 300-8-27 Pregled – Review on Yugoslavia, 1950-1954
Strong anticommunist periodical published by the Research and Information Center of the National Committee for a Free Europe in New York. The reviewed topics cover the establishment of the post WWII communist regime in Yugoslavia, its relations with the United States, economic and political issues and other information drawn from Yugoslav media, emigrants from and foreign visitors to the country.
HU OSA 300-10-2 Yugoslav Subject Files I, 1943-1994
Thematic series consisting of clippings from Yugoslav and Western press, excerpts from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Research materials such as Background and Situation Reports, Press Survey materials and other publications. Records cover the Yugoslav communist regime’s handling of domestic opposition and dissent, forced labor and political trials, ethnic tensions in Kosovo, foreign relations, social issues, and culture.
HU OSA 300-10-3 Yugoslav Subject Files II, 1951-1985
Excerpts from Yugoslav and Western press, news agency releases, and broadcast transcriptions and analysts' research papers from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Topics include domestic and foreign policy, political parties and trials, autonomous regions, relations with international communist and non-aligned movements, economic reform, self-management, the Praxis School, dissidents in exile, and human rights.
HU OSA 300-10-4 Yugoslav Biographical Files I, 1948-1991
Biographical files of prominent government and communist party officials, dissidents and intellectuals collected from Yugoslav and foreign press, news agency releases, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty research papers and radio broadcasts. There are extensive files on Josip Broz Tito, Edvard Kardelj, Stane Dolanc, Mihajlo Mihajlov and Milovan Djilas, but those on Miroslav Krleza, Ivo Andric and Danilo Kis are also included.
HU OSA 300-10-5 Yugoslav Biographical Files II, 1964-1985
Biographical files of prominent and lesser-known political figures, members of the cultural and intellectual elite across the federation, and of Western ideologues and journalists. Media clippings from both the Yugoslav and foreign press and news agencies, research papers and other publications cover Franjo Tudman, Azem Vlasi, or Vojislav Seselj, as well as Antonio Gramsci, Leo Trotsky, or Hans-Peter Rullmann.
Includes reports, official submissions, press clippings, audiovisual recordings and background materials on military strategies, human rights abuses, destruction of cultural property and other war crimes gathered by the United Nations Commission of Experts Established Pursuant to Security Council 780 to Investigate Violations of International Humanitarian Law in the Former Yugoslavia (1993-1994). The Commission's Chair and Special Rapporteur was the prominent legal scholar M. Cherif Bassiouni.
HU OSA 307 VIN Program Broadcasts, Studio B Television, Belgrade, 1993-1996
Contains recordings of Weekly Independent News programs, produced by Video Nedeljnik (VIN), and aired on Studio B Television in Belgrade. Critical of the Milošević regime, broadcasts contain surveys on living standards including hyperinflation and shortages, and reports on how political opposition and dissidents living in Serbia and abroad reflected on social, economic, judicial, and political issues in Serbia and Montenegro, and other former Yugoslav republics.
HU OSA 308 Serbian Television Monitoring, 1996-1999
Television monitoring of post-Dayton news and political programs broadcast by official Serbian television (RTS), and independent stations such as Television BK, Pink TV, and Television Politika. Highlights include coverage of speeches by Slobodan Milošević, the Belgrade student protests of 1996-1997, and propaganda films broadcast during the NATO bombing of Kosovo in 1999.
HU OSA 309 Bosnian Television Monitoring, 1996-1999
Television monitoring of post-Dayton news and political programs broadcast by official Bosnian Herzegovinian television stations including TV B&H, TV Srpska and NTV X, and independent broadcasters Hyat and Television 99. Highlights include programs about post-war reconstruction, identification of missing persons and commemoration of victims, return of refugees, justice making and living standards, as well as interviews with Zoran Đinđić and Vojislav Šešelj and speeches by Alija Izetbegović.
HU OSA 310 Croatian Television Monitoring, 1996-1998
Television monitoring of post-Dayton news and political programs broadcast by official Croatian Radio Television (HRT), including Dnevnik evening programs, and the special third edition of Motrista news. Broadcasts cover reports on the Homeland War and postwar economic hardships, Croatia’s joining the Council of Europe, 1997 local elections, speeches and parades held at Franjo Tuđman's 75th birthday celebrations, and Independence Day commemoration ceremony in 1997.
Contains recorded proceedings of the Duško Tadić trial, as well as excerpts from trial hearings related to the cases of Radovan Karadžić, Ratko Mladić and Tihomir Blaškić before the ICTY. Tadić was convicted and sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment for crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and violations of the customs of war committed in the Prijedor area
HU OSA 338 Yugoslav, Serbian and Bosnian Television Monitoring, 1991-1995 (unprocessed)
Contains recordings of newscasts and political programs broadcast on a variety of television stations, including Radio Television Serbia (RTS Belgrade and Novi Sad), Studio B, TV Sarajevo, Zenica and Politika, Yutel and RT Titograd (Podgorica). Reports cover the breakup of Yugoslavia as it unfolded, the 1991-1995 Yugoslav Wars with daily news on military activities, and anti-war and anti-draft protest organized by students and NGOS in Belgrade and Sarajevo.
HU OSA 350-1-1 Balkan Archive of the International Monitor Institute, 1990-2001
Over 3,000 hours of newscasts, documentaries and amateur footage presenting conflicting versions of the 1991-1995 Yugoslav Wars. Produced by public and private media outlets in the ex-Yugoslav region and the West (from CNN to ORF), majority of the recordings documents specific atrocities such as the 1995 Srebrenica genocide or crimes against humanity, like the siege of Sarajevo. Testimonies of victims and survivors and interviews with major political and military figures are also included.
HU OSA 363 Balkan Chapter of the American Refugee Committee, 1992-2007
Contains reports, studies, background materials, maps and photographs accumulated during ARC missions in the former Yugoslav republics except for Slovenia. Documents cover microhistories of disintegration, suffering and reconciliation in war-torn parts of the region, as well as successful instances of the “regional linkage and return implementation mechanism” involving home-making and local development programs within communities of refugees and internally displaced people.
HU OSA 377 David Rohde Collection on Srebrenica, 1990-2000
Collected by the Pulitzer Prize winner war reporter David Rohde, these declassified US official documents, confidential UN and NATO communications, and reports from non-governmental human rights organizations, as well as an extensive international media coverage reveal the circumstances in which more than 8,000 Bosniak civilians were murdered in a single genocidal act by the Bosnian Serb Army in the UN safe zone of Srebrenica in July 1995.
HU OSA 386 Physicians for Human Rights’ Bosnia Projects, 1996-1999
Materials include forensic expert reports and photographs, databases, lists of missing persons, memos, correspondence, handbooks, newsletters, press releases, maps, and videos. They document individual and mass grave exhumations and identification of missing persons by using DNA technology combined with ante- and post-mortem databases related to the Srebrenica genocide and other mass atrocities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the psycho-social effects of the wars in Bosnian society.
HU OSA 392-2-13 WITNESS Kosovo Project, 1998-1999
The collection includes recordings of Kosovo massacre sites, and interviews with relatives and friends of victims, and eyewitnesses of the massacres. It also contains footage shot by WITNESS partner Zahn Hajdini who traveled to Kosovo to film the realities of refugee life following massacres by Serbian regular and paramilitary forces and the NATO bombings of Serbia.
HU OSA 405 Lara J. Nettelfield Collection of Photographs on Srebrenica, 2004-2005 (unprocessed) (0043)
Contains photos taken by political scientist and human rights activist Lara J. Nettelfield during her research in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Collaborating with women survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide and their associations, Nettelfield took part in and organized advocacy activities, including demonstrations, commemorative events, vigils, and a bus trip to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
HU OSA 406 Collection of Home Movies on Srebrenica, 1992-1995
Video recordings on life in Srebrenica before the fall of the enclave in July 1995, including amateur footage shot at parties, wedding ceremonies, horse races and local sports events, as well as private messages to relatives and friends. Other recordings cover aid activities of international organizations, including UNHCR and the Swedish Shelter Project or contain footage on military drills, interviews with Bosnian Muslim commanders on the causes of war, defense of the area, and the latest war operations.
HU OSA 300-5-240 Files of Slobodan Stankovic, 1965-1986 (unprocessed)
Contains reports, studies, and personal papers of political analyst Slobodan Stankovic. Working for the Balkan Section of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Research Institute, Stankovic wrote on issues and trends in Yugoslavia and Albania, among them political trials, trade unions, living standards, anti-Muslim feelings and manifestations, disillusioned and Western-oriented youth, and discontent with the Communist system.
HU OSA 380 My Balkans Photo Documentary Archive, 1990-2015 (unprocessed)
Contains photographs taken in the countries of the former Yugoslavia by Beka Vučo, the regional manager of the Western Balkans at the Open Society Foundations. As a photographer, Vučo has documented conflict, attacks on open society, and renewal in the Balkans.
HU OSA 467 Michael Pugh Collection on Peacebuilding in the former Yugoslavia, 1991-2013 (unprocessed)
The collection consists of documents on the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s and their aftermath, with special focus on postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina, collected and written by one of the region’s foremost researchers of war economies and peacebuilding. Topics include political economy in Bosnia, NGOs and humanitarianism, refugee returns, war crimes, the Dayton Agreement, and its implementation, and much more.
