About the “Virtual Memories” project

More than three decades after the war, Bosnia and Herzegovina still has not adopted a state strategy for transitional justice. Nor does the country have a systematic, fair and inclusive approach to memorialisation. Instead of a joint, fact-based confrontation with the past, processes of remembrance are often left to political interests and local authorities, resulting in selective commemoration of victims, denial of war crimes and increasing historical revisionism. In such an environment, preserving judicially established facts and creating space for dignified remembrance represent important contributions to building lasting peace and social trust.

Documenting facts and combating disinformation about wartime events are key pillars of the work of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIRN BiH), and this project, implemented in partnership with the organisation Pro Peace, represents a step forward in the digitalisation of memory and public education.

The main goals of the project are to strengthen accountability of institutions and strengthen citizens’ engagement in creating a safe environment for civil society and independent media, with a special focus on:

• Documenting unmarked sites of suffering: mapping and digital presentation of locations that were sites of detention, torture or killings, and which today do not have an adequate memorial.
• Combating revisionism: confronting the denial of judicially established facts by providing verified information and testimonies of victims.
• Inclusive memorialisation: promoting an approach to remembrance that includes the voices of all victims, regardless of their ethnic or religious background.

What does the platform offer?

Inspired by the need to overcome physical and political blockades to the erection of monuments, the project uses modern technologies to make remembrance permanent in the digital space by providing:

• Digital map of memory: an interactive display of locations of camps and sites of suffering across BiH, with detailed descriptions based on court rulings and archival material. The interactive presentation is based on Augmented Reality (AR) technology.
• Multimedia content: video testimonies from survivors, photographs and documents that provide context about events from the period 1992–1995.
• Analytical texts: a series of investigative stories that deeply analyse institutional resistance to the construction of monuments and the politicisation of the culture of remembrance.
• Data on mass graves: through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), the platform contains data on mass graves across Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the number of exhumed and identified persons at each location. This component represents a particularly important segment of the project because numerous mass graves remain unmarked, despite the fact that the Law on Missing Persons of Bosnia and Herzegovina envisages their marking and protection.

Why is this important?

In Bosnia and Herzegovina there are more than one hundred sites of suffering which, even three decades after the war, have not been adequately marked, or are under the control of local authorities who do not allow their memorialisation. At the same time, numerous mass grave sites remain without any marking or public recognition of the sites’ significance for the families of the missing and the wider community.

“Virtual Memories” serves as a digital monument that cannot be removed, destroyed or banned, ensuring that the memory of the victims remains preserved for future generations, researchers and young people who learn about these events in a divided education system. Through a combination of technology, investigative journalism, judicially established facts and data on missing persons, the project contributes to creating a more inclusive culture of remembrance and to opposing the denial of crimes and historical revisionism.

The project is supported by the European Union through the Thematic Programme for Human Rights and Democracy.

This application has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of Association Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Bosnia and Herzegovina and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.

User guide

Augmented Reality (AR) is the central feature of “Virtual Memories”, allowing users to bring monuments to life with the help of technology. Select a location in the app on the map or from the list of locations to receive basic information about each unmarked site of suffering. Select the detailed view for an in-depth overview of judicially established facts, photographs and video testimonies, as well as media reports about that specific location.

Select the central AR segment (the red button), and for each location you’ll see a 3D representation of the monument proposed for that site. You also have the option of positioning the monument in space using your mobile device’s camera, which you can do by selecting this option in the bottom right corner of your screen.