Guard against the oblivion: a role of public health in war

Abstract

Not to remember means to side with the executioners against its victims; not to remember means to kill the victims a second time; not to remember means to become an accomplice of the enemy. On the other hand, to remember means to feel compassion for the victims of all persecutions. (Elie Wiesel, excerpt from the Miami Beach Holocaust Memorial dedication, 4 February 1990) In 1991, Croatia entered the list of world's crisis areas ravaged by armed conflicts. The scenes of war, once thought to be safely buried in the textbooks of European history, resurrected before the eyes of shocked nations. As if all the tragic lessons of previous wars were forgotten, a new bloodshed began, bringing new deaths and suffering, family tragedies, and community destructions. This time, everyone agreed, the horrors of war must be remembered. This time, the lessons must be learned. Yet today, only 15 years later, can we really claim that our memory is not failing us? Were the people killed during the war in Croatia counted in hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands? What is the name of the farm where more than 200 patients taken from Vukovar hospital were beaten and then executed?And what time of year did that terrible crime happen–fall or winter? In 1991 or 1992? Human memory is indeed ‘a net full of holes’, and many facts …