Historical Understanding Activity
Document 6: Story of a Serb in the Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina
The Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina was formed in 1992 right after the republic declared its independence from Yugoslavia. Most of the soldiers in this army were Muslim.
Some Bosnian Serbs did not support the Serbian invasion of their nation and instead joined the Army of Bosnia Herzegovina. Dragan Andric was one of these Bosnian Serbs. He became an officer in this army and dispatched soldiers into the hills to save the lives of people who were fleeing from the Chetniks.
One of the Muslim families that fled had survived for forty-seven days without food and shelter in the woods. When Dragan Andric found the family, he asked whether they had seen any Serbian military or paramilitary troops. The daughter of the family, who was exhausted from their ordeal, replied furiously to him, “All Serbs are Chetniks as far as I’m concerned!”
Dragan paused and calmly said to her, “No, they are not. I’m a Serb, but I’m no Chetnik.” The family recovered after thirteen days of care. Then, Dragan organized their return to Mostar, a town in Bosnia- Herzegovina where he thought they might be safe.
10. Here are some explanations for why Dragan might have acted differently from the priest you read about in Document 6 who was also Serbian Orthdox Christian. Please rate how good you think each explanation is.
(You may check the same rating more than once)
Very Bad
Bad
Good
Very Good
a. Dragan Andric was a generous man who wanted to save innocent people, while the priest only cared about his religion and his own people..
b. Maybe Dragan agreed with the Constitution that said that politics and religion should be separate. Ethnicity is only one of the factors that influence people’s decisions.
c. Since Dragan lived in Bosnia, he might have had contact with people from other religions and, therefore, was more tolerant of differences.
11. Which explanation do you think is best (please check one)?
A
B
C