New Books in History Carol Lilly, "Death and Burial in Socialist Yugoslavia: The Politicization of Cemeteries and Ethnic Conflict in the Balkans" (Bloomsbury, 2024).
Nov 21, 2025
Carol Lilly, a historian specializing in cemeteries and political culture in the former Yugoslavia, dives into the politicization of burial sites amidst ethnic conflict. She discusses how the communist regime weaponized cemeteries, leaving a legacy of ethno-religious segregation while introducing political symbolism into burial practices. Lilly also explores the coexistence of secular and religious burial traditions and how these dynamics evolved post-1989, reflecting broader cultural shifts in the Balkans.
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First Encounter With Yugoslav Cemeteries
- Carol Lilly describes her first experience of Day of the Dead in Yugoslavia and how it changed her view of cemeteries.
- She was struck by the personalized grave markers and communal visits, contrasting sharply with her American upbringing.
Cemeteries Are Both Inclusive And Excluding Spaces
- Cemeteries shift from religious churchyards to secular municipal spaces over centuries, but remain both inclusive and exclusive.
- That dual nature makes them potent targets for politicization and wartime desecration despite legal protections like the Hague Convention.
Partisan Parks vs. Segregated Civilian Graves
- Yugoslav communists created integrated partisan cemeteries but left civilian cemeteries ethno-religiously segregated.
- This paradox left civilian burial culture vulnerable to nationalist re-appropriation and wartime desecration in the 1990s.
