Yugoslav History: Slobodan Who?

By ANDREW PURVIS

Slobodan Milosevic is about to be thrust once again onto the world stage, when his trial for war crimes in the Hague gets under way this week. But for Serb schoolchildren, the man who dominated Yugoslav politics for 13 years has mysteriously disappeared. A new history text for students ages 13 and 14--the first published since Milosevic was removed from power in 2000--fails to mention him or carry a single photograph. The final chapter, titled "Contemporary Problems of Yugoslavia," covers the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo but omits the man responsible for them. The uprising that ended his rule is described this way: "Federal elections...led to a change of power and a modification of domestic and foreign policy." Authors of the text argue that the 1990s are still too fresh in people's minds. "It's more politics than history," says Radoslav Petkovic, head of the state-owned company that published the book. Serbian textbooks are not the only ones to present a distorted version of their nation's past. Education consultants funded by the European Union have been working with teachers throughout the Balkans to provide a more balanced picture of the region for students. Last month they took up the job in Serbia, and a revised version of the text is promised by fall.

--By Andrew Purvis