Public Representation of Wartime Sexual Violence in Kosova “Memoriali Heroinat” (The Heroines Memorial) as a Case Study

Abstract

This paper elaborates on the historical trajectory of victims of wartime sexual violence in Kosova, tracing the transition from total silence after the war to the battle for legal recognition, up to public representation. The adoption of the legal framework in 2013, which recognizes the status of victims of sexual violence during the 1998-99 war in Kosova, served as a starting point for the public debate on this issue. However, public representation remains linked to national narratives, commemoration, and collective national memory. Furthermore, this essay examines how conventional commemoration has positioned the victims as subjects without agency, uniting all the heterogeneity of their experiences into a single memorial. Analyzing the rhetoric used in the “The Heroines Memorial" that names victims of wartime sexual violence as heroes who contributed and sacrificed to the liberation of Kosova, this essay questions whether such representation within nationalist discourse is sufficient to open a stigma-free public conversation about wartime sexual violence in Kosova