Concentration Camp Rituals

Abstract

In the German camps during the Second World War, the aim was to kill from a distance, and the camps were highly efficient in their operations. Previous studies have thus analyzed the industrialized killing and the victims' survival strategies. Researchers have emphasized the importance of narratives but they have not focused on narratives about camp rituals, or analyzed post-war interviews as a continued resistance and defense of one's self. This article tries to fill this gap by analyzing stories told by former detainees in concentration camps in the Bosnian war during the 1990s. The article aims to describe a set of recounted interaction rituals as well as to identify how these rituals are dramatized in interviews. The retold stories of humiliation and power in the camps indicate that there was little space for individuality and preservation of self.Nevertheless, the detainees seem to have been able to generate some room for resistance, and this seems to have granted them a sense of honor and self-esteem, not least after the war. Their narratives today represent a form of continued resistance.Keywords: humiliated self, status ritual, stigma, resistance, de-ritualization, power ritual 2 IntroductionIn the German camps during the Second World War, the aim was to kill from a distance, and the camps were highly efficient and industrialized in their operations (Bauman 1991; Langer 1991; Megargee 2013a,b). Previous studies have thus analyzed the efficient and industrialized killing of other people and survival strategies in concentration camps (Bauman 1991; Langer 1991 Langer , 1996 Luchterhand 1953; Megargee 2013a,b; Round 2006; Ryn 1990; Sunderland 2010; Stein 2009; van Ree 2013). Researchers have emphasized the importance of narratives but have not focused on narratives about rituals as a starting point. Neither have they analyzed post-war interviews as a continued resistance and defending of one's self. This article shows how interactions rituals in concentration camp are described by Bosnian interviewees and how post-war narratives are a form of continued resistance and defense of one's self. In this way the article contributes to a sociological, and criminological understanding of the phenomenon interaction rituals in the concentration camp.My analysis is based on interpersonal interpretations of violence during the 1990s war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In their quest for 'ethnic cleansing' of Bosniacs 1 and Croats from northwestern Bosnia, Serbian soldiers and policemen, among others, used concentration camps.The aim of the ethnic cleansing was to take control of the geographic area by expelling the Bosniac and Croat populations. In addition to concentration camps, the ethnic cleansing of northwestern Bosnia consisted of a range of other techniques, including mass murder, systematic rape, forced flight, and economic and legal discrimination. For example, in just the municipality of Prijedor in northwestern Bosnia, the number of Bosniacs and Croats killed during summer 1992 was more than 3000 (in...

Definitions of Violence: Narratives of Survivors From the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina

“…They concern painful stories about neighbors who changed their behavior when the war began: One day, a neighbor is a civilian greeting you just as friendly as ever, and a week later, the same neighbor is in uniform; he still greets, but he also participates in massacres, rapes, robberies, and abduction of neighbors to place them in concentration camps. The narratives also tell us how the camps were organized and governed; they describe "pockets of resistance" and survival tactics, and they speak of rituals confirming the guards' oppression and the inmates' submission (Basic, 2007(Basic, , 2017. I also researched the competition for the victim role after the war as well as reconciliation and implacability of social life in the post-war society of present-day Bosnia, namely, how people, in their everyday lives, try to cope with the fact that some events can never be forgiven, or at least leave very few opportunities for reconciliation (Basic, 2005(Basic, , 2007(Basic, , 2015a(Basic, , 2015b(Basic, , 2015c(Basic, , 2015d(Basic, , 2015e, 2017 ).…”

“…According to the interviewees, all inmates lost between 20 and 40 kg of body weight and were so emaciated that they had trouble standing up and moving. The general atmosphere and the ritualized use of violence in the camps made the inmates apathetic, and at times, it seemed that they just waited to be killed to end the pain (Basic, 2007(Basic, , 2017. For example, in the summer of 1992, in Omarska camp alone, about 5,000 to 7,000 Bosniacs and Croats were held (including 37 women) in appalling conditions.…”

“…For example, in the summer of 1992, in Omarska camp alone, about 5,000 to 7,000 Bosniacs and Croats were held (including 37 women) in appalling conditions. Hundreds died of starvation, punishment beatings, and ill treatment, and hundreds more were transported to different localities and executed (Basic, 2017; Case No. IT-95-8-S; Case No.…”

“…Earlier research on the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina recognized the importance of post-war narratives (Basic, 2017(Basic, , 2015a(Basic, , 2015b(Basic, , 2015c(Basic, , 2015dBougarel et al, 2007;Houge, 2008;Maček, 2009;Mannergren Selimovic, 2010;Skjelsbaek, 2007;Steflja, 2010;Stover & Weinstein, 2004). However, these analyses do not focus on narratives about the "war violence" phenomenon itself.…”

“…IT-99-36-T; Greve & Bergsmo, 1994;Wesselingh & Vaulering, 2005). For example, in the municipality of Prijedor in northwestern Bosnia alone, the number of Bosniacs and Croats killed during summer 1992 was more than 3,000 (more than 200 women and 100 children were killed), and more than 40,000 Bosniacs and Croatsnearly half the pre-war population in Prijedor-were driven into exile (Basic, 2017;Cekic, 2009;Greve & Bergsmo, 1994;Patria, 2000;Tabeau, 2009;Tokaca, 2013;Wesselingh & Vaulering, 2005;Zwierzchowski & Tabeau, 2010).…”