The London School of Economics and Political Science German Print Media Coverage in the Bosnia and Kosovo Wars of the 1990S Marg
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1 The London School of Economics and Political Science German Print Media Coverage in the Bosnia and Kosovo Wars of the 1990s Margit Viola Wunsch A thesis submitted to the Department of International History of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, November 2012 2 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. Abstract This is a novel study of the German press’ visual and textual coverage of the wars in Bosnia (1992-95) and Kosovo (1998-99). Key moments have been selected and analysed from both wars using a broad range of publications ranging from extreme-right to extreme-left and including broadsheets, a tabloid and a news-magazine, key moments have been selected from both wars. Two sections with parallel chapters form the core of the thesis. The first deals with the war in Bosnia and the second the conflict in Kosovo. Each section contains one chapter on the initial phase of the conflict, one chapter on an important atrocity – namely the Srebrenica Massacre in Bosnia and the Račak incident in Kosovo – and lastly a chapter each on the international involvement which ended the immediate violence. The coverage of nine national publications is closely examined for each timeframe. The thesis examines how the various events were covered, what sources were used and what insights the publications conveyed. Where possible, a further comparative perspective has been added by the inclusion of German parliamentary debates and the relevant UN press releases. This provides a useful comparison between the political discourse and the coverage of the German press. Special attention has been paid to four key themes, which emerged from the research. Firstly, the changing perceptions of the Serbian President Slobodan Milošević and the issue of who was to blame for the conflicts; secondly, how various armed forces, including the Yugoslav Peoples’ Army and the Kosovo Liberation Army were presented in the German press; thirdly, the persistent presence of the Second World War as well as the Holocaust and how they shaped the press’ interpretation of the violence; and lastly, how Germany’s role in the Balkans – both in the realms of diplomacy and military intervention – was evaluated by the national press. Pictures and cartoons accompanying the textual coverage were included to present a more rounded picture of press coverage. 3 Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank my parents, Udo and Hertha Wunsch, to whom I dedicate this thesis. Without their unfaltering support and encouragement I could not have pursued this project. My appreciation especially goes to my father whose probing questions and continued interest greatly enriched my thesis. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Mia Rodriguez- Salgado. Her guidance, scrutinising feedback, attention to detail and demand to work harder and think deeper pushed me further than I thought possible. I feel very lucky to have had such a dedicated supervisor. This three-year-endeavour has been supported with generous financial endowments from the London School of Economics and Political Science, specifically the International History Department, and especially the PhD Scholarship from the Konrad- Adenauer-Foundation, for which I am very grateful. I would also like to thank Junge Freiheit for granting me access to its newspaper archive. A big thank you to my friends Claudia Reim, Julien Bacon, Thalia Gigerenzer, Kyle Chan, Zhong Zhong Chen and to my sister Edith Wunsch for their friendship, advice and encouragement. Lastly, I would like to thank Mathias Gaarmann for his support, affection and humour, especially in the last and most difficult months of writing this thesis. 4 Remarks When writing about the diverse and war-torn Balkan region, the mere reference to a locality in its Bosnian, Serbo-Croatian or Albanian form can indicate allegiance to one national narrative. I have chosen the form which is most common in the English language, which happens to be Serbo-Croatian in most cases. Consequently I refer to Kosovo rather than Kosova or Kosovë; Račak instead of Reçak and Priština in the place of Prishtinë or Prishtina, to name a few examples. The only exception is in direct citations from primary sources and secondary literature. This does not reflect any partisanship with a particular national narrative or interpretation of history. Accordingly, terms such as Chetnik and Ustasha will be used in its anglicised form. Direct citations may use different spellings, such as Četnik or Ustaša. For ease of reading I have translated the German sources to English. All translations are my own, unless stated. All images have been removed from this version due to copyright reasons. References to the pictures have been left in the text. None of the material can be reproduced without permission from the original copyright holder. 5 Table of Contents List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................................... 7 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 8 Doctoral thesis: aim and structure ............................................................................... 11 Primary Sources .......................................................................................................... 14 Note on Terminology .................................................................................................. 20 Media Analyses: War-journalism in Bosnia and Kosovo ........................................... 23 Politics of Memory: Collective Holocaust-memory and German foreign policy ....... 30 German Foreign Policy ............................................................................................... 33 Explaining the Violence .............................................................................................. 38 Gaps in the Literature .................................................................................................. 44 Methodology ............................................................................................................... 46 Media Theory and Image Analysis ............................................................................. 48 Chapter 1 ................................................................................................................................ 55 Background: Key Historical Milestones .............................................................................. 55 Medieval Balkans ........................................................................................................ 56 1389: Battle of Kosovo and Serbia’s National Myth .................................................. 56 The role of Religion .................................................................................................... 58 World War Two .......................................................................................................... 59 Chapter 2 ................................................................................................................................ 63 1991-1992: The Descent into War – early German press coverage ................................... 63 Historical Background ................................................................................................ 63 Explaining the violence ............................................................................................... 67 World War Two .......................................................................................................... 69 The Jewish Dimension ................................................................................................ 76 The role of Religion .................................................................................................... 77 The Role of the Yugoslav Peoples’ Army .................................................................. 80 Milošević – the main culprit? ...................................................................................... 83 Representing the victims visually ............................................................................... 87 Germany’s role in the Balkans .................................................................................... 89 The Press’ Language ................................................................................................... 94 Authorship ................................................................................................................... 99 Brief Chronology of Bosnian War: April 1992-July 1995 ................................................ 101 Chapter 3 .............................................................................................................................. 104 July 1995: Srebrenica – Reporting Genocide ...................................................................