War Babies of Bosnia
Anne Berry
ENG/HON/HST494
February 12, 2014
Living in the Shadows of Past Atrocities: War Babies of Bosnia
This article is a qualitative research study that aims to provide insights and generate new
ideas about the children born out of wartime rape in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It details what is
known about the war babies in Bosnia, identifies the key informants in the field and ways to
approach them, and it explores the characteristics of the war babies group. The author gathered
information through interviews, but she did not interview children and their mothers directly due
to the extremely sensitive character of the topic. Strupinskiene starts with identifying the
circumstances of the babies’ conception and analyzes the patterns of rape and the rationale
behind them. She then looks at the social circumstances of the war babies and gives examples of
community and familial acceptance and rejection of these children.
The author eludes to the fact that the statistics of rape suffer due to severe under-
reporting, but the Bosnian government estimated that close to 50,000 women were raped.
Because of local tradition and strong patriarchal societal structures and the resulting guilt and
shame associated with rape, I would assume the actual number of rape victims was much higher.
While rape is an inherent part of war-culture as a natural expression of hatred, the rapes during
the Bosnian war were a carefully planned military strategy to impregnate as many women with
Serb babies as possible in order to wipe out the enemy and to create unbearable conditions for
future mothers and their children. Women were made to believe that their future children would
be children of the enemy, and that was one of the main motives for the rapes. Regardless of the
fact that the child would be born from its mother’s body, the genetic derivation from the father
put the babies in the category of “little chetniks” who would grow up and kill Muslims. It was
something that Serbs did to Bosniaks, not something men did to women.
What is most concerning to me is the psychological toll that these rapes have
taken on the women of the war. It is unimaginable for Americans to think of their own children
as the enemy. In the Bosnian circumstance, rape was a shame for the whole family, especially to
the husbands, brothers and fathers. Since most males refused to accept the women and children, I
can only imagine the fear, humiliation, shock and shame the women experienced. It is certainly a
motivator for women to keep silent. Some women resorted to abortion, the black market or
adoption while others purposefully neglected the infants or left them to die. For those who kept
the babies they birthed, they were stuck in a very complicated relationship with their child. I see
it as a love-hate relationship. Some told the children the story of “shehid,” which was the idea
that her husband had been killed in the war. I see the rationale behind mothers doing this,
because perhaps more psycho-social harm could come to the children if they were told of the
rape. In addition, I would think women would be afraid to talk out of fear for what may happen
to their family. Speaking about their rape could also put their children in a position of being
socially excluded and stigmatized. It could also result in an identity crisis for the child and
exclusion from social circles. Since boundaries between different ethnic groups are higher now
than they were prior to the war, a mixed identity could be problematic.
A rational person cannot argue that these women and children are not victims. I would
hope that more women will come forward now and establish their status as victims of human
rights violations. However, according to Strupinskiene, the government of BiH is not capable of
guaranteeing security for the victims. Justice has not been served.
References
Strupinskiene, L. (2012). Living in the Shadows of Past Atrocities: War Babies of
Bosnia. Wagadu, Special Issue: Sexual Violence and Armed Conflict: Gender, Society and the
State, 10, 1 – 17.
