Volunteers and refugees at Opatovac transit camp in eastern Croatia. Reporter#19616/Demotix. All rights reserved.Endless groups of people are leaving their homes, affected by war and chaos. They have been forced to leave behind their lives and go into the unknown. This is something that we on the ‘’borders’’ of Europe have been watching over the last few years. I do not, however, refer only to the recent refugee crisis but also to the refugee crisis that came about due to the war that raged through Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina some 20 years ago.
Why do I compare these two crises, which from the outside may not look the same? Because they are the same. Only this time the people carry with them documents from different countries than before, if they were lucky enough to pick them up as they fled. The recent refugee crisis in Croatia has had the biggest impact in areas that were totally devastated and abandoned during the 90’s war. The local people living there know very well what refugees look like.
The whole of Croatian society is now trying to draw parallels with the last war and the people who were displaced and with the current refugee crisis. Not everyone, however, is willing to open their arms and help those people who are mostly just in transit through Croatia towards other European countries. These people are mostly those who have never experienced war and how it is to be a refugee. Luckily, they seem to be loud minority.
