CPI

History of Resistance

In 2020, the Centre for Public History launched a new programme - a comic book edition entitled Story(ies) of Resistance, based on biographies of prominent men and women. Our aim is to tell the story of the continuity of resistance to violence and injustice that took place in different periods and social and historical contexts, often taking very different forms. By adapting the personal stories of those who fought for a more just world in different ways, we would like to show how great historical events were shaped individual human lives, but also how this "great" history was created through human action.

The first comic of the Story(ies) of Resistance edition will be dedicated to Neda Božinović (1917-2001), whose biography reflects almost the entire century of feminist and anti-fascist struggle in Yugoslavia. Božinović was born in Topolo near Dubrovnik, finished high school in Kotor, and, in 1939, graduated from the Belgrade Law School 1939, where she was member of the revolutionary student movement, as well as of the Women's Movement Youth Section and the “Žena danas” ("Woman Today") newspaper editorial board. The Women's Movement Youth Section played an important role in the political activation of women and in preparations for anti-fascist resistance. She became a member of the CPY in 1939 and joined the National Liberation War in 1941, coming out of the war as a major. Already during the war, she was awarded the Order of Brotherhood and Unity with a golden wreath and the Order of Courage. Throughout the existence of the Anti-Fascist Women's Front (Antifašistički front žena - AFŽ), she took an active part in its work. After the war, she worked as the secretary and vice-president of the Federation of Yugoslav Fighters Central Committee, an MP of the Federal Assembly’s Federal Council (1958-1963), and a judge of the Constitutional Court of Yugoslavia (1963-1972). During the break-up of Yugoslavia (1990), she reactivated herself in feminist and anti-war/peace groups. She joined the SOS helpline for women victims of violence, the Centre for Anti-War Action, and the Women's Parliament. However, her engagement within the feminist movement of the 90s is mostly linked to the "Women in Black" peace group. She is the author of the most thorough synthesis on the history of the women's movement in Serbia to date, the "Women's Issue in Serbia in the 19th and 20th Centuries" monograph.

The story of Neda Božinović is an opportunity to recall the history of the feminist movement before and during World War II, the importance of the Anti-Fascist Women's Front (AFŽ) and the achievements of the socialist period when it comes to equality between men and women, but also the role of the feminist movement in anti-war resistance in Serbia in the nineties.

Within the project, a one-day Festival of Public History will be organised, which will include an exhibition, the comic launch and public guided tour entitled Continuity of Resistance - A Walk Through Feminist History.