Why We Are Enemies: Ethnic Conflict, Identity and Historical Memory in a Balkan Town in 1941

In the summer of 1941, a series of collective violence broke out in a small town in the Balkans. In particular, within 48 hours, nearly 2,000 men, women, and children were massacred by their former neighbors. The killings reached a climax. The author interviewed those who witnessed it and combined it with first-hand materials to tell the story of this tragedy that occurred under the regime of the Independent State of Croatia in detail, and connected this local history with the causes, mechanisms and effects of global violence. He seeks to answer: What causes intercommunal violence? How does violence between neighbors affect their identities and relationships? Does ethnic conflict cause violence, or does violence create ethnic groups that are hostile to each other?