Photo: Printskrin / mamulaisland.com
There is no champagne - this is the biggest problem of the influencer with 200 thousand followers, while taking a picture on the island of Mamula, a once bloody camp where 2.000 women and children were imprisoned and 100 women and children died during the Second World War. Societies that forget the past always risk repeating its worst parts
The girl is in a flowing white dress that flutters in the wind. With big black sunglasses and full lips she poses in all inclusive island hotel. The sun is hot, and she is enjoying the luxury and benefits of Mamula Island. Milina. Her only problem is that her hand is positioned as if she is holding a glass, but there is nothing in it.
"Champagne problems", this is how one of the fashion and lifestyle influencers who posts from Serbia and Montenegro called the post on Instagram.
Daliborka Uljarević, executive director of the Center for Civic Education in Montenegro, tells "Vreme" that the lack of a glass filled with champagne in this picture is definitely not a real problem. Daliborka is the granddaughter of a former inmate of the Mamula concentration camp, who was captured by the Italian fascists as a girl.
When she found numerous negative comments on her post, the influencer defended herself that she actually just wanted to refer to a Taylor Swift song with the name.
"It's scary, and in a way morbid," comments Uljarević on such posts. "You should know that in some of those rooms that are now used for celebrations, there were traces of the blood of anti-fascists on the walls, and not so long ago, as well as many marks of prisoners of that camp."
That hotel now has five stars, 26 rooms, six suites, a holistic spa, well-being (wellbeing) facilities such as a swimming pool and massage room, gyms, running tracks, three restaurants and four bars... The hotel started receiving guests in 2023, and during the past summer season, an influx of influencers followed.
"The entire transformation of such a place into a luxury hotel without a clear and dignified attitude towards the past shows a superficial understanding of an important part of history, but also the willingness of those who have the power to commercially relativize our anti-fascist foundations", believes Uljarević, whose non-governmental organization participated in the production of the film "Mamula All Inclusive", which talks about the disrespect of this place of suffering.
Mamula Fortress: How a horrible torture camp became an exclusive five-star hotel?
Communication expert Aleksandra Ivanović says that for several years we have been witnessing the "rebranding of human suffering through the communication stunts of the Mamula resort".
"In influencer marketing, in the first years in the pre-season on Instagram, we could see a shy leg and a glass of champagne of the editors of colorful magazines, next to the Mamula Island location," explains Ivanovic. "Events soon followed, so some female influencers proudly celebrated 'love and life' on the island, while well-known presenters tried to justify their stay on the island with piety, although they failed to explain to us how 5-course with meals, we mourn the victims and what could an eight-day-old baby have done to deserve prison. Recently, an influencer said that there was a prison here for 'only 18 months', while at the same time writing about the peace she feels on the island."
This case is perhaps the best example for the theory of trial balloons, which is taught in diplomacy studies, adds Ivanovic. In language, as time passes, Mamula has gone from "prison" to "fortress from the 19th century" and all the way to the most impersonal - "historic object" and "architectural heritage" in communication products.
"By minimizing the horror of the concentration camp and its purpose for mass torture, starvation and executions, the place of suffering became a 'place of special value,'" explains Ivanovic.
Now, on TikTok and Instagram, Mamula is entering an algorithmic space with no history, just another one luxury escape, like Bali, Capri or Mykonos.
"Through landscapes, posing and shots of luxury, the content erases the context and promotes the image of a place where there was never suffering. We may not like the fact that a girl with the latest iPhone has a greater influence on young people than a historian, but in this case it is not only tasteless, but dangerous because it actively erases history and traces of crime," says Ivanovic. "Some will say unconsciousness or ignorance, I will say rudeness with a lack of empathy and general culture."
Dubravka Uljarević thinks that the influencers, who pose next to the walls that used to be a barrier to the inmates from escaping, are not the cause, but are complicit in the oblivion that is being tried to be imposed.
"The problem is not in individuals, but in the social environment that does not establish a boundary between memorial space and luxury entertainment space, i.e. where everything has its commercial price. Mamula may be today all inclusive in an offer that can be paid for, but there is no collective memory, which was and remains important for the fabric of civil society," says Uljarević.
Although her family story is related to this island of horror, Daliborka Uljarević says that nanyone in Montenegro, whom je cared do ove states, it is not against development i investment, ali it must biti based na certain principles and perspectives who su u public, a ne samo private interest.
"Wed smo advocated yes Mamula will be object which will se use through the educational tourism, ie to be uredi kao muzej who would station different visitors, beginning od local population do numerous passengers sa cruiser which are coming u bay Boke KotorFor that, na sadness, it is not bilo hearing," he adds.
The granddaughter of the former prisoner says that mcool Often they are not Sami guilty za own ignorance, already formal educational system who doesn't learn da recognize historical lessons.
"Knowledge" o Mamuli i similar places important I do not samo because of the past, already i because of the future, jer only tako we can understandsti what se is happening Kada se institutions collapse, Kada dissapear solidarity i Kada se evilcini normalizeu. Societies house they forget the past always they risk da repeat hers worst parts, au the smallest hand da alive u one untidy valuable within the framework," he adds.
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