Denial and Repression of Antisemitism: Post-Communist Remembrance of the Serbian Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović

Byford, Jovan (2008). Denial and Repression of Antisemitism: Post-Communist Remembrance of the Serbian Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović. Budapest, Hungary: Central European University Press.

URL: http://www.ceupress.com/books/html/DenialandRepres...

Abstract

The book examines the rehabilitation over the past two decades of Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović (1881–1956), the controversial Serbian Orthodox Christian philosopher. Having been vilified by the former Yugoslav Communist authorities as a traitor, antisemite and a fascist, Velimirović has come to be regarded in Serbian society as a saintly figure and the most important religious person since medieval times.

The book charts the posthumous passage of Velimirović from ‘traitor’ to ‘saint’ and examines the complementary dynamics of repression and denial that were used to divert public attention from the controversies surrounding his life. It presents the first detailed examination of the way in which an Eastern Orthodox Church manages controversy surrounding the presence of antisemitism within its ranks and considers the implications of the continuing reverence of Nikolaj Velimirović for the persistence of antisemitism in Serbian Orthodox culture and Serbian society as a whole.

The study is based on a detailed examination of the changing representations of Velimirović in the Serbian media and in commemorative discourse, as well as interviews with a number of prominent public figures who have been actively involved in the bishop’s rehabilitation over the past two decades.

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