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URN to cite this document: urn:nbn:de:bvb:703-epub-9333-4
Title data
Hameršak, Marijana ; Lingelbach, Jochen:
El Shatt: Memories of a Yugoslav Partisan refugee camp travelling from North Africa to Croatia.
In: Memory Studies.
Vol. 18
(2025)
Issue 5
.
- pp. 1189-1213.
ISSN 1750-6999
DOI der Verlagsversion: https://doi.org/10.1177/17506980251359585
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Project information
| Project title: |
Project's official title Project's id EXC 2052: Africa Multiple: Reconfiguring African Studies 390713894 Open Access Publizieren No information |
|---|---|
| Project financing: |
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft |
Abstract
From early 1944 until 1946, more than 25,000 refugees from Yugoslavia, mostly from the Dalmatian coast and islands, stayed in refugee camps in Egypt at El Shatt. Located on the shores of the Suez Canal, this complex of tented camps on desert sands was jointly run by the British military, Yugoslav Partisans and international humanitarian organizations. After the war, most of the refugees returned to their homes and only a five-pointed star-shaped cemetery overlooked by the statue of a grieving Mother remained on the spot. This article shows that unlike most refugee camps, El Shatt was not forgotten after its closure, but instead memorialized from the very beginning. Based on extensive research in United Nations, British and Croatian archives, we ask how the camps in El Shatt were memorialized in changing circumstances from their closure to today. How was their memory integrated into dominant historical narratives and practices, and what roles did local, intimate individual and family experiences and practices play in this? Reasons for not forgetting El Shatt start with the extraordinary documentation of these camps because they stood at the beginning of the UN-centred international humanitarian regime and the founding of Socialist Yugoslavia. For the continuous memorialization, however, it was important that the refugees returned as a large group to Dalmatia, the same region where they had come from. The local communities of memories provided the foundation for the abundant movement and communication of memories of El Shatt across different registers, spaces, genres, times and media.
Further data
| Item Type: | Article in a journal |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | camps; Croatia; Dalmatia; Egypt; memories; refugees; Yugoslavia |
| DDC Subjects: | 900 History and geography > 900 History 900 History and geography > 940 History of Europe 900 History and geography > 960 History of Africa |
| Institutions of the University: | Faculties > Faculty of Cultural Studies > Chair History of Africa > Chari History of Africa - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Joël Glasman Research Institutions > Collaborative Research Centers, Research Unit > EXC 2052 - Africa Multiple: Afrikastudien neu gestalten Faculties Faculties > Faculty of Cultural Studies Faculties > Faculty of Cultural Studies > Chair History of Africa Research Institutions Research Institutions > Collaborative Research Centers, Research Unit |
| Language: | English |
| Originates at UBT: | Yes |
| URN: | urn:nbn:de:bvb:703-epub-9333-4 |
| Date Deposited: | 21 May 2026 13:00 |
| Last Modified: | 21 May 2026 13:01 |
| URI: | https://epub.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/9333 |
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