Between War, Migration, and Identity

What does it mean to grow up in a country that no longer exists? How does a person's sense of identity change after experiencing war and later starting a new life in another country? And what remains of this experience in a generation born after the conflict ended?

The study Travelers between Cultures: The War and Post-war Generations explored the lives of people affected by the war in the former Yugoslavia and the post-war generation who grew up in families shaped by the conflict. Through in-depth interviews and psychological questionnaires, we examined their life experiences, mental health, adaptation to life in the Czech Republic, and their own perceptions of identity and belonging.

One important theme was national identity. The breakup of Yugoslavia and the emergence of new states raised questions that go beyond citizenship or birthplace, touching on a person's relationship with a country, culture, and personal history. When participants described the national identity they personally identified with, 40 different labels emerged among the first generation. Bosnian and Serbian identities were the most common, but some participants described themselves using combinations, such as Bosnian-Czech or Serbian-Czech. Others identified as European, Yugoslav, cosmopolitan, or in other ways that did not fit into a single national category.

Among the second generation, born after the war, 15 different expressions of identity emerged. It is important to note that participants were free to describe their identity in their own words; they were not asked to choose from predefined categories. No one in this group identified as solely Czech or included Czech identity as part of a combined national identity. These findings suggest that the country where a person lives or is born does not necessarily determine where they feel they belong. Identity may remain closely connected to family history, origins, and the experiences of previous generations.

The interviews also explored how the legacy of war shaped the lives of the younger generation. Although members of the second generation had not experienced the war themselves, their parents conveyed their experiences in various ways, particularly through storytelling, family relationships, upbringing, and attitudes towards safety and the future. Family history can therefore become part of a person's own life story, even if they did not directly witness the events that shaped it.

The study also examined mental health and adaptation. No control group was included in this study; instead, the first and second generations were compared with each other.

Another interesting finding concerned how people who had directly experienced the war perceived their own recovery. In total, 61% of first-generation participants reported that they had come to terms with their wartime experiences, while a further 18% said they had largely come to terms with them. These self-assessments suggest that, despite their difficult experiences, many felt they had been able to come to terms with the past. This does not necessarily mean, however, that all its consequences had disappeared.

Although the first generation reported more adverse childhood experiences, the two groups did not differ significantly in levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms or other measures of psychological distress. Overall, the participants were mostly well-educated and, among the first generation, generally had above-average incomes. They had managed to adapt to life in another country and establish personal and professional lives there. It is important to bear in mind, however, that the study captured the experiences of people living in the Czech Republic who had managed to establish themselves there to some extent; their stories may therefore not be representative of everyone affected by the war.

The study offers insight into two generations whose life experiences differ but are also interconnected. It shows that the consequences of war cannot be understood solely in terms of psychological difficulties. Migration, family relationships, cultural background, and the search for personal identity can also shape an individual's life story. Understanding people affected by war-related trauma therefore means looking not only at what they have experienced, but also at how they see themselves, where they feel they belong, and how they build their lives despite a difficult past.