There is a deafening silence around the Vilina Vlas rape camp almost 30 years after the war. The Vilina Vlas spa hotel is located on the outskirts of Višegrad, a small town nestled on the banks of the Drina River. The hotel used to be a popular resort and attracted both local and foreign visitors before the war. After reading testimonies and reports, we know that during the war the hotel was turned into a camp where hundreds of Bosnian women were raped by Serbian paramilitary groups.

The authors explore relationships between gender, silence and place by examining how places and silences are created and changed in the context of sexual violence in war and the transition to peace. The analysis shows that the places where violence against women has been committed are hidden and forgotten, and that those women who dare to challenge the silences are slandered, rejected and despised. Women's stories and demands for justice remind us of the long-term consequences of sexual violence in war.

Authors: Annika Björkdahl and Johanna Mannergren Selimovic

Title of publication: Places of Pain and Spaces of Silence: Revisiting a Bosnian Rape Camp, published in Geopolitics

Link to the publication:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/14650045.2023.2265315?needAccess=true