Forvm Romanvm: Presentation of the Book “Road to War: Germany, NATO and Kosovo” by Matthias Küntzel

Forvm Romanvm: Presentation of the Book “Road to War: Germany, NATO and Kosovo” by Matthias Küntzel

On Friday, the 17th of December 2021, the last meeting of the Forvm Romanvm club in this semester was dedicated to the presentation of the Serbian edition of the book “Road to War: Germany, NATO and Kosovo” by Matthias Küntzel, published by “Službeni glasnik”. Speaking at the promotion, which was held in hybrid format, were Prof. Dr Branko Rakić of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, Boris Čeliković, chief editor of the “Sabornik” library at “Službeni Glasnik”, and Velibor Buha, who translated the book and wrote the afterword. In spite of the fact that the book has been translated into Serbian twenty years after it was published in German, the speakers pointed out its importance for modern Serbia, but also for better understanding the history of relations (and conflicts) between Serbia and Germany. The broader historic and geopolitical context of these conflicts, encompassing more than a century, was discussed, along with the main subject of the book – the key role that Germany played in the initiation of the NATO attack on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the legitimisation of KLA’s terrorist attacks and the fight for the independence of Kosovo. It was pointed out that the NATO attack on FRY was the first campaign that the German army was involved in since World War II, stirred by the propaganda that was used to legitimise this controversial military action in Germany. The propaganda consisted of false accounts of Serbian crimes against the Albanians in Kosovo, described as similar to Nazi crimes, justifying the German/NATO attack under the slogan “Never again Auschwitz”. Velibor Buha concluded the promotion with a message for the Serbian audience from Matthias Küntzel himself – the hope that at some point in the future Germany would have a government that would apologise to Serbia for the crimes and lies of its predecessors.