Abstract:
This article focuses on the first historical museum in Serbia, established in Sombor
in 2019 (the Museum of the Danube Swabians), with an exhibition devoted to the
presence of Germans in Vojvodina. The artefacts presented at the exhibition, left
behind by the Germans who used to live in Vojvodina, have been recognised as
part of Serbia’s difficult heritage (the term coined by Sharon Macdonald). The
article analyses the permanent exhibition and the museum’s efforts to involve
the local residents in creating said exhibition. The article also asks whether the
museum in Sombor can shape the collective identity of Serbs and undermine its
ethno-nationalist character.
