ABSTRACT
When the collapse of Yugoslavia commenced Serbian militia leaders stated quite categorically that they were saving European civilisation and Christianity. The two clearly meant the same thing to the speakers. There is a temptation to think that statements like that tend to precede efforts to destroy what civilization there is in Europe and to commit acts that go against all Christian tenets. Initially, Serbian fears were perhaps more about Croats than Muslims. Again this was a reliving of history, this time from the relatively more recent past of the conflicts of the Second World War, when the various partisan groups fought against each other as well as against the Germans. A prosperous industrial town with a wonderful old central core based around the famous bridge, it was a mixed and increasingly the inter-marrying community of Croats and mainly secular Muslims.
