Vesna Terselic: Peace Activist Determined to Confront the Crimes of the Past

During World War Two, one of Vesna Terselic’s grandfathers was held in a fascist-run prison camp, while the other fought with the communist Partisans.

“The former never spoke about the camp, and there was little talk about the Partisans either, so my interest in what happened in the past has always been there,” said Terselic, who as head of Documenta – Centre for Dealing with the Past has been doing just that – dealing with the past – for most of her life.

Born in 1962 in Ljubljana, Terselic moved to Zagreb aged 14; she would go on to become one of the most significant campaigners for peace, human rights and the environment in the former Yugoslavia, speaking out against nuclear power and in defence of conscientious objectors in the 1980s, before the federal state began to unravel.