How to deal with a difficult past? History textbooks supporting enemy images in post‐war Bosnia and Herzegovina

This study examines the national division of history teaching in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the war and post‐war period. The process of division of schooling into three curricula (Bosnian Serb, Bosnian Croat, and Bosniak) is presented. Representations of other national groups are central in 8th‐grade history textbooks used by the three national communities. ‘The others’, the members of other national groups of the country, are typically presented through enemy images. This study discusses the strength and influence of hetero‐stereotypes of history textbooks and their consequences for reconciliation and reconstruction of a multi‐cultural society.