Luckily, Dayton’s connection to those challenging times is comprehensively explained in a state-of-the-art exhibit at The International Peace Museum. Delegates from around the world came to see it when they were in town recently.
Locals need to see it, too.
“People — especially Daytonians — want to think that this terrible war ended with the Peace Accords and that it’s all over now and that isn’t the case,” said Mary Ramey, a museum volunteer. “The Peace Accords were only the first step towards permanent peace. They stopped the fighting but Bosnia still does not have the amended constitution that the Peace Accords stipulated. The situation remains precarious.”
In 2021, this exhibit won an Award of Excellence from the American Association for State and Local History.
“I’m really glad I’m here,” said Kelly Hartman Newman of Columbus who was engrossed in the exhibit a couple of weeks ago and explained that in 1991 she had two babies at home, was in grad school, working and didn’t have much time to keep up with world affairs.
“I’m a children’s librarian and all I really remember about the war in Bosnia was an autobiography I’d read called ‘Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo.’” The book was written by Zlata Filipović, a young girl who lived in Sarajevo when it was under siege.
Creating a new exhibit
Although the museum had an exhibit on the Peace Accords in its former Monument Avenue location, that exhibit was limited to some explanatory wall text. That changed dramatically in 2019 when Ramey, vice chair of the museum board at that time, offered to make a significant contribution to the institution.
“In consultation with then-director Kevin Kelly, we decided to undertake a major overhaul of the Peace Accords exhibit,“ Ramey said. ”We wanted to make it interactive and bring it into 21st century standards of what an exhibit could be.“
Ramey knew the perfect person for the project — her son, Ramzi Ramey, founder of auut studio in San Francisco, a company that develops digital projects and resources for scholars, researchers, and educators using data visualization.
Mary said auut studio’s design process is itself interactive.
“Staff meet with the client to explore their objectives for their project and explore available resources both in current use and to come,” she said. “They worked closely with me to develop a number of innovative digital and audio enhancements to present our material in a much more comprehensive way.”
The mission for the expanded exhibit? To make the events of decades ago come alive for visitors.
The journey begins with a wall graphic that’s a nod to the network of tunnels that allowed people to survive the longest siege in modern warfare.
“The Foreign Minister of the Bosnian delegation is 6 feet, 6 inches tall and when he visited the museum he said he had gone through those tunnels,” Ramey said.
An interactive journey
How the exhibit works
To help visitors fully understand all the facets of the Dayton Peace Accords, the exhibit is into four sections. Each one has both traditional wall panels to explain some concepts as well as an interactive touchscreen to allow visitors to delve more deeply into aspects of that topic.
The first section of the exhibit is a general overview: What set off the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina? Who were the people involved? Where exactly is this place, and how does its location affect the issues that led to the war? This section also identifies the leaders who came to Dayton to try to negotiate a peace treaty.
If pronouncing a name such as Alija Izetbegovic seems challenging, visitors need only touch a name on the screen to hear it pronounced clearly and correctly. (Izetbegovic was Bosnia’s first president, who led the country to independence and was one of the negotiators of the Dayton peace accords.)
The second touchscreen focuses on the war itself.
“It’s impossible to grasp what a monumental achievement the Accords were without an understanding of how horrific this war actually was,” Mary said.
Ramey said the museum does not shy away from the terrible aspects of this war, but said they are presented in such a way that students as young as middle school can be taught about them without being traumatized.
“In fact, every touchscreen has an icon on its opening page that leads to a section designed for students ages 10-12 which simplifies the content to their reading and comprehension level,” she said.
Press a button on one of the screens and you can listen to Albinoni’s “Adagio in G Minor” played by Bosnian musician Vedran Smailovic who became known as the cellist of Sarajevo. After 22 people were killed while lining up to buy bread he played his cello for 22 days in the public square where the murders had taken place.
Seeking peace
The third section deals with the process of seeking a peace pact, both in general and how it unfolded in Dayton.
“It details the almost heroic efforts of Wright-Patterson AFB personnel to ready the base in only a few weeks for hundreds of civilians to arrive there to work on peace,” Ramey said.
This touchscreen features a calendar that not only describes what important developments happened each day, but also includes behind-the-scenes tidbits of local interest. It serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of negotiation and cooperation in resolving conflicts and fostering lasting peace.
You’ll learn about diplomacy, and the rocky course of events that transpired to negotiate a peace treaty. You’ll see media reports from 1995 and examine key pages of the Accords documents.
The fourth section of the exhibit shares information about the aftermath of the war. It explains consequences from the International Criminal Court in the Hague that leaders in all three of the warring nations faced for the war crimes they had committed.
“It talks about other ways that citizens use to try to heal from the trauma of war,” Ramey said. “Most importantly, it brings the issue that touched off this war into the present day and suggests how we can interrupt the process that allowed hate speech to progress to acts of violence.”
While there were seven vitally important things accomplished by the Accords, other issues have not been addressed.
The museum is also the home of the Dayton Peace Prize, which is awarded every five years on the anniversary of the peace talks.
In addition, the exhibit hosts artifacts from the peace talks themselves as well as items showcasing Bosnian culture. Some of the artifacts on display were donated to the museum when a housekeeper at the Hope Hotel who’d been told to discard anything she found in hotel rooms after dignitaries had departed, thought it might be important to keep some of those items.
A final video re-examines the role of nationalism and xenophobia in present-day politics.
Hosting NATO
Ramey was delighted to show recent NATO visitors through the exhibit and highlight areas in the touchscreens that they might wish to explore further.
“I was honored to interact with some of the very diplomats who took part in the peace talks, as well as other dignitaries such as the president of the NATO Parliament,” she said. " The delegation from Bosnia-Herzegovina came for a private tour, and declared themselves moved by the excellence of the exhibit. A member of the delegation hugged me as they left.“
Dayton Peace T-shirts
The new Dayton Peace Sign, created by Real Art with support from Downtown Dayton and Five Rivers MetroParks, now sits right in front of the Schuster Center. T-shirts with the new design are being sold at the museum and on the museum’s website for $25.
HOW TO GO
What: Permanent exhibit on the Bosnian War and the Dayton Peace Accords. Other exhibits currently on view include one on the history of NATO and one by a photojournalist lived in Sarajevo during the siege.
Where: The International Peace Museum, 10 N. Ludlow St., Courthouse Plaza Southwest, Dayton
When: Permanent exhibit open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Open for groups upon request Tuesday through Thursday.
Admission: $5 for adults; $3 for seniors, students and young adults ages 12-18. Children 12 and younger are free.
More info: 937-227-3223 or the website peace.museum
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