Thanks for the additional context. I read some more background and opinions on the izbrisani. It doesn't sound so much intentionally cruel as people had to make decisions during a war, and then when it came time to figure out what to do with the people that became unaccounted for due to whatever reason, there was also nothing in place to get them reintegrated and they were thrown off into various bad situations without means to appeal because of their administrative erasure.

One opinion I read said these were people that didn't think independence was going to happen, and if it did, they could just get a working visa and carry on, but now they were not in the system and therefore that plan went up in smoke.

Another said there had been a general Yugoslavian citizenship everyone had, and one would register a Republic citizenship as well, but that wasn't seen as super important during unity, but then post war, that became a huge problem as they were suddenly non-citizens.

Regardless, it does seem a bit more complex than this article implied. It's still scary the effects paperwork being filed or not can have, but I'm glad to have reserved some of this story.