"He who sings, thinks evil!"

In this paper authors analyze the prosecution of the widespread chant “Marjane, Marjane” during 1980’s in Socialist Republic of Croatia. Widespread version of the chant regime has proscribed, declaring it a form of hostile or anti-state act. Individuals who would sing any of prohibited versions would be mostly subjugated to political felony procedure and sentenced to prison.

Filming the Orient

The largest and most luxurious passenger ship in the Adriatic was the steamship “Queen Mary”, that initially held constant 12-days line from Sušak, via Split and Dubrovnik to Greece. Later, that line was extended to Palestine and Egypt, and has attracted the attention of members of the Zagreb elite. Among the first ones who have travelled that line, from September 13th until October 7th, 1933, was the prominent Zagreb’s entrepreneurial family Deutsch-Maceljski. Their experience and atmosphere from the cruise and places they visited were recorded by the film camera. They recorded footage and descriptions of Istanbul, the Bosphorus, Rhodes, Beirut, Lebanon and Damascus, and the most fascinating images and descriptions were the family visits to Jaffa, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, Bethlehem, Tel Aviv and Cairo. In this article, we will analyze this rare film that has been preserved in the Cinematheque of the Croatian State Archives in Zagreb.

Franjo Tuđman in the Serbian Press From the First General HDZ Assembly to the Beginning of the Serb Rebellion in Croatia

This work is devoted to analyzing, in the context of political propaganda and by using selected newspaper and magazine articles, the portrayal of Franjo Tuđman in the Serbian press in the period from the First General Assembly of the HDZ to the beginning of the Serb rebellion in Croatia. The role and purpose of the newspaper and magazine articles in creating a negative image of Franjo Tuđman through a process of artificially constructing an illusion of an enemy is shown and explained. The Serbian press, from the beginning, portrayed Franjo Tuđman as a Croatian nationalist and an enemy of the Serbian people. The media campaign against Franjo Tuđman seamlessly blended in with the patterns of the Greater Serbian propaganda campaign against Croatia. That broader campaign began in mid-1989 and steadily gathered pace. It was fuelled, first and foremost, by negative depictions of the Ustasha regime and the Independent State of Croatia (NDH).

The Role of the Media in Shaping and Propagating May Day Rituals

The Communist Party of Yugoslavia’s (CPY) rise to power in 1945 was followed by a period of fundamental socio-political changes that encompassed all aspects of life. In order to establish a complete political and ideological authority, the government attempted to suppress all elements which, in their view, were not aligned with the doctrine of the Communist Party. As a result, everything that was perceived as remnants of the old socio-political order was marginalised, such as religion, tradition and customs. Moreover, reinterpretation of the past also took place, as well as creation of new rituals and Tito’s cult of personality. Accordingly, a completely new calendar of official, state holidays was established, deprived of any national or religious tradition. One of those holidays was May Day, which was celebrated for two days and whose purpose, like most other holidays of that period, was to create uniqueness of feelings and actions in society, focusing on the working class, socialism, CPY, Yugoslavia and Josip Broz Tito. Besides, celebrations of major anniversaries and holidays, including May Day, presented an opportunity for transmission of ideological and political messages, most often articulated through numerous slogans which clearly defined the direction in which the society should move. The media played a key role in this process. Therefore, the central part of the paper consists of the analysis of newspaper articles from Glas Slavonije in order to understand its role in the implementation of those new political rituals and social values.

Grafen von Krabaten

The counts of Krk were one of the most prestigious and most powerful noble families in late medieval Croatia, with a dominant role attained under Nicholas IV who received the last name Frankapani from Pope Martin V in 1430. Soon after his death German language sources began to refer to the family as Grafen von Krabaten or Counts of Croatia, a somewhat peculiar designation considering that there were other prominent families such as the counts of Krbava who also maintained contacts within the Holy Roman Empire. This paper traces the development of the term von Krabaten from 1440 until the election of Ferdinand I Habsburg as king of Croatia, showing how it was used throughout the century and may have been an indication of the respect and status achieved by the Frankapani under Nicholas IV and his sons. The term is also explored as a helping tool for further research into the history of the family using sources that have hitherto been overlooked or neglected.

Franjo Tuđman and Demographic Revitalization/Sustainability of Croatia

According to a number of relevant demographic and statistical indicators, Croatia is in a deep demographic crisis in all aspects of demographic dynamics and structural-demographic development. Total depopulation, natural decline, negative migration balance, demographic aging, and spatial polarization of the population – are fundamental long-term and current demographic trends and processes that, thanks to available data from census, vital and migration statistics can be monitored almost continuously from the middle of last century until today. The current demographic picture of Croatia is marked by natural and mechanical population losses, which means more deaths from birth and more emigration than immigration, with significantly disturbed relations between large (functional) age groups that threaten further collapse of bio reproductive potential and economic activity of the population. Croatian demographers warned of this circumstance during socialist Yugoslavia, especially after reaching independence in 1991. In their research, they were especially committed to the design and implementation of active and stimulating population policies, which had a certain impact in the formation of some decisions and documents of Croatian state policy during the 1990s. In this sense, it is scientifically relevant to valorize Dr. Tuđman’s attitude towards Croatian demographic issues, because demographic challenges have been and still are in significant discrepancy with socially desirable demographic pro-cesses and trends as key factors in the development and progress of the Croatian state and society, especially from 1991 and onwards. Therefore, in the context of Tuđman’s work as a politician (president of the Croatian Democratic Union from 1989 to 1999) and statesman (president of the Republic of Croatia from 1990 to 1999), but also as a scientist and public figure (director of the Institute for the History of the Labor Movement from 1961 to 1967) it is useful to investigate whether and to what extent there is a consistent attitude towards the demographic situation and problems of Croatia and, accordingly, whether we find the issue of Croatian demography at the center or on the margins of interest in his public work.

Franjo Tuđman in the Sources of the Rebel Serbs at the beginning of the 1990s

This work presents some legal acts passed and initiatives launched by the Croatian government the aim of which was to protect the rights of the national minorities in Croatia and reach an agreement with the representatives of the Serbs in Croatia so as to avoid armed conflict. The facts presented in this work are important in the context of any given analysis about the issue of whether the Serbs were marginalized with the change of government in Croatia in 1990 and whether their armed rebellion was caused by actions made by the Croatian government and President Tuđman or came as a result of careful planning by proponents of the idea of Greater Serbia. We used a number of documents from the archival material of the Republic of Serbian Krajina to show what had been said and written about President Tuđman in the first half of the 1990s by political and military representatives of those Croatian Serbs that rebelled against the Croatian government and participated in the armed aggression against the Republic of Croatia. We describe how the Serb leadership in the temporarily occupied areas of Croatia accused the Croatian government and Franjo Tuđman of conducting criminal and “national-Fascist” policies against the Serbs and present the facts that completely debunk the accusations. These facts include official documents issued and decisions reached by the Croatian government about protecting the national minorities in Croatia during the mandate of President Tuđman. The work ends with the conclusion that the mentioned accusations were launched for the purpose of creating a greater Serbian state by homogenizing the Serbs.

An Abbey as a Stronghold

The main goal of this paper is to analyze the strategic role of Cistercian abbey of Blessed Virgin Mary in Topusko (medieval Toplica) in anti-Ottoman defense during 16th century, especially because it is rather exceptional of usage sacral complex in anti-Ottoman defense system in rather long period. In order to do so it is determined and analyzed strategic importance of the monastic complex in anti-Ottoman defense line and the change of it according to ever going Ottoman conquest of new territories, i.e. approaching of the bordering line. Furthermore, the organization of defense of the rather large estate of Topusko abbey as well as the changes of the monastic fortifications are addressed. Even more, the role of the commendatory abbots of the abbey, as well the serves of the abbey, in the larger efforts in composing and functioning of the anti-Ottoman defense line are analyzed. Finally, the proximate time and context of the final abandoning of the former Cistercian abbey is determined.

On Nutrition, Supply, Harvest and Purchase of Food in the Second World War

Due to the production of food and cattle fattening, the Slavonian and Srijem peasants were in the centre of interest of both the state authorities and the partisan movement during the Second World War. Both sides were very preoccupied with finding a way to win them over or force them to give the surplus to one or the other. Unwillingness to cooperate with the state authorities and partisans put the peasant’s both life and property in danger. Sowing, harvesting and other agricultural work were often only possible with an armed escort. The wheat harvests in the Slavonian and Srijem fields in 1942, 1943 and 1944 was followed by the destruction of crops, i.e. burning of wheat and the destruction of threshers. Despite such conditions, the local population managed to meet their needs, and therefore there was no famine. Due to the destruction of transport infrastructure and means of transport, in attacks by partisans and later by the Western Allies’ air force, it was difficult to transport the collected food. The population of Slavonian cities, especially workers and low-income civil servants, were in a difficult position due to irregular and scarce supplies in approvisations; and therefore, they were forced to purchase the basic foodstuffs on the “black market” at extremely high prices. The daily life became even more difficult in 1944 due to air strikes by the Western Allies and the Red Army air force. The paper gives a brief overview of these issue in the cities, mostly with examples from Brod na Savi / Slavonski Brod, and as for rural areas, mostly with examples from the mountain areas and to a lesser ex-tent from the plains, eastern Slavonia and Srijem.

In Between Factual Truth and Social Construction

The aim of this paper is to provide an insight into how knowledge about dr. Franjo Tuđman was internationally created, namely the international context in which scientists and experts have produced factual truths about Croatia’s First President’s leadership, his role and accountability in the events that have marked the violent disintegration of former Yugoslavia, Croatia’s war of defense, and democratic transition. Developed discourse of the international scholarship about Yugoslav wars of disintegration and Croatia’s painful democratic transition is analyzed to determine how and in what way Dr. Franjo Tuđman is represented in selected publications available to the author of this paper. International scholarly production under the review is rather multidisciplinary with a variety of approaches, methodologies and theories providing rich data which in this case is studied juxtaposed to dominant transitional justice discourse framework. Such qualitative sociological research tries to deconstruct international scholarly context in which factual truths about dr. Franjo Tuđman were socially constructed by scholars and experts. Even though not always framed under the umbrella of transitional justice scholarship, developed discourse is Even though not always framed under the umbrella of transitional justice scholarship, developed discourse is nonetheless analyzed through critical lenses of social constructivism and approached in post-modernist sociological manner.