Suchergebnisse

The author studies a group of some one hundred Croatian students who studied in Prague in the period 1882-1918. Special attention is given to the group that came to Prague after 1895 when they were expelled from the Zagreb University because of burning Magyar flag. He analyses two journals, Hrvatska misao and Novo doba in which students expressed their ideas regarding a variety of issues relative to their homeland. He also examines reactions of leading journals in Croatia, which exhibited a variety of degrees of acceptance of new student ideas. The author notices a great influence of the Czech professor G. Masaryk on Croatian students. Among those students there were future politicians, such as S. Radic, M. Heimerl, I. Lorkovic, and S. Pribicevic. The author also supplies statisticaI tables, which show that there were 290 students of law, 91 of philosophy, and 63 of medicine. (SOI : CSP: S. 314f.)

The author attempts to introduce a new theme in Croatian historiography by pointing to the problems he encountered with sources and literature. The fundamental problem is that the primary documents arc predominantly from one side in the conflict, the Yugoslav secrete service (UDBA). The problem is augmented by the fact that those sources consist of studies made during the sixties, based on recollections of participants in the period 1945-1950, whereas there are very few documents from the period of struggle with the Crusaders. The very real problem is the absence of documents by Crusaders themselves, which makes the verification of the documents of the victorious side very difficult. The literature, not abundant, produced by participants of the sides in conflict, is not very useful for research. (SOI : CSP: S. 28)

Upon researching archival sources dating from the periods of Austro-Hungarian, Italian and Croatian rule, the author attempts to examine the condition of health and hygene in Istria between 1900-1950. He believes that these conditions were crucial in shaping urban and rural mentalities during a period which witnessed rapid industralization and urbanization. This study shows the difficult and constant struggle of a small number of enthusiasts, often outside of official institutions. It was a struggle against backwardness, prejudice and death. It is a tale of poverty, hunger, sickness and death, but it also speaks of the indestructability of the spirit in this region. The study will shed light on and important part of the social history of urban and rural Istria. (SOI : CSP: S. 545)

Newspaper articles about Hungary on the pages of Vjesnik in the period between 1945 and 1950 were relatively numerous, but dealt exclusively with political circumstances and relations. Three basic stereotypes could be seen in the writings about Hungary, and it is indicative that they were formed in a relatively short period of four years and that they were radically opposite to each other. The first one, in the period from the end of the World War Two up to the establishment of complete communist command in Hungary in the Fall of 1947, when the defeated forces and civil political groups were ascribed negative aspects of Hungarian life and relationship with Yugoslavia, with affirmation of all the activities connected with national democratic, communist orientation. The other, in the short period between the Fall of 1947 and Summer of 1948, when the articles about Hungarian themes had solely positive characteristics. The third, after the resolution of Information Bureau of the Cominform in Summer of 1948, when the newspaper pages on Hungary were again full of negative articles, but this time Hungarian communist leadership was blamed for all the negativities. The picture about Hungary which one could get from the newspapers was generally incomplete, oriented primarily to the political events. It obviously depended on political and ideological orientations of Yugoslav ruling communist circles. The information was in the service of achieving exclusively political goals, not to give thorough and complete information to the readers. (SOI : CSP: S. 518)

In the period 1945-1950, the oldest educational and cultural organization of the Croatian peasantry, "Seljacka Sloga" (Peasant Unity), renewed its work throughout Croatia and Bosnia and Hercegovina. In terms of the extent of the organization, the number of local branches (over 600) approached the prewar figure, and an equally respectable number of people (over 60,000) participated in the various educational and cultural activities it offered. These activities primarily followed traditional patterns: instruction in reading and writing, advice on economic and health issues, promotion and preservation of cultural customs and heritage, and assistance to amateur peasant artists of all kinds. But the very existence and work of the organization in this period was in large part determined by the political objectives of the new socialist government, which saw in the organization's activities the possibility of strengthening its influence in the countryside. is thus possible to conclude that "Sloga" at this time was made an instrument of politics, and this shaped the content of its work and determined the nature of its organization. The new government forced "Sloga" to join the pro-communist National Front and make its policies according to the set principles of, at first, national democracy, and later, socialism. The leaders of "Sloga" were under constant pressure from the state. Nonetheless, the author concludes that the "Sloga" played an important role in the postwar era, a time of extreme poverty, when other institutions did not exist. In the countryside, its revived cultural and educational activities satisfied basic needs. (SOI : CSP: S. 146)