Suchergebnisse

The author approaches Malcolm's book analytically and synthetically. The strength of Malcolm's book lies in the fact that it is not burdened with controversies of the Balkan historiography and chauvinistic mentality. Malcolm succeeded in demystifying the Kosovo battle (1389) and the "Great Migration of Serbs" (1689), the themes that Serbian historiography is burdened with. Malcom's book successfully exposes the causes of Balkan war, especially of the last one (1991-1999), as a consequence of Serbian hegemonistic ideology and policy. Malcolm's book will help both Serbian and Albanian historians to abandon a romantic approach in writing their histories. However, author could not aree with some of Malcolm's conclusions, such as assumed lack of oppressive measures of the Ottomans over local population in Kosovo or the argument that there is no Muslim fundamentalism among Albanians because they have an Albanian Christian Democratic Party. Likewise, Malcolm seems to accept the idea that there was a process of "albanisation" of Serbs in Kosovo based on the names of certain number of Albanian population, while at the same time denies that there was an identical process in the opposite direction. The reason for this confusion probably lies in the fact that Malcolm overlooks that it is a question of "albanisation" of Vlachs and not of Serbs. Inspite of these shortcomings. the autor highly recommends the book. (SOI : CSP: S. 571)

While the author is impressed by Cornwell's style and presentation, he is appaled by the lack of seriousness exhibited by the author who writes about an imprtant subject (not broached for the first time, by any means) and by demonstrated inability to supress his preconceived notions and even prejudices. Cornwell relies heavily on Owen Chadwick, which assures that he mentions most important facts about the involvement of the Cardinal and Pope Pius XII (whom Cornwell systematicaly entitles by his family name. Pacelli) in contemporary politics, but he bends and ignores Chadwick's research when he makes his judgment about the Pope. Cornwell's treatment of the Catholic Church in the Independent State of Croatia (he gives it an entrie chapter) is a traversy of research and objective writing. His main source. if not the only, for the presentation of the Church in Croatia during the World War II is the 35 years old book by Carlo Falconi. Cornwell perhaps did not know , but he could have and must have been informed, that Falconi wrote his piece on the basis of the propagandistic material given to him by the Yugos]av secrete service and propagandists, which served the purpose of anti-Chatolic propaganda in Yugoslavia. A well intended reader could excuse Cornwell (he does not read Croatian and could not know what some authors wrote about Falconi's sources at the time his book appeared), if he did not point those "Croatian materials" as essential not only for the condemnation of the Croatian Catholic episcopate, but for Pius XII as well. (SOI : CSP: S. 190)

The author describes the political and geopolitical genesis of the Kosovo crisis and offers a polemically intoned criticism of the great powers regarding their policies on the entire territory of the former Yugoslavia, and particularly on Kosovo. The author advocates the continuation of the military struggle of the Kosovo Albanians until they have achieved their total political independence. (SOI : S. 50)

The disintegration of the socialist regime in Europe did away with the bipolar model of world order and inaugurated a new phase in seeking a new structure and model of international relations. This new world order, only broadly outlined and characterised by (mostly) unilateral leadership, has already been challenged. Two superpowers China and Russia - condemn the hegemony, unilateralism and the attempts at dictating the international relations. China and Russia are supported by a group of disgruntled countries who also think that a broadly-based multi-polarity is the direction that inter-national relations and the new world order should take. Judging by these challenges and criticisms it might be said that only multilateral co-operativeness can guarantee validity to the nascent world order. (SOI : PM: S. 93)

The thirtieth anniversary of the Casopis za suvremenu povijest published by the Hrvatski institut za povijest (Croatian Institute for History) in Zagreb (1969-1999) gives the occasion for a review and analysis of its contents, looks, and accomplishments. Casopis was initiated at the then Institute za historiju radnickog pokreta Hrvatske (The Institute for History of the Workers Movement in Croatia) in order to expand the research beyond workers and their political and union organisations and beyond the period of the World War II, which were dominant themes at the Institute. This intention resulted in the expansion of the research and in the publication of the results in the journal. The tradition of co-operation with researchers outside of the Institute and with those abroad continued. The journal published numerous themes from national history as well as history of other nations and minorities. The problems of historical methodology and of evaluation of books and other works were not neglected. One of the marks of the journal is the presence of polemics. The journal succeeded in maintaining these characteristics in spite of changes of the political situations, by which it was stamped. (SOI : CSP: S. 459)

The author deals with the history of Croatian Home Guardsmen in the World War Two. The organization and the development of the Home Guard, or Croatian, armed forces is presented, with reference to the political, military and economic conditions. The author emphasizes the need for further studying the history of Croatian Home Guard in the Independent State of Croatia. Along these lines the author presents his views of the problem. (SOI : CSP: S. 583)

From an extensive comparative study conducted in 27 European countries about the attitude of young people towards history, the winnowed variables show the attitude towards history and the causes of historical changes as well as the attitude towards nation and religion. The results (obtained from a sample including 1,025 Croatian high-school first-graders) show that the attitudes of young people towards history do not significantly differ from those in other European countries. However, the interest of young people for national problems, national communities and religion has increased. The attitude towards history is shaped by the factors that homogenize the living space of young people. (SOI : PM: S. 128)

The author provides a short review of the most important events in Croatian history during the 20th century. He begins by emphasizing the importance of the burning of the Hungarian flag in Zagreb during the visit of emporer Franz Joseph in 1895. Other turning points of Croatian history in the 20th century were: declaration of the Rijeka resolution, which was the basis of the Croato-Serbian Coalition; the end of long term relations with the Habsburg monarchy, and the entry into a unified state with Serbia; the experience of Serbian domination in that state; the events of the Second World War; and the renewal of Yugoslavia under a communist dictatorship. The author has decided to publish this review as a model for a further historical study of this period. (SOI : CSP: S. 453)

The article represents a review of the most recent works on German minority (Volksdeutsche) history by the Serbian author S. Maricic. The author pays attention to the content of the book and points out factual mistakes, false quotations, and misrepresenting. (SOI : CSP: S. 343)

R. J. Kvaternik (1799-1851), professor of history at the Kings Academy of Sciences in Zagreb, had a great influence on several generation of Croatian intellectuals through his pedagogic work and his patriotic and liberal views. The Zagreb journal Südslawische Zeitung also reflected liberal and democratic views. The author compares Kvaternik's views, exposed in questions for public examinations in general and Hungarian History (positiones), with those expressed in the journal concerning actual political issues and institutional, economic, and cultural questions. In both cases, there is notable democratic orientation, inclination towards parlamentary system, and the need for education of the people as requirement for a general progress of the country. The ideas of equality, tolerance, and peaceful resolution of issues are fundamental to the views. S. Z. stands steadfastly to its views. The similarities between Kvaternik's views and those of S. Z. suggests that some of Kvaternik's disciples were contributors to the journal. Unfortunately, this remains only a presupposition, because articles in S. Z. were not signed. (SOI : CSP: S. 276)

Until their arrival to the territories they occupy today, Croats were greatly dependent on Danube, the region of their settlements, wars, and life in general. However, they were not the leading political group, and they were not merchants. These two facts made the great nations which decide on the world's fate to forget that Croatia was not only a maritime, but also a Danubian country, and that its future rested primarily on the development of its border-line position between East and West. From the rich history of Danubian region the author of the present paper offers a few ideas and several facts, not taking into account the whole scope of this problem in the present day and also in the history of Croats on the shores of Danube. This problem can and should be investigated multidisciplinary, confronting the actual economic analyses with the past events, which would allow to make at least some conclusions about the importance of Danube region for Croatia as an unavoidable determinant of Croatian state and its inalienable borders. (SOI : CSP: S. 308)

The article presents a public echo of the 1966 party conference which dealt with the misuses of the State Security Services (SDS). The issue is described in four parts; the Brijuni Plenary as a subject of investigation in domestic and foreign literature; chronology of events; discussions in political organizations and newspapers; the dossiers - police documentation on citizens. In the literature. the political fall of Aleksandar Rankovic, the founder and for a long time leading figure of that agency, is considered as a political struggle for power or the outcome of the confrontation between "reformist" and "conservative" stream in the Union of the SKJ. The chronology deals with the time between the "Plenary", July 1 - 2, 1966 and the adoption by the Federal Parliament of Yugoslavia of the new law of internal affairs by the end of the same year. In December of that year Josip Broz Tito issued a clemency to S. Rankovic and fifteen other highest officials of that agency. The discussion in the political organizations and newspapers showed that political activists, and "simple" people as well, think that the responsibility for the misuses lie not only on individuals but on the way the organization was structured and on the unlimited power it had. The party leadership tried to subdue those criticisms. because they did not want to be left without the most valuable partner in the system of power. The public was also made aware of a great number of private dossiers - the police documentation on citizens which came into existence in the preceding twenty years. The most diligent was the SDS in Croatia, which amassed one million three hundred thousand such dossiers. (SOI : CSP: S. 489)