Suchergebnisse

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)

At the end of 1944 NDH was in a very difficult military and political position. Not only were strong Tito's Partisan forces operating on its territory, but at the same time Soviets and Partisans occupied Serbia and advanced to the eastern border of NDH. This was the reason for the NDH authorities to reorganise their existing armed forces, and also to organise a nation-wide mobilisation. This organization, which was under control of the civilian authorities, was intended to be filled with men not serving in the armed forces and women. Its main purpose was to help war efforts with various labor activities (agricultural works, construction of fortifications). There were also plans to create armed units of people's defence, but NDH was short of infantry weapons even for its armed forces, so these plans were never materialized. Because of the difficult military situation, people's defence units were never organized in most parts of the NDH. At the same time NDH armed forces organized the People's Uprising Corps under the command of general Metzger. This unit, which was much more effective than the people's defence, was active in Slavonia, Srijem and northern Bosnia and filled with around 40 000 civilians living in that area. Its main duties were agricultural works on farms abandoned by their owners (Volksdeutsche) who were evacuated to the Third Reich, repairment of roads, construction of field fortifications, guard duties, etc. (SOI : CSP: S. 49)

One of the characteristics of the cultural policy of the NDH is a more resolute publishing activity with an emphasis on the creation of the Ustasha literature, important for the promotion of the Ustasha programmatic principles. Several titles were promoted daily from all aspects of human activity, which amounts to 3000 titles in all. Matica Hrvatska, Croatia Publishing (Bibliographical) Office, Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences and Contemporary Library can boast of quality titles. The aim of this article is not an evaluation of the literature, but an illustration of th literary production in the NDH. (SOI : CSP: S. 71)

The author focuses on about twenty Croatian and non-Croatian authors, who published in this renowned political and literary review. They belong to different social groups and adopt differing political options, which also determine their attitude toward NDH. There are two main approaches. One, which simply explains the policies of NDH, where Jere Jareb is the most representative author. The other approach is the justification of those policies to some degree. A special attention is paid to authors who analyse foreign, especially German literature, that touches on Croatian issues, and to authors that were direct participants in the events, such as Mate Frkovic, who participated in the Lorkovic-Vokic putsch. (SOI : CSP: S. 95f.)

The number of killed and perished is often for political expediency raised and multiplied. Much lesser publications deal with the internal structure and operation of the camp and with those who operated it. Among those who ran the camp. two names are of particular interest: Ljubo Milos and Miroslav Filipovic Majstorovic, who were its commanders for a period. Because Majstorovic was a former Catholic priest who was expelled from the Franciscan order, the anti-Catholic propaganda used and is still using that circumstance, to accuse the Catholic Church for participation in crimes. (SOI : CSP: S. 112)

The themes wich captured the attention of researchers immediately after Communist archives have become available. especially the documents of the Communist International and the police personal files, were political biographies of the victims of Stalinism and the espionage. The author thinks that these works are not always critical towards documents. Former communist countries have regulated the access to the archives in different ways. Germany has adopted the most liberal policy. T. C. Ash's book is illustrative of new research. We found his dossier in the Stasi files and. with the help of those who produced it, used it for an analysis of the system of repression as well as its consequences for society and the individual. (SOI : CSP: S. 127)

The author examines the activities of Jesuit local missionaries in northern Croatia. They are active there from 1855 to 1869 and again, just in the Zagreb diocese. from 1895. The author traces the development of Jesuit missions, their organisation, the places they visited, the difficulties they faced, and the social and political influence those missions had. He also describes religious and moral circumstances in which the missionaries operated and focuses on the literary and cultural initiatives of the missionaries, particularly on the foundation of the Croatian Literary Society St. Jerome. (SOI : CSP: S. 170)

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)

All Israeli governments since the beginning of the break-up of Yugoslavia have adopted a consistently pro-Serbian stand. Israeli public opinion has failed to respond to Serbian atrocities in a way comparable to the response in many other countries. The author argues that an important part of the explanation of this remarkable state of affairs, which puts Israel at odds with most of the western world and the Jewish diaspora, is to be found in Israel's history. Israel was set up at the price of turning the larger part of native Palestinian population into expellees or refugees. Its continued existence as an ethnic, Jewish state is predicated on not admitting the exiled Palestinians back. Collective repression and denial of these facts help explain the unwillingness or inability of Israeli society and its political establishinent to condemn the Serbs' war of expansion and "ethnic cleansing". (SOI : PM: S. 23)

More than a decade has passed since the momentous events of 1989 that changed the world order and redefined the geopolitics of Central Europe. This is just the right moment to assess the results of these changes and discuss the future of that region. Based on the past comparative studies or those currently going on, we may say that Central Europe differs from the post-communist East (the former Soviet Union) and the South-East (the former Yugoslavia with the exception of Slovenia) and Albania. First, Central-European states overthrew their communist regimes earlier and in a more decisive manner than the USSR; second, the economic transformation of Central Europe, though not completely smooth, is nevertheless much smoother than the transformation of the member countries of the CIS; third, the post-communist societies differ in the pattern by which their systems of social stratification have changed after the collapse of their communist regimes; fourth, there are big differences between the Central-European post-communist states, including the Baltic states on the one hand, and the CIS members and Serbia/Montenegro-Yugoslavia on the other regarding their international orientation. The author highlights three significant events that are going to leave their trace on the regional geostrategic situation: NATO's eastern expansion, NATO's campaign against SKY and the election of Vladimir Putin for president of Russia. The regional geopolitical picture may become more stable with closer ties between the states of Central Europe and Germany. (SOI : PM: S. 11)

Globalization has brought about the collapse of the bipolar system of international relations, which was the foundation of the structure of global security based on the technological means of mass production, which predominated at that time. The change from the mass to the flexible way of production has made it necessary to build a new system of global security on the technological resources of flexible production and the political implications of globalization. There are many indications that it was just this new system of global security that began to take shape the day the first NATO bomb fell on Serbia, which means that it came into being: in South- Eastern Europe i.e. in the region that at the beginning of the 20th century ignited the fuse of the world wars and which would, if not for this intervention, still pose a threat. The intervention, a novelty in the postwar international relations, and which consequently brought up a plethora of questions, paved the way to the realization of the project Europe for the 21th century. That project, based on adjusting international relations to globalization, whose outlines are becoming visible in the region of South- Eastern Europe, is in Croatia's interest, and is the major guarantor of the preservation of its independence and sovereignty. (SOI : PM: S. 33)

In this paper, the author deals with some institutional and structural elements of the emerging European post-cold war security environment. In the early 1990s, at the level of institutionalization of European security, a plethora of institutions came into being whose purpose has been to gradually incorporate the former communist states into an integral security structure. Also, international security was formalized in international organizations covering Europe. Thus one of the key challenges to the European security system has been the need for melding its central components into a consistent system. The author also describes some current processes and developments within the European security setting that will shape the European security structure in the future as well. This setting has been and will undoubtedly be affected by various international (regional and global) and national factors in the European economic, political, and security space as well as by the joint efforts of European states (their leaders) and international security organizations to provide common security in Europe. The author concludes that the European international system today includes many organizations and institutions that, with an appropriate division of labour and cooperation, may help set up a common and integral European security system which would efficiently ensure the security of individual states as well as the security of entire Europe. (SOI : S. 55)

The author analyzes two famous critiques of the bourgeois state: Marx's thesis on the withering away of the state as an instrument of force of the economicall dominant bourgeois class which, by means of the quasi-neutral state as the higher third instance controls the the class antagonisms whose disappearance will make the state as an instrument of repression obsolete; and Carl Schmitt's thesis that the state will become unnecessary in the world in which there are no longer any enemies, only offenders who violate humanistic norms and human rights. (SOI : PM: S. 68)