Udruga Hrvatska žena u Osijeku (1921.-1943.)
Croatian Woman Society in Osijek

Summary/Abstract: During its 22 years of existence mostly in the interwar period, the Croatian Woman Society performed a very successful work in cultural, educational, humanitarian and national field, significantly contributing to public life in Osijek. During its work, from 1921 to 1943, the Society encouraged its members, as well as the rest of the population of Osijek, to build national spirit and love for everything that was Croatian, to develop spiritual, humanitarian and social values. The Society’s members belonged to all ranks of Osijek society. The Society educated them on the various possibilities of action through interesting lectures and enabled them to work in cultural and humanitarian field (meetings and parties, humanitarian actions, public manifestations). Through their hard and diligent work, the members of the Society had much success during their 22 years of work in spite of being disbanded twice during the first couple of years (in 1922 and 1923), at which times the members were meeting as part of Croatian Women’s Club (1924-1925) that also fostered the social work of the Croatian Woman Society. The members were active on various occasions and they manifested their capabilities and qualities individually, as well as in cooperation with other Osijek societies. For example, the Croatian Woman Society established the fund for the building of Croatian House in Osijek and started celebrating Mother’s Day on a regular basis. These activities proved the members as more than just excellent housewives and good mothers and marked their stepping out from the narrow family circle. One of the most prominent members of the Croatian Woman Society was its long-term president Josipa Glembay, an authorised trustee of the Zagreb headquarters of the Society, who contributed through her persistent work to founding of the Society’s branch in Osijek and successfully led it until her demise in 1941. Existing works covering the topic of female associations provide us with little data on the work of Croatian Woman Society, so the paper is based on scarce archival sources consisting of societal rules and several minutes related to the founding of the Osijek branch, as well as news, notifications and reports collected from the leading Osijek daily newspaper called Hrvatski list (Hrvatski glas) (“The Croatian Newspaper / The Croatian Voice”). This latter type of sources is irreplaceable in finding answers to certain questions related to the functioning of the Society, so it is possible that the subsequent research will shed a new light on the findings presented in this paper.

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