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The author attempts to introduce a new theme in Croatian historiography by pointing the problems he encountered with sources and literature. The fundamental problem is that the primary documents are 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.
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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 variouslabour 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 pat1s of the NDH. At the same time NDH armed forces organized the People's Uprising Corps under 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 filledwith around 40 000 civilians living in that area. Its main duties were agricultural works on farms abandoned by their Volksdeutcher owners who were evacuated to the Third Reich, repairment of roads, construction of field fortifications, guard duties, etc.
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Naša skupina stvore na je od ljudi koji su se na ovaj ili onaj način istrgli iz zagrljaja starog svijeta te su kao radnici, seljaci, intelektualci, svećenici i studenti iskazivali volju za novim poretkom, stavivši sebi u zadatak da istovremeno preispituju i svoje duhovno zajedništvo. Tim riječima mi smo za uvod dovoljno definirani.
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The article describes the main political streams of the Bulgarian state at the end of the 1940s and the beginning of the 1950s, which consist of the deliberate destruction of good and established charitable practices, of the idea to break the tradition of philanthropy and civil action, of the general compromising and rejection of the philanthropy as an ideology. The exposition contains a wide range of sources – laws and regulations, reports of State institutions and public organizations, police reports, court judgments etc. The different stages of the repressive policy are analyzed and a conclusion is reached, that by remaining the sole ‘donator’ the State creates itself preconditions for estrangement and disinterest of the society in regards to the unknown neighbor’s problems and also takes away from the society the feeling for joint responsibility to those in need.
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Personalizm po polsku Piotra H. Kosickiego wyróżnia się na tle innych książek o środowiskach katolików świeckich w rządzonej przez komunistów Polsce m.in. ramami chronologicznymi. Autor zaczyna swój opis w okresie przedwojennym, a kończy w okresie, w którym wielu autorów piszących na ten temat dopiero zaczynało właściwą narrację – w momencie odwilży po Październiku ’56, który dla środowiska katolików świeckich w Polsce stanowił nowy początek. Dotyczyło to zwłaszcza kręgów Mazowieckiego i Zabłockiego, którym odwilż otworzyła drogę do założenia „Więzi”. Obraz, jaki wyłania się z książki Kosickiego, jest przede wszystkim bardzo mocno zróżnicowany. Obok siebie obecni są zarówno katolicy o sympatiach wyraźnie lewicowych, jak i przedwojenni falangiści (których Kosicki jednoznacznie określa jako ludzi o „faszystowskiej przeszłości”), niekiedy zresztą blisko współpracując. Kosicki eksponuje różnice między poszczególnymi środowiskami i wewnątrz nich. Interesuje go usytuowanie poszczególnych inicjatyw i osób nie tylko na mapie politycznej powojennej Polski, ale przede wszystkim w debatach związanych z personalizmem.
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Turkish-Soviet friendship, which started during the Turkish War of Salvation and strengthened with the friendship agreement signed in 1925, had kept alive trouble-free until mid-1930s. However, since the beginning of 1930s, the priorities of the two countries differed in parallel to changing world conditions. As a result of the process starting with the Montreux Convention signed in 1936 and continuing with the World War II, there had been almost a return to the conventional Turkish-Russian politics between two countries. Soviet notes requesting changes in Montreux Convention and ownership of the bases along the Bosporus, led to a stalemate in the relations between parties in the post-war period. As a result, Soviet or communism fear had become one of the central tenets shaping Turkish foreign policy till 1960s, as well a sit has some reflections on the Turkish internal politics.This fear even led to the perception of the word “left” as a source of threat and some bans were applied on the publications, mainly on the press, supporting this ideology. Many decisions were taken regarding the pulling of the books, calendars and various forms of published documents from the shelves on the basis of the claims about communist propaganda during 1940s and 1950s. This article, which has been prepared by benefitting from the Republican Archive of Prime Ministry, The Archive of Turkish Grand National Assembly, press and research studies, aims to put forth the threat perception related to “communism” and its results in parallel to Turkish-USSR relation.
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The article researches the existence and ministry of Franciscan friars in the territory of the Soviet Union during 1941–1991. In the light of printed sources, the historical – geographical view of ministry and its type is portrayed. The findings are reflected in the conclusion and portrayed in tables and map.
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Disclosing of secret service files should be considered as an integral part of the accounting with communist past. In the process of creating a new social order many countries have opted for the approach of discovering dark past while some maintained the principle "what happened in the past, should remain in the past." Whether they have opted for the first or second approach, the states had to solve a series of economical, social and even political issues. The main point of this paper is reviewing the experiences of Eastern Germany and Czech Republic in the disclosing of secret files, with making references to solutions adopted in other former communist countries. The paper demonstrates the differences in the legislative of two countries, which are reflected in the availability of documents and persons having access to them.
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Pope John Paul II (2005) called communism an “ ideology of evil”, and fighting it became a centrepiece of his pontificate. As Samuel P. Huntington (1993) argued in his theory of a “third wave” of democratization that occurred after the 1960s, the Church was instrumental in helping Western powers undermine the credibility of the Soviet system, a process that was aided by the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). Furthermore, Gilles Kepel (1994) and José Casanova (1994) have analysed the role played by the Catholic Church in a number of countries where religion has been a vanguard for social movements seeking greater freedom amidst national political tensions. This paper examines the legacy of John Paul II’s efforts to oust Soviet communism from not only his homeland of Poland, but from Europe altogether. The paper begins with an examination of John Paul II’s critique of communism as a flawed system and his emphasis on Central and Eastern Europe’s Christian heritage. More specifically, how his writings and campaigning helped to undermine communism in Central and Eastern Europe will be discussed. The paper will then move to an assessment of the legacy of John Paul II’s efforts against communism and consider the role of contemporary Catholicism generally across Central and Eastern Europe as it tries to stake out its share of the religious marketplace against other religions, including Orthodoxy, Protestantism and new religious movements. This will be examined through theories of post-secularism, and secularism. The paper argues that Catholicism has managed to re-emerge as a powerful force in Central and Eastern Europe, but still has work to do if it is to maintain its position in this region and be what Karl Rahner called a “world Church”.
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This article proposes an analysis of Romanian dissent from its springing moments in 1977 to the end of the Communist regime in 1989. The study follows the context in which dissent emerged and developed, such as the changes in the economic and political situation that drove Romania into a deep economic crisis and revealed the Stalinist nature of Ceauşescu’s regime. Furthermore, it investigates upon the sources of inspiration of Romanian dissent such as Charter 77 or, later in the 1980s, Soviet perestroika. The core of the article tackles the main forms of Romanian dissent from its founding moments to 1989.
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In 1968 the Csemadok (Cultural Society of Ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia) became the main representative of the Hungarian minority in Czechoslovakia although it was established in 1949. The Csemadok wanted to arrange the status of the ethnic minorities by self-determination or rather cultural autonomy. But the promising reform process was over due to the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the armies of five socialist states. The rearrangement led by Gustáv Husák pulled off its mask and blocked the political movement of the ethnic minorities before 1989. I researched the documents of Csemadok and I made oral history interviews. My aim was to study the elite of Hungarian minority in Czechoslovakia between 1949 and 1989, with special regard to 1968.
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A couple of reports of the Bulgarian plenipotentiaries in USSR Nikola Antonov and Todor Hristov about the Soviet-Finnish war are presented in the article. In them the perception of the two Bulgarian diplomats about this two-way war conflict in Northern Europe is described, as well as the information, which they are able to gather through the diplomatic channels, about the development of the conflict and about the mood of those governing in Moscow and in Stockholm during the intensive months of the war. Without presenting new, still unknown to the history facts, they manage, in a very interesting way and in detail, to convey the atmosphere of the crucial processes of that winter and they help the researcher get a very clear idea about what has happened, almost as if he was there in person. Even with the whole subjectivity of the claims and the points of view in the reports, as well the possible mistakes and omissions, they could help the future researchers to better understand and explore the position of the countries with conflicted interests on the northern flank of Europe during the already started World War II.
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The twentieth century is perhaps the most difficult in the history of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC). The author aims to explain the causes that lead to the tragic for the BOC events of the late 20th century, and the schism, which, unfortunately, still has not been overcome completely. Based on the historical journey, using archive materials, press materials and publications of researchers interested in the problems of the Church, the author comes to the conclusion that in many aspects the situation that currently “dominates” the ranks of the BOC is directly related to the intervention of state structures in the internal affairs of the Church. This becomes especially apparent after Bulgaria overthrows T. Zhivkov’s regime and begins the construction of a new European democratic state. The wrestle with the socialism heritage leads to the fact that BOC and its Hierarchs appear hostages of the struggle for power. The author describes the invaluable help that the Russian Orthodox Church has always given during the difficult times of isolation of the Bulgarian Exarchy, and pays particular attention to the role of Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy I in an important for the Bulgarian Church decisions such as the removal of the “schism” and the restoration of the Patriarchate.
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The cultural propaganda as one of the effective means for influence in India is an inseparable part of the politics of the socialist countries there. Their coordinated cultural propaganda movement begins in the end of the 70’s of the last century. In the article the main goals and tasks are being presented, as well as the ways this movement is being performed. Its main guidelines are the explanation of the continuous piece-oriented foreign policy of the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries, as well as the experience in the socialism building and the superiority of the socialism, the presenting of the socialist internationalism in action and the neutralization in India of the anti-socialist and anti-Soviet movements of the propaganda offices of USA, the other NATO countries and China. These activities show the strive of the socialist countries and mostly of USSR for the socialist movement to be presented as one unified and strong community, guided by common ideas and goals.
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After the Second World War, Communist Poland and the Holy See did not maintain official diplomatic relations for over a quarter of the century (1945–1974). Despite that complicated situation, there were several personal meetings between the Pope and the representatives of Communist Poland during the pontificated of Pius XII, John XXIII and Paul VI. These meetings seemingly confirm the definite rule of the Vatican’s diplomacy which does not refuse to talk with anyone and to conduct dialogue in any situation. The analysis of the circumstances and the courses of meetings between Communist politicians from Poland and the Pope allows us to draw the line that divides the period in question into two parts. Until 1965, the Pope held audiences with Catholic activists engaged in public Communist Poland, while after that date, there were also meetings with Communist politicians, including two foreign ministers and a First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party. Throughout nearly the entire period, the primary goal of the relations between Poland and the Vatican, including meetings with the Pope, was to win the Holy See’s favour, particularly in opposition to the Primate, and create the propaganda image of religious freedom and good relations between the state and the Church in Poland. It is difficult to assess how the Holy See benefited from those meetings. The dialogue started in 1965, and it took an institutional form in 1974, but that did not affect the model of religious policy in Poland, and the strong position of the Church did not result from the dialogue between the Communists and the Vatican, but the unrelenting and principled policy of the Episcopate lead by the Primate. I have based the present article primarily on materials prepared by the Communist diplomatic service and stored in the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and documents prepared by the Party and administration of the Communist Poland, particularly the Office for Religious, and stored at the Polish Central Archives of Modern Records. Diaries and memoirs also proved to be important – particularly those by Jerzy Zawieyski and Janusz Zabłocki.
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In the period of 1945–1989, in Communist Poland, after the subjection of the Labour Party by the Communists in 1945, and their assimilation in 1950 by the Democratic Party, there was no independent Christian Democratic party; despite this, Poland was a country of the Soviet Block, in which the Catholic Church had relatively large freedom, while Christian democratic parties officially existed in GDR and the Czechoslovakian Republic. This issue is strictly related with several other matters: with Christian Democratic and non-Christian democratic efforts of the Catholics aimed at the establishment of the Catholic Party inside the PRL political system (among others, on the basis of Bolesław Piasecki’s PAX Association); with the activities of the groups relating to the Christian democracy outside the party structures (here it necessary to mention Janusz Zabłocki, the ODiSS group and Polish Catholic Social Association); with activities of all other groups of “lawful” Catholics functioning within Communism; finally with the issue of intellectual research aimed at the rationalisation of the existence of Christian democracy outside the democratic system, in the necessary cooperation with an atheistic totalitarian regime (here a special role was played by inspiration with Christian socialism of Emmanuel Mounier). To provide the final statement concerning the scale of the Christian democratic inspiration in both social and political life it is necessary to deepen the present research concerning almost every political groups of Catholics in PRL – both legal and illegal – maybe aside from the well-known group of “Znak”. It is necessary to verify the findings of the present historiography, which mainly belonged to the identity stream, that is the stream giving priority for the justification of the political attitudes of Catholics during PRL over comprehensive and reliable information analysis. The matters crucial for understanding the existence context of the Christian democratic inspirations in the period of PRL include the issues of various forms of political Catholic realisms in PRL (including specific differentiation of the realism of resistance, collaboration and capitulation – using terms applied by Rafał Matyja), as well as an explanation as to why Catholic groups in PRL – in contrast to the Christian Democrats during the inter-war period – tried to build their identity on the critique of the largest Catholic political formation in Poland – namely the national movement, and often even broader – on the critique of the entire relation between Catholicism and Polish national identity
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Aim of this article is close reading of the Michał Siermiński’s book on so-called left-wing opposition during real socialism period in the years 1968–1980, and its „Afterword” by Zbigniew Marcin Kowalewski). Author claims, that value of the book is very dubious – as in research aspect as in academic ethics aspect, and scientific technique. Author is focused on ideological dimension of Siermiński’s and Kowalewski’s work, their neo-Trotskyist skew, lack of understanding of the geopolitical reality of the Cold War and international competition between communism and capitalism. Other weakness of the book is not recognizing historical existentional circumstances of communist/socialist countries.
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After the formation of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) has organized large work and youth actions aimed at rebuilding the country after the Second World War. The main hypothesis of this paper is that in Yugoslavia there was no participation in the true sense, but that there were mechanisms which represented the ideology of participation. Work actions had huge impact on rebuilding the land, but they were not voluntary - which is a basic requirement of modern theory of participation. Likewise, the term participation is further explained in this paper, in order to further explain the thesis of formal participation in the former Yugoslavia. Student protests in 1968 were not an isolated case of revolt against the system, the basic characteristics of popular revolt that had its roots back in the early sixties. The aim of this paper is theoretical analysis of the theory of participation and the basic characteristics of Yugoslavia, in order to show that the participation of the people in the exercise of power was just an illusion, ie. formal. Case Study about films of the sixties and seventies in Yugoslavia illustrates the processes of censorship and imposition of ideology of participation.
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The British media reported on most East European revolutions as the West's win in the Cold War. The Soviet Union obviously withdrew: it was in an economic crisis and unable to maintain its empire. Communism has failed as an economic system, and as a political ideology. Within this, the media have told the story "How West Won the East", holding the principle of "the power of the people," "the parliament," and "the free market". This paper highlights some of the images and themes in the news reports of these years and points to their fundamental contradictions.
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