Uklanjanje 1945/46. grobalja i grobova "okupatora" i "narodnih neprijatelja" poginulih 1941-45. na području Nezavisne Države Hrvatske

Author(s): Vladimir Geiger / Language(s): Croatian Publication Year: 0

The duration and intensity of WWII in the territoiy of the Independent State of Croatia, the presence of occupation forces of the German Reich and the Kingdom of Italy, armed forces of the Independent State of Croatia, as well as the activities of the Yugoslav monarchists and communist-led partisans, caused direct clashes between the belligerent parties. This led to a number of casualties both among soldiers and civilians. Irreconcilable ideologies and military and political interests of the conflicting parties in the general and civil war increased the number of casualties. The communists reckoning with real or purported enemies alike in Yugoslavia during WWII and especially at its end and right after it, was massive and without mercy. Part of the radical and total reckoning of the Yugoslav communists with their enemies immediately after WWII was the order of the Interior Ministry of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia of May 18, 1945 about removal of graves of "occupiers" and "enemies of the people" that targeted graves, tombstones of German, Italian and Hungarian armies, as well as those of the ustasha, chetniks and Slovenian home guards. The fact that the order was systematically implemented in the territory of the Independent State of Croatia is proven by surviving documents and testimonies of eyewitnesses, as well as by the state of the graveyards themselves. The graves of fallen partisans and victims of "Fascist terror" were protected by law, put in order and well maintained in Yugoslavia after WWII, whereas the graves of "enemy" soldiers and "collaborators" remained outside of the pale of the law. This remained so until the break-up of Yugoslavia.

Odjeci i reagovanja

Author(s): Ivica Petrović,Ljuba Stojić,Nataša Odalović,Milena Davidović-Primorac,Ivan Čolović,Anđelko Dragojević,Ivan Ivanji,Jelena Tasić,Milovan Mračević,V. Stefanović,Jasna Šakota-Mimica,Žarko Trebješanin,Milorad Mlađenović,Marija M. Mitrović,Pavle Ugrinov / Language(s): Serbian Publication Year: 0

“Nova” istorija za novi identitet

Author(s): Milivoj Bešlin / Language(s): Serbian Publication Year: 0

Poslednjih nekoliko godina, nakon nasilnog gušenja građanskih protesta zbog izbornih nepravilnosti (2011) i u obnovljenom predsedničkom mandatu Vladimira Putina (2012), Rusija je otvorenije nego do tada krenula u spoljnu ekspanziju. Nakon već ranije izvršene agresije na Gruziju (2008), sledio je oružani napad na suverenu Ukrajinu, potom i intervencija u Siriji. Slabo delotvorne zapadne sankcije zbog agresivnog rata protiv južnog suseda, čiju je nepovredivost granica i sama Rusija garantovala međunarodnim sporazumom iz Budimpešte (1994) i aneksija Krima (2014), kao dela međunarodno priznate teritorije Ukrajine, ojačale su hladnoratovske tendencije u svetu, a posebno u Evropi. Srbija se zbog svoje spoljnopolitičke dezorjentacije našla u središtu političkog disputa između nesigurnog zapadnog sveta i imperijalne autokratije Vladimira Putina. Ruska „meka moć” i pokušaji da destabilizuje Srbiju i odvrati je od nevoljno prihvaćene evropske agende ogledali su se i u činjenici da je Rusija uložila puno truda i materijalnih resursa u pokretanje desetina medija, portala, fondacija, udruženja građana i nevladinih organizacija sa ciljem jačanja antizapadnog raspoloženja u Srbiji i snaženja nacionalističkih, ksenofobičnih i proruskih tendencija. [...]

Europa Wschodnia i Kaukaz Południowy: dziesięciolecie Partnerstwa Wschodniego

Author(s): Andrzej Szeptycki / Language(s): Polish Publication Year: 0

The article aims to analyze the region of Eastern Europe and South Caucasusfrom the perspective of the EU Eastern Partnership programme. Ten years afterits initiation, the region remains unstable both politically and militarily. It is stillstruggling with post-Soviet heritage, such as corruption and authoritarian tendencies.While some countries (Armenia) try to counter these challenges, in others (Moldova)there was a significant deterioration of democratic standards. Such a situationseems to indicate the weakness of the EU’s policy mechanisms towards its Easternneighbourhood.According to the EaP assumptions, the cooperation with the countries of theregion is conducted on the case by case basis. This results in the separation of theEastern neighbours of the EU into two subgroups: the first one is made up of Ukraine,Moldova, and Georgia, which in 2014–2017 concluded association agreements withthe EU, providing for the creation of Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas,and were offered a visa-free regime; the second one gathers Belarus, Armenia, andAzerbaijan, with which cooperation is more limited.Russia’s policy remains a key challenge both for the countries of the region and theEU. The Russian Federation is striving both to increase its influence in the countriesof Eastern Europe and South Caucasus, and to limit their cooperation with the EU.An important instrument, though not the only one, of the expansive Russian policyin the region are the frozen conflicts affecting Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia,and Azerbaijan. In the case of Belarus, progressive integration of this country withRussia should not be excluded.

Národní divadlo jako symbolické centrum paměti

Author(s): Kamil Činátl / Language(s): Czech Publication Year: 0

The study uses methodology “cultural memory studies” to feature the National Theater as a place of memory. It focuses on the building as a symbol and attempts to describe the way, in which the symbolic architecture represents the past and enters the memory praxis of the nation (decoration of the theater, canonical repertoire, festivities, collections and so-called theater trains as actions of national participation). The author adds a dynamic extent of remembrance to a traditional approach – place of memory as a depository of representations of history. He contemplates the National Theater as an “empty place” – a framework of a specific social and cultural context to deliver substance of the past. The study analyses the process of the National Theater constitution as a place of memory – especially in the connection with the 1881 fire. This “national tragedy” symbolized one of the most powerful experiences of the modern Czech nation, that as a strong shared affection reflected itself in the process of constitution of the national identity. In this instance the study utilizes theme of trauma used by Aleida Assmann in the frame of the memory studies. The study uses a few cases to demonstrate memory praxis closely linked to a symbolic space of the National Theater (production of the Čapek’s theater play the White Disease (Bílá nemoc) in 1937, role of the theater during political changes in 1989).

Društveno pamćenje i osobna sjećanja

Author(s): Vesna Teršelič / Language(s): Croatian Publication Year: 0

O snimanju osobnih sjećanja sanjali smo i prije osnivanja Documente kad smo se pitali kako produbiti i intenzivirati društveni dijalog o nasilnoj prošlosti na prvom mjestu kako bismo sačuvali osobna sjećanja. Prvi smo upitnik za polustrukturirane intervjue pripremili 2002. godine.01 Najvažnija je svrha bila i ostala sačuvati jedinstvene neponovljive priče naših suvremenika za nas i neke druge generacije. Smatram da u stvaranju društvenog pamćenja ništa ne može zamijeniti ljudsko svjedočanstvo i nadam se da će zbirka intervjua i sačuvana sjećanja pomoći i u promociji višeglasja kontra jednoumlja, promociji multiperspektivnosti u interpretaciji povijesti kontra kanoniziranju samo jedne dominantne interpretacije te promociji višeslojnosti povijesnih zbivanja kontra ratovanja oko pojednostavljenih crno bijelih interpretacija, a uz povoljniju društvenu klimu možda i afirmiranju višestrukih identiteta.

Osobna sjećanja na ratove i druge oblike političkog nasilja od 1941. godine do danas

Author(s): Maja Dubljević / Language(s): Croatian Publication Year: 0

Projekt Osobna sjećanja na ratove i druge oblike političkog nasilja od 1941. godine do danas u okviru kojeg je nastala zbirka od 450 video intervjua, usmjeren je na društvenu funkciju povijesti kroz nekoliko bitnih elemenata. Prvi se zasniva na činjenici da je projekt realizirala Documenta – organizacija koja se bavi ljudskim pravima, osnovana kako bi poticala proces suočavanja s prošlošću na individualnoj i široj društvenoj razini. Pokret za zaštitu i promociju ljudskih prava nedvosmisleno je prihvatio koncept suočavanja s prošlošću kao jednu od osnovnih ideja na kojima se zasniva izgradnja demokratskih temelja neke društvene zajednice te je projekt prikupljanja osobnih sjećanja na ratove i druge oblike političkog nasilja koncipiran na način da tome doprinese. Apolitična objektivnost nije bila ambicija ovog projekta koji obuhvaća razdoblje ne toliko dugo po svom trajanju, koliko bremenito temeljitim obratima i turbulencijama. U prikupljanju i oblikovanju materijala osobita pažnja je posvećena tome da ideja o vrijednosti zaštite ljudskih prava pojedinca (bez obzira u kojem kontekstu i od koga su ta prava bila ugrožena) bude prezentirana.

Kako dalje u rememoriji genocida u Bosni i Hercegovini – komunikološki aspekti

Author(s): Fahira Fejzić Čengić / Language(s): Bosnian Publication Year: 0

After a quarter of a century, the past 25 years since the genocide of Srebrenica Bosniaks will be analyzed in this text through three aspects of observing Bosnian society, the state and its citizens, and especially like-minded people - who should continuously consider how to permanently heal the open wounds of postgenocidal the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first aspect concerns the evident division in the international community - the so-called of the civilized world to those who condemn genocide and the so-called an insidious world that denies it even after the final judgments of the International Court of Justice in The Hague; the second aspect is the division within Bosniaks into those who, as survivors of genocide, suffer the terror of the usurpation of basic human rights and those non-Bosniaks for whom every remembrance of war suffering is a terror of remembrance. Finally, the third division arises on the ideas and practices of how to proceed in the entity of Republic of Srpska and Srebrenica and Bosnia and those who ruthlessly flee from any such thought. All three circles, all three envelopes are especially important how to place them in the educational system, in home education, in personal understanding and socialization. There is no doubt that all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and intellectuals in particular, are responsible and that some jobs are well done. But the year 2020 just showed how irresponsible and lost it is in this group of people.

Pregled institucionalizacije kulture sjećanja u Kanadi

Author(s): Emir Ramić / Language(s): Bosnian Publication Year: 0

Živimo u vremenu sve većeg kršenja ljudskih sloboda i prava, s težnjom da se ona urede i normiraju brojnim i raznovrsnim zakonima, a evidentno je i sve prisutnije njihovo kršenje na najbrutalniji način kroz počinjene brojne oblike zločina protiv čovječnosti i međunarodnog prava. Iz ovoga je više nego jasno da su izvori i subjekti, kako ugrožavanja tako i ugroženih, sve brojniji i raznovrsniji, što se vezuje za ostvarivanje osnovnih ljudskih, civilizacijskih i kulturnih potreba, kao što su potrebe za identifikacijom, pripadanjem i zaštitom od ugrožavanja. To se manifestira kao univerzalni ljudski i društveni problem, koji je i društveno i naučno značajan. [...]

May 9 (Victory Day) Commemorations in Georgia

Author(s): Ketevan Chachava / Language(s): English Publication Year: 0

Every May 8, European, North American, and many other countries around the world celebrate Victory in Europe Day (known as VE Day). For millions of people living in the West, VE Day has a special meaning, symbolising the historic victory over Nazi Germany and an end to nearly six years of a brutal war. On this day, various celebratory events are held to mark the occasion, including parades, memorial services, and street celebrations.

NA PUTU OD AVNOJ-A DO ZAVNOBIH-a, HISTORIJSKA MJESTA I DINAMIKA SJEĆANJA

Author(s): Jasna Pašić / Language(s): Croatian Publication Year: 0

The historical decisions made at the assembly of AVNOJ and ZAVNOBIH, regardless of the socio-political context of their interpretation, represent permanent values of anti-fascist voices from Bosnia and Herzegovina at the midst of World War II. These were the steps that preserved the inner being of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the connection of its all centuries old symbols. The dynamics of memories and public perception of significant dates have been altered due to changes in the value of the political framework in the socialist and post-socialist period. In the case of AVNOJ and ZAVNOBIH, different treatment of events can be seen related to state holidays. The Yugoslav culture of memory included all segments of society, in order to shape the formative forces of the desired articulation of remembrance. The historical places are shaped in places of memory, in which deep symbolic connections. Such is an example can be followed Bihać, Mrkonjić-Grad and Jajce, as well as the events which have been organized for the purpouse of among anniversaries in these cities. State holidays and commemorative dates were in the crisis during the time dissolution of Yugoslavia and in clash of overall legacy of communism. In the period of democratic changes, the coarse selection, partial or complete rejection and denial has occurred. AVNOJ’s current socio-political context has become completely useless, while ZAVNOBIH has been perceived in three ways in the 1990s in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ethnic divisions after the Dayton Peace Agreement have resulted in the relativization and denial of anti-fascist legacy and the identity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The public monuments and spaces related to this were abused in order to deepen the national divisions and disrupt the idea of equality of citizens and nations, which was achieved 75 years ago. In this case, it is not just about transforming memories, but about undermining universal civilizational values in order to strengthen nationalisms. Such a relationship to the AVNOJ and ZAVNOBIH and their significance for Bosnia and Herzegovina points to a serious crisis of democratic values.

Sociální konstrukce paměti

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Czech Publication Year: 0

V moderním světě plyne čas vpřed, linearita nahradila tradiční cykličnost. My, lidé moderního světa, vnímáme uplynulé události jako děje jednou provždy minulé. To, co se již stalo, nelze změnit ani zopakovat. Na události, které pominuly, můžeme už jen vzpomínat a tyto vzpomínky konzervovat, glorifikovat nebo tabuizovat. Vzpomínka ale není nic samo o sobě existujícího, musí nejprve vzniknout v procesu vzpomínání, který potřebuje kromě vypravěče postavu posluchače a alespoň základní shodu na hodnotě vzpomínání pro všechny přítomné. Každá privátní vzpomínka má také potenciál stát se pamětí jako pochopitelnou a významnou kulturní formou. Pro pochopení toho, jakým způsobem a za jakých okolností se z před paměťové podoby vzpomínek paměť vytváří, nebo také nevytvoří, je dobrou ilustrací výrok manželky jednoho ze zde představených pamětníků. Když se náhodou ocitla v situaci vypravěčky, protože její muž se opozdil v pří chodu domů, odvětila: „Můj příběh není zajímavý.“ Jiní lidé naopak automaticky v určitém momentu svého života začnou s vědomím toho, že jejich příběh zajímavý je, sepisovat paměti. Některé „osobnosti“ jsou dokonce přímo osloveny spisovateli a nakladateli, kteří se začnou předhánět, kdo první vydá jejich pravé, autorizované paměti. Neustále tak probíhá konstrukce významných osobností a protěžovaných společenských hodnot skrze paměťovou práci, nebo naopak marginalizace paměti (Sidiropulu Janků 2013).

Prisjećanje rame uz rame: transformiranje odnosa pričanjem priča

Author(s): Edita Čolo Zahirović / Language(s): Bosnian Publication Year: 0

Duboke etničke podjele i negativni historijski narativi – dodatno osnaženi institucionalnim okvirima politika – i dalje koče proces pomirenja u Bosni i Hercegovini (BiH). Lične i kolektivne traume obično se transformiraju u prepričavanje historijskih narativa i koriste za intenziviranje osjećaja neprijateljstva prema “drugima” i želje za osvetom, ometajući tako procese zacjeljivanja i društvene obnove. Snažna kultura poricanja i neprihvatanja narativa onih drugih svakodnevna je pojava, a prate je etničke i vjerske podjele, potpirivanje nesigurnosti i sve veće prijetnje budućim sukobima. Prisutna je i na individualnom i na kolektivnom nivou, jačajući tako redovnu politiku usmjerenu protiv onih “drugih.” U obrazovnim planovima i programima se izostavljaju perspektive različitih etničkih i vjerskih grupa, a historija iz devedesetih godina još uvijek nije pronašla put do školskih udžbenika (vidi dio autorice Jeftić u ovom zborniku). Uz sve ovo su prisutni siromaštvo i slab ekonomski razvoj što doprinosi stvaranju okruženja koje njeguje kulturu nasilja, umjesto nenasilja i prosperiteta. Takva atmosfera prožima društveni život, ali istovremeno otkriva višestruke oblasti za intervenciju, njene brojne izvršitelje i različite vrste u dinamičnom procesu društvene promjene (npr. Kreisberg 1991; Senehi 2002). Uprkos brojnim strukturnim i infrastrukturnim projektima kojima su ponovo izgrađene državne institucije i domovi te poboljšani uslovi za povratnike/ce, proces društvene obnove u BiH je propao što ukazuje na potrebu za različitim intervencijama u cilju pružanja novih mogućnosti za pozitivnu transformaciju. Catholic Relief Services (CRS), u partnerstvu sa organizacijom Caritas Bosne i Hercegovine, je prepoznao potrebu za interveniranjem i osmislio projekat Choosing Peace Together (Izaberimo mir zajedno – CPT) koji je finansirala Američka agencija za međunarodni razvoj (USAID) od 2009. do 2013. godine.

OPĆI PRISTUP PROBLEMU AGRESIJE NA REPUBLIKU BOSNU I HERCEGOVINU

Author(s): Ermin Kuka,Almir Grabovica / Language(s): Bosnian Publication Year: 0

In the period 1992‒1995, the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was subjected to a classic armed aggression by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) and the Republic of Croatia. This was the aggression of colossal extent, which was followed by the commission of a numerous mass and individual crimes, primarily against Bosniacs. To scientifically study the aggression against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina is extremely complex and demanding scientific and methodological task. The mere aggression is an empiric fact, which requires a scientific approach to the aggression, both in terms of theoretical and the empiric position. The aggression against the Republic. Of Bosnia and Herzegovina was systematically prepared, and to the smallest detail, as well as planned and organized, which included the political and military leadership of the neighboring country, as well as their supporters in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (political and military leadership of the self proclaimed Serb Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina). Also, the role of the academic, cultural, and other circles cannot be disregarded, as they had the task to prepare ideological foundation and basis for the execution of the aggression. Serbian Academy of Science and Arts (SANU) can be particularly singled out in this regard with their Memorandum from 1986. All these listed actors became the basis for the advocacy and execution of the great-Serbian ideology and policy which in practical terms meant creation of ethnically cleansed Serbian territories, that is the creation of the so-called great Serbia. This fascistic and genocidal ideology could not have been implemented without the commission crimes, including the crime of genocide. Due to the complexity of circumstances, context, and the extent of the mere aggression against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the general approach to this problem requires primarily a scientific approach based on knowledge and findings of the contemporary methodology of the social studies, through the implementation of the contemporary methods and techniques of the scientific study.

Геноцидът над тракийските българи и опитите на българската държава да защити етнорелигиозните и имуществените права на българското малцинство в Турция и Гърция

Author(s): Petar Yordanov Nenkov / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Publication Year: 0

The destruction of the Thracian Bulgarians in 1913 was genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Bulgarian population in the southern part of the region of Thrace during and soon after the Inter-Allied War. It was carried out by the regular army of the Ottoman army and the bashibozuka. The affected areas in which genocide is being committed against the Thracian Bulgarians include Eastern (Odrina) Thrace and Western (White Sea) Thrace.

Фабрикуването на „помашки етнос“ и евентуалната ревизия на Лозанския мирен договор

Author(s): Georgi Stefkov Kulov / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Publication Year: 0

Fabricating a „Pomak ethnicity“ is crucial for keeping the state borders set by the Lausanne Peace Treaty and certain Balkan states have been making efforts to assimilate the Bulgarian Muslims within their territories by grouping them into a „Pomak ethnic group“, thus preventing any possibilities for them identifying as Bulgarians.

DR. FRANJO TUĐMAN IZMEĐU POLITIKE I POVIJESTI: POVIJESNA PREDODŽBA O HRVATSTVU I JUGOSLAVENSTVU, SLAVENSTVU I INTERNACIONALIZMU

Author(s): Nikša Stančić / Language(s): Croatian Publication Year: 0

Croatian history and the changes of Croatia’s political position in the tides of European history, in particular in the 19th and 20th centuries, were in the focus of Franjo Tuđman’s historical research, wherein he paid special attention to political ideas and programs in the period that had shaped the identity of the modern Croatian nation and the program of its political independence, the period in which different variants of pan-Slavism and the ideas about Southern Slavic/ Illyric/ Yugoslav unity had played an important role in the formation of political programs and their implementation both in Croatia’s political forces and the political forces in Croatia’s immediate environment. He noted the continuity of Croatia’s struggles for a higher level of independence in multinational states, first in the Habsburg Monarchy, and later in Yugoslavia, and felt that the different variants of pan-Slavism and idea about Southern Slavic unity in Croatian politics had emerged from the political position of the Croatian territories in individual periods or from political situations (political dividedness and exposure to denationalization attempts in the Habsburg Monarchy, danger of the Croatian territory being divided at the time of World War I, and so on). On the other hand, Tuđman observed how these ideas were used for imperial purposes, for instance, how pan-Slavism was used in the service of Russian imperial politics, and how the idea about the unity of Southern Slavs was used to implement the program of Great-Serbian hegemony. He tracked the continuity of the existence and the political implementation of different forms of pan-Slavism and South-Slavic ideas to the time when he wrote his research papers, mostly the 1960s, a period in which Croatia was a part of the Social Federalist Republic of Yugoslavia, and the world was in the middle of the Cold War between two social, political, and military blocks. Tuđman felt that both the Universalist idea about world integration on the foundations of modern technological accomplishments, advocated by «Western democracies», and the Soviet insistence on socialist internationalism and limited sovereignty of the socialist countries were manifestations of imperial goals at the expense of small and dependent nations. He contrasted these two ideas with the activities of the Nonaligned Movement and the idea about coexistence in a world divided into blocks, the activities of the United Nations, the process of colonial territories establishing their national independence, and the headway of the idea about a united Europe, which he felt to be Europe’s way of distancing itself from both the United States and the USSR.

FRANJO TUĐMAN I SAMOODREĐENJE NARODA

Author(s): Albert Bing / Language(s): Croatian Publication Year: 0

Franjo Tuđman, the first president of the Croatian independent state, was the central figure of Croatian politics in the 1990s. His personal views on politics and his intellectual preoccupations, characterized by strong influences of historicism (as defined by K. Popper), had the decisive influence on all important aspects of Croatian politics and social life in the period of the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the constitution of the Croatian state. In this historical context, the process of Croatia’s positioning in the international community was closely tied with the problem of articulating the legitimacy and legality of Croatian demands for national independence. The problem of self-determination of peoples surfaced in the argumentation of Croatia’s position and the position of other successors of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. As it had been the case at the time of Yugoslavia’s establishment, the self-determination of peoples became the subject of political, legal, historical, and other debates in which different understandings and interpretations of this principle surfaced. This article considers and analyzes individual aspects of Tuđman’s views and of his political articulation of the idea about the self-determination of peoples in this context. The article is a part of a broader study that discusses the self-determination of peoples in the context of the establishment and disintegration of the Yugoslav state.

PRVI HRVATSKI PREDSJEDNIK DR. FRANJO TUĐMAN O JUGOSLAVENSKOM PREDSJEDNIKU JOSIPU BROZU TITU

Author(s): Nikica Barić / Language(s): Croatian Publication Year: 0

Based on his speeches and other statements, the article analyzes Croatian president’s Franjo Tuđman’s views about the Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito. We many conclude that Tuđman’s opinions about Tito had been for the most part positive, occasionally encroaching on noncritical apologia of the communist Yugoslavia’s former leader. We may also conclude that Tuđman’s partialness to Tito was, among other reasons, motivated by the fact that Tuđman had been a part of Tito’s Partisan movement in his young days, and that he had later been a member of the Yugoslavian communist nomenclature. To give a better illustration of Tuđman’s interpretation of Tito, the article also describes Tuđman’s insistence on the politics of national reconciliation of the Croatian people, with which he planned to overcome the ideological differences between Croats stemming from the events of World War II.

FRANJO TUĐMAN I ISTRA

Author(s): Nevio Šetić / Language(s): Croatian Publication Year: 0

The author discusses Franjo Tuđman’s contribution to the analysis and understanding of historical and political processes and events that took place in the Croatian national territory in the 19th and 20th centuries. He describes the particularity of the Croatian national question and the Croatian national integration process, the understanding of the antifascist and national liberation movement, and the fundamental human and national values and the right of the Croatian nation to self-determination and independence, nationwide and in the Istrian region alike. As a historian, Franjo Tuđman had not studied Istrian history directly, but he addressed it within his studies of the recent Croatian, Southern Slavic, and European history. The article also discusses Franjo Tuđman’s conduct towards Istria and its residents in the capacity of the President of the Republic of Croatia and the President of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) based on an analysis of the reports published in the local daily Glas Istre and four speeches Tuđman had delivered in Istria at the beginning of the 1990s, as well as looks into the political views of the Istrian Democratic Assembly’s (IDS) elite on Franjo Tuđman and the politics of the Croatian Democratic Union, at whose helm he had been.