Papers by Ljiljana Dobrovsak
Faces of Populism in Central and South-Eastern Europe, edited by Haris Dajč and Natasza Styczyńska , 2023
This chapter is focused on the encounter of nationalism and populism or precisely right-wing popu... more This chapter is focused on the encounter of nationalism and populism or precisely right-wing populism in the political life of Croatia in the 21st century. In this analysis, we first rely on the results of our content analysis and critical discourse analysis of Croatian parties’/movements’ discourses from the fall of the Berlin wall to the 21st century, which we compare with the later period (2000–2020). Based on a critical assessment of neglecting right-wing populism in the recent research of Croatian social scientists who use the method of content analysis and focus only on election periods, we will re-examine and fulfil their analysis with a historical insight of the political narrative that deals with nationalism. In this chapter, special attention will be put on the Homeland Movement/HM (Domovinski pokret) and the initiative ‘On the Behalf of the Family’/OBF (U ime obitelji).
Working Paper No. 11 as a part of the project Horizon 2020: POPREBEL Working Paper series POPREBE... more Working Paper No. 11 as a part of the project Horizon 2020: POPREBEL Working Paper series POPREBEL (Populist rebellion against modernity in 21st-century Eastern Europe: neo-traditionalism and neo-feudalism) is a large Horizon 2020-funded research project on the rise of populism in Central and Eastern Europe. The aim of the project is to describe the phenomenon, create a typology of its various manifestations, reconstruct trajectories of its growth and decline, investigate its causes,interpret its meanings, diagnose its consequences and propose policy solutions. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 822682. The POPREBEL consortium comprises six universities – UCL (co-ordinating institution), University of Belgrade, Charles University, Corvinus University of Budapest, Jagiellonian University and University of Tartu – and Edgeryders, a social enterprise.
Građani Kraljevine Hrvatske i Slavonije (tada dijelu Austro-Ugarske Monarhije) morali su kao drža... more Građani Kraljevine Hrvatske i Slavonije (tada dijelu Austro-Ugarske Monarhije) morali su kao državljani zaraćene zemlje sudjelovati u ratu bez obzira na vjeroispovijest ili narodnost. Članovi koprivničke židovske zajednice sudjelovali su u austrougarskoj vojsci i u Prvom svjetskom ratu podnosili sve napore kao i drugi građani. O broju Židova koji su stradali tijekom Prvog svjetskog rata teško je govoriti jer za Hrvatsku još uvijek ne postoje opći sumarni podatci o demografskim gubitcima, pa tako ni podatci o židovskim gubitcima (stradalih u ratnim operacijama, stradalih od posljedica ranjavanja ili stradalih od epidemija zahvaćenih na ratištima). Stradali židovski vojnici uglavnom su sahranjivani u blizini mjesta pogibije, tijela su rijetko prenošena u zavičaj, a i njihova imena roditelji su rijetko upisivali na obiteljske grobnice, mada ima i tih primjera. Koliko je za sada poznato, samo su tri židovske općine u Hrvatskoj podigle skupne nadgrobne spomenike stradalim hrvatskim Židov...
Muzej Đakovštine, Dec 13, 2009
U radu se iznose neke osnovni povijesni i statisticki podaci o židovskoj zajednici u Bjelovarsko-... more U radu se iznose neke osnovni povijesni i statisticki podaci o židovskoj zajednici u Bjelovarsko-križevackoj županiji od 1857. do 1918. godine. Od 1857. do 1922. godine ime kao i granice Bjelovarsko-križevacke županije su se mijenjale (Bjelovarska, posebno Križevacka, pa Bjelovarsko-križevacka i na kraju Bjelovarsko-bilogorska županija), kao i granice unutrasnjih kotara, sto donekle otežava istraživanje, tako da ce naglasak u ovom prilogu biti na brojcanom kretanju Židova na prostoru Bjelovarsko-križevacke županije u popisima od 1880. do 1910. godine. Iako su prvi Židovi na prostoru Bjelovarsko-križevacke županije zabilježeni vrlo rano pocetkom 19. stoljeca, preciznija demografska izvjesca mogu se pratiti tek nakon 1851. odnosno 1857. godine i prvog službenog popisa. Broj Židova od pedesetih godina pa sve do 1918. godine povecavao se iz popisa u popis (1857., 1880., 1890., 1900. i 1910.) tako da je 1910. godine na podrucju Bjelovarsko-križevacke županije živjelo 2.406 Židova, najvis...
The paper deals with Jewish families that lived in the counties of Hrvatsko Zagorje: Stubica, Iva... more The paper deals with Jewish families that lived in the counties of Hrvatsko Zagorje: Stubica, Ivanec, Klanjec, Pregrada and Zlatar. Based on archival material, periodicals and published papers, first families that settled in the counties of Zagorje are mentioned, and their lives are documented until the Holocaust and their disappearance.
During the First World War Jews suffered the same as other Croatian citizens. They were mobilized... more During the First World War Jews suffered the same as other Croatian citizens. They were mobilized and sent to fight on all fronts, some died and were buried a long way from their homes, some were wounded or left permanently disabled. They effectively froze their social activities, and devoted themselves to volunteer work. At the end of the war, they were faced with many problems, impoverished (apart from a few individuals who made their fortune during the war), often the target of the “Green cadres”, whose looting and burning scared many Jews into migrating to urban centres or abroad. One of the Jews’ greatest problems was the collapse of Austria-Hungary, which left them divided among several newly-created states, which in turn forced further migrations, when the local Jews were unable to obtain Yugoslav citizenship, and were forced to either move back to their “home” countries, or migrate to other parts of Europe, or even America.
Časopis za suvremenu povijest, 2005
Radovi Zavoda za znanstveni rad Varaždin, 2017
The Alexander Family Chronicle The paper focuses on the history of Zagreb’s prominent Jewish fami... more The Alexander Family Chronicle The paper focuses on the history of Zagreb’s prominent Jewish family, the Alexanders (or Aleksanders), who were influential in the cultural, economic and social life of the city and Croatia for almost a century. At the time of their arrival in Zagreb and after the end of the First World War, they all belonged to the Jewish religious denomination; later most of them converted to Catholicism and one was an Evangelical Christian (Protestant). The Alexander family moved to Zagreb from Burgenland (Gussing) in the 1850s. Upon their arrival, they worked in commerce and were known as diligent businessmen. Soon they became respected and wealthy patrons well-known in Zagreb, Croatia and abroad. The second-generation family members were distinguished physicians, lawyers, engineers, artists, professors and businessmen. They formed marriage alliances with Zagreb’s prominent Jewish and Catholic families and socialised with the nobility, thus making acquaintances and...
Radovi Zavoda za znanstveni rad Varaždin, 2017
U članku autorica piše o kvaliteti življenja u sjeverozapadnoj Hrvatskoj koja se stoljećima mijen... more U članku autorica piše o kvaliteti življenja u sjeverozapadnoj Hrvatskoj koja se stoljećima mijenjala te je drugačija bila na selu u odnosu na grad. Sve do početka 20. stoljeća na prostoru sjeverozapadne Hrvatske vrlo se teško živjelo Na selu je vladalo siromaštvo, obitelji su bile mnogobrojne, stambene prilike ne baš povoljne, kanalizacije i vodovoda nije bilo. Poljoprivreda je bila glavno zanimanje, a ona je ovisila o klimatskim prilikama tj. neprilikama, pa je prehrana je bila jednolična i nedovoljna. Sanitarni i higijenski uvjeti bili su skoro pa nepoznati, školovanje osnovno ili nikakvo, a zdravstvena zaštita minimalna. U takvom okružju u većini seoskih sredina o kvalitetama života koje danas postoje nije se previše razmišljalo, niti govorilo. Takvo stanje, uz izuzetke, vladalo je na selu pa skoro do sredine 20. stoljeća, a negdje i kasnije. U usporedbi sa selom, nešto je drugačija kvaliteta života kod pojedinaca koji su stanovali u gradu ili većim mjestima. Niti građani o kval...
Journal of Contemporary History
Croatica Christiana Periodica, 2005
Radovi Zavoda Za Hrvatsku Povijest, Dec 1, 2011
Podravina Casopis Za Multidisciplinarna Istraživanja, Nov 1, 2004
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Papers by Ljiljana Dobrovsak
The author will speak about the erection of memorials to victims of World War I on the territory of Croatia during the war. The idea of memorials as a way of ‘honouring heroes’ appeared during the war, and for this purpose the Imperial and Royal Office for the Promotion of Crafts in Vienna (Kunstverlag Schröll und Kopm) issued a work entitled ‘Soldatengräber und Kriegsdenkmale’. It contained a series of developed blueprints for memorials and individual and mass graves, in rural or urban areas, lowlands or highlands, and made from any possible material. In 1916, a public debate developed about what kind of memorials should be erected in honour of fallen heroes. Military circles proposed classic memorials, i.e. a single memorial post or plaque for each soldier, on his native soil. They also proposed the construction of a monumental collective memorial in the centre of municipalities or villages, where every local fallen soldier would be commemorated in some small way. Civilian circles considered the proposal of individual memorials very inappropriate due to the economic conditions in the country, and advocated a completely different model – investing funds raised through various charities to erect homes for orphans of fallen soldiers. Based on her research, the author will try to determine to what extent the mentioned efforts were successful as well as the role of state institutions in erecting war memorials.
Until recently it was commonly believed that the newly-established political climate
in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, or later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, impeded
the construction of monuments and memorials to soldiers that died fighting for
Austria-Hungary. I will prove that this is a belief with little or no basis in reality. While
it is true that some of these memorials were removed from public spaces, the majority
of these were in fact erected in honor of the Emperor and King Franz Joseph, the Austro-
Hungarian state and the Austro-Hungarian army.
I have divided the remaining places of memory in Croatia into the following categories:
war cemeteries, public monuments–memorials to those that died in the war,
individual gravestones, cenotaphs, ossuaries, mausoleums, memorial plaques, photo
panels and crossroad crucifixes. War cemeteries were built next to civilian and military
hospitals throughout Croatia (e.g., at Bjelovar, Pakrac, Vukovar-Bršadin, Vinkovci,
Ilok, Požega, and Slavonski Brod). Today, the remains of these cemeteries exist only in
Zagreb, Osijek, Karlovac, Našice, Pula and Sisak. War memorials from this time can be
found in Dubrovnik, Korčula, Karlovac, Ogulin, Otočac, Sisak, Sušak and Varaždin. Most
of the monuments were later destroyed and today no longer exist.
Moreover, many of these monuments and memorials were erected after the end
of the war. They were sometimes built in public spaces, in town squares, parks or next
to parish churches, but most often appeared in local cemeteries. We have information
about some of the initiators of these projects, the circumstances in which some were
built, and the identities of some of the authors. For the most part, however, we have
no information. The majority of the monuments or memorials were crosses, sculptures,
and obelisks with lists of victims’ names, or they were simple memorials with
the inscription 1914–1918, obviously referring to the First World War. To the best of my
knowledge, memorials that were built after the war ended and that honored the war
victims include those in Zagreb, Pakrac, Dol (on Hvar), Gola, Jarmina, Varaždin, Čakovec,
Šemovci (near Virje), Đurđevac, Gospić, and Koprivnički Ivanec. The memorials
erected during the interwar period are dedicated to all victims regardless of nationality
or religion. However, there are also examples that prove this was not always the case.
For example, a cenotaph dedicated to local Germans who died in the war was erected
in Krndija (1926), while Križevci (1935), Koprivnica (1934), and Zagreb (1930) all contain
memorials to Jews who were killed in the conflict. In Križevci (1935), Koprivnica
(1934), Zagreb (1930) and Slavonski Brod (?) we find monuments to fallen Jews.
Photo panels are another form of memorial. Such panels were placed in Đakovo,
Nuštar, Vinkovci, Koprivnica and Koprivnički Ivanec. Other communities produced metal
plaques with the names of fallen parishioners and locals. Most of these were placed
on the inside walls of churches, but some were also placed on the outside (e.g., at Šestine,
Našice, Karlovac, and Varaždinske Toplice). Smaller villages and individual citizens
put up crucifixes at crossroads, usually in front of churches or in cemeteries (as seen in
Čazma, Milaševac, Bosiljevo, Dragičevci, Vučani, Dubrovčan, and Šemovci).
The neglect and even destruction of graves, cemeteries, memorials and monuments
13
from the First World War became commonplace after 1945. The restoration of the old
First World War memorials and the construction of new ones in Croatia began only a
few years ago, and such activities have mostly been related to the centenary of the war.
The topic of this presentation will be the Jews in Osijek in the late 19th century, based on the memoirs of Vilma Vukelić. Vilma Vukelić (Osijek, 1889 – Zagreb, 1956) was a Croatian writer and translator who wrote in German. She was born in the Jewish family of the economist Julius Miskolczy from Osijek. After completing primary school, she attended the Girls’ Secondary School in Osijek. She continued her education in Vienna (1893 – 1895). In 1902, she married the military officer and author Milivoj Vukelić. As a married woman and mother of four children, she studied chemistry at the Faculty of Natural Sciences in Munich in 1911. The First World War prevented her from completing her studies. She translated the works of Croatian authors and poets into German. After the end of the First World War, she first lived in Osijek, and then moved to Zagreb. She lived in Paris from 1931 till 1937. After 1937, she returned to Zagreb, where she died. Only one of her books, the novel “Die Heimatlosen” (Leipzig, 1923), about the life of the Jewish ethnic community in Hungary before the First World War, was published in her lifetime. She left behind the manuscripts of eight novels, several poems and other texts, and the autobiographical writings/memoirs “Traces of History”, which were first published in 1994. She wrote the memoirs not long after the end of the Second World War, in 1948. They were originally envisioned as a way for the author to tell her grandchildren where their roots lie, but are also a valuable source for studying family history as well as the history of the Jewish community in Osijek. In the memoirs, the author describes her life up to her marriage as well as the life of her family and other families from Osijek. The value of this book lies precisely in these descriptions since the author, through her family story, speaks about her heterogeneous identity, which was characteristic of Jews in Croatia in the late 19th century.
U izlaganju će autorica govoriti o spomenicima Franje Josipa I. ugarsko-hrvatskog kralja koji su bili postavljeni u hrvatskim gradovima tijekom njegova vladanja i nakon njegove smrti sve do propasti Monarhije. Danas u Hrvatskoj ne postoji niti jedan spomenik Franji Josipu I., ne zna koliko ih je bilo postavljeno i što se s njima dogodilo. Većina ih je po formiranju Kraljevine Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca uklonjena.
JEWISH SOLDIERS IN CROATIA DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR
As citizens of a country at war, the citizens of the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy) participated in all wartime activities during the First World War, regardless of their faith or nationality. Therefore, the Jewish community of Croatia also adapted itself to the wartime circumstances and was included in all war-related activities. Young Jewish men fit for military service were mobilised and sent to various fronts; their fathers, grandfathers and brothers were too old or declared unfit for military service financed the war through their everyday work and war bonds; their mothers, sisters, daughters and wives were active in numerous charity organisations and spent their days collecting monetary aid or food in various ways. The municipal, social and political life of the Croatian Jewish communities was frozen until mid-1917, while their religious life was limited to celebrating religious holidays. Zionist and, in part, the Jewish cultural societies ceased their activities, leaving only charities active. The number of mobilised Croatian Jews remains unknown, as does the number of their dead, since there are still no general summary data on the demographic losses of Croatia in the First World War (died in wartime operation, died of wounds, or died of epidemics which spread at the fronts). Dead Jewish soldiers were usually buried near the place of their death, leaving only a small number to be buried near their homes. Their names were only rarely inscribed on family tombs or recorded in registers of deaths. It is currently known that there were 33 Jewish municipalities in the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia on the eve of the First World War, 28 of which were included in this study (the ones which now lie on the territory of Serbia as well as the ones in Istria and Dalmatia have been left out). Only three of these have erected memorials to commemorate the Jewish soldiers who died during the First World War. In this study, the author shall strive to offer estimates of the number of Jewish soldiers who died in Croatia.
U tom razdoblju u Osijeku nastaje i židovska općina kao prvo „molitveno društvo“. Po nekim zapisima je osnovana u Gornjem gradu 1845., a po drugima dvije godine potom. No, budući da je prvi službeni zapisnik općinskoga sastanka sastavljen krajem 1849. ta se godina smatra i godinom osnutka osječke Židovske bogoštovne općine; židovska zajednica je tada imala 40 obitelji koje su plaćale porez (nema podataka koliko je to članova, vjerojatno više od 200).
Od sredine 19. stoljeća započinje uspon židovske zajednice, koja je u gradu na Dravi dobila zemljišta za groblja, organizirala vođenje matičnih knjiga i pokrenula konfesionalnu školu (1852.), dobila 1856. prvog službenog i školovanog rabina, sagradila u Gornjem gradu velebnu sinagogu (1869.) i drugo. Povećanje židovskog stanovništva i teritorijalna udaljenost Gornjega od Donjega grada utjecali su na jednu osječku posebnost, a to je osnutak 1862. još jedne, donjogradske, židovske bogoštovne općine. Sve veći porast broja židovskog stanovništva diljem Austro-Ugarske Monarhije utjecao je, na državnoj razini, donošenje niza liberalnih zakona koji su u drugoj polovici 19. stoljeća osigurali potpunu emancipaciju Židova, koji su već tada Osijek doživljavali kao svoje ognjište prihvativši dobar dio običaja sredine u kojoj su živjeli.
Budući da su općine osnovni oblik organiziranja židovskih zajednica okupljale su Židove radi molitve u sinagogama, prilikom značajnih općinskih i inih obljetnica, te komemoracija, osiguravale vjersko obrazovanje i organizirale proslave praznika, bile su i socijalne zajednice koje su vodile brigu o svojim članovima, osobito najpotrebitijima: siromašnima, udovicama, djeci bez roditelja, bolesnima, ratnim izbjeglicama, stradalima i drugima. Pripadnost općini bila je obvezna, a svaki je Židov pripadao općini na području prebivanja ili na kojem je području posjedovao ili držao u zakupu nekretnine, vodio obrt, imao trgovinu ili industrijsko poduzeće. Živjeli su u svim dijelovima grada, ali najviše je Židova bilo u Gornjem gradu. Sudjelovali su u radu više društava što je ukazivalo na snažan društveni život; bilo je mnogo glazbenih i inih aktivnosti koja su pobuđivala veliko zanimanje u gradu, čak i u nežidovskim krugovima.
Većina osječkih Židova bavila se tradicionalnim poslom – trgovinom i obrtom, a od 80-ih godina 19. stoljeća sve je više odvjetnika, liječnika, bankara, industrijalaca (posebice u prehrambenoj industriji), profesora, učitelja, graditelja i pripadnika drugih zvanja. U njihovim obiteljima – trgovačkim, obrtničkim, bankarskim te obiteljima industrijalaca i intelektualaca, među pripadnicima srednjih i nižih slojeva (sitni obrtnici, niži činovnici, tipografski, tekstilni i ini radnici, poljodjelci, nadničari i drugi) – govorilo se ne samo hrvatskim jezikom, nego i njemačkim, tzv. esekerskim, mađarskim i drugim jezicima, već odakle su se „novi Osječani“ doseljavali u grad na Dravi radi posla ili drugih razloga. Pri tome značenje Židova u povijesti Osijeka jačala je usporedo s mogućnostima koje su im se pružale u multinacionalnoj zajednici u kojoj su živjeli. Ukorijenjeni u gospodarski, kulturni, društveni i ini život grada utkali su do Prvoga svjetskog rata, a i u desetljećima potom, i svoj golem doprinos sveukupnom životu Osijeka, a on će nakratko biti zaustavljen od 1914. do 1918. u ratnoj europskoj i svjetskoj oluji i potom ih usmjeriti u vrijeme gospodarske nestabilnosti, oskudice i društvenog previranja unutar granica nove države Kraljevine SHS, odnosno Kraljevine Jugoslavije što je utjecalo na velike i brojne promjene, posebice u gospodarstvu i Židovi u Osijeku našli su se u posve novim prilikama zbog prekida snažnih veza s mnogo većim židovskim zajednicama u nekadašnjim austro-ugarskim pokrajinama.
Međutim, u godinama i desetljećima koji će slijediti značenje Židova u povijesti grada na Dravi jačalo je usporedo s mogućnostima koje su im se pružale u multinacionalnoj zajednici u kojoj su živjeli. Ukorijenjeni u gospodarski, kulturni, društveni i ini život grada i nadalje su tkali svoj doprinos u sveukupnom životu Osijeka.