Identity and Conflict in the Balkans

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Identity and Conflict in the Balkans

• Third Week, Tuesday

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Announcements

• News
• Death of Ibrahim Rugova

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The Bigger Picture
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Former Yugoslavia

• Croatia
• Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Serbia Kosovo, Vojvodina
• Montenegro
• Macedonia
• Slovenia

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Film on Balkan Wars

• Slovenia, then Croatia declare independence
• Serbia (as Yugoslavia) reacts
• Croatia and Serbia attack Bosnia
• Bosnian Muslims and Croats join Croatia against
  Serbia
• Dayton Accords in 1995

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Principal Events of War

• Rout in Slovenia
• Destruction of Vukovar, Croatia
• Siege of Sarajevo, Bosnia
• Massacres (e.g., Srebenica)
• Dayton Accords

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Principal features

• Brutal violence
• Ethnic cleansing
• Sex camps in Bosnia
• UN indecision, ineffectiveness

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Divided Bosnia
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Croatia (and Kaplan)
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Balkan Ghosts Croatia today

• Zagreb
• Old City, Esplanade Hotel, Cathedral, St. Marko
  Church

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St. Marko Church, Old City
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Croatia Zagreb (Chapter 1)

• Religion and ethnic identity
• Croats vs. Serbs
• Catholics vs. Orthodox
• Rome vs. Constantinople
• Little differences strong antipathies

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Croatia Part of the Balkans?

• Feeling of superiority to Serbs
• Connections with Western Europe
• Proximity to Austria, Italy
• Roman Catholic ties
• Myth-based kinship?

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Early History Slav settlements in Balkans

• Slavs in the west peninsula (6th-7th c.)
• Independent kingdom (early 10th)
• King Tomislav Croat State
• Hungarian rule (late 11th)
• Alliance with western powers, Roman Catholicism

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Attitudes today

• Orthodoxy, Muslim Turks the East
• Habsburgs, Austro-Hungarian Empire the West
• We are part of the West

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Mutual resentments

• For Croats Serb rule in post-WWII age
• For Serbs Croats blamed for treatment of Serbs
  after WWI
• Assassination of King Alexander Karageorgevich
  (hero to Serbs)
• Crimes of Ustashe against Serbs
• Mistreatment of Croatian Serbs (from nationalist
  zeal)

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Accusations?

• Forced conversions
• Willing complicity with Hitlers goals

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Kaplan to the Croats Historical Choices

• Fr. Strossmayer (tolerance)
• Fr. Stepinac (nationalism)

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Religion Early Heroes

• Cyril and Methodius (9th century)
• Missionaries from Salonika
• Translations into (Old Church) Slavic
• New alphabet (Glagolitic)
• Major figures for Croats and Serbs

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Split in Christianity 1056

• Rome vs. Constantinople
• Catholicism vs Orthodoxy
• Croat alliances with Catholic countries

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Bishop Strossmayer (1815-1905)

• Voice (of the past) promoting harmony
• Conflict with Habsburg Empire
• Conflict with Vatican
• Secular spirit
• Urged tolerance for Serbs, for Eastern Orthodoxy

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Religion as Divisive Force During WWII

• Archbishop Stepinac
• Croat nationalism
• Piety dogmatism
• Religious zeal

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Stepinac Broader Questions

• Complicity of Vatican in WWII atrocities
• Hatred of Communism as justification for anything

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Fascist connections

• Collaboration with Nazis, Ustashe
• Tito equilibrium between groups, but nothing
  forgotten

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Outcomes Today

• Stepinac a symbol for Croatian identity,
  independence
• Martyrdom at hands of Tito
• Elevation in Catholic hierarchy
• Beatification by John Paul II in 1998
• John Paul II visited Croatia three times 1994,
  1998, 2003

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Another Wound Jasenovac
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Serbs, Roma
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Beginnings

• Germany and its Axis allies invaded Yugoslavia in
  April 1941
• Nazis permitted Ustaa organization to found
  Independent State of Croatia.
• Ustaa regime establishes numerous concentration
  camps in Croatia between 1941 and 1945
• The largest was the Jasenovac complex
• Number killed is big issue

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WWII Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia Issues

• Culpability (who, to what degree, supported Nazi
  Germany)
• Who was responsible for purges (Serbs, Gypsies,
  Jews)?

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Groups

• Role of Cetniks (Chetniks) (Serb monarchists)
• Role of Ustae (Ustashe, Ustasha) (Nationalists)
• Role of Partisans (Communists)
• Roles of Father Stepinac, Tito

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After the War

• The Federal Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia,
  1945-90
• Six republics, two autonomous regions
• Nationalities related to ethnic origins
• Serbs, Croats, Macedonians, Slovenians,
  Montenegrins, and Muslims
• Two autonomous regions, Vojvodina (Hungarian
  links) and Kosovo (Albanian links)

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Tito (Josip Broz) 1892-1980
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Biography

• Croat CP work after WWI
• Imprisoned 1928-34
• Formed Yugoslav Partisan force against Germans
  and Croatian allies
• Also fought against Serbian Cetniks
• Took control of country after WWII

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Post-war years

• For, then against Stalin
• Alternative Marxism, nonalignment movement
• President for life in 1974
• Associated with nonalignment during Cold War,
  communist pluralism
• Responsibility for civil war in 90s?
• Repressed Albanians
• Encouraged Serb nationalism

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Issues lingering today

• WWII relationship with Nazi Germany
• Ustashe collaboration with Nazis under Pavelic
• Who did what then?
• Communism under Tito equilibrium, but

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Albanian Blood Feuds

• Mountain peoples
• Generational chains of violence
• Not just the Balkans
• White Faces asking sincere forgiveness
• Breaking the cycle

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History

• Importance of WWII
• Nazi occupation
• Ustashe
• Jesenovac massacre
• Importance of Tito
• Post-Tito developments