Remembering the “Victims of Fascist Terror” in the Socialist Republic of Croatia, 1970–1990

Abstract

Abstract:The Communist Party of Yugoslavia regarded the interpretation and the commemoration of World War II as one of the most important pillars of the ideology of “brotherhood and unity” and the socialist revolution. Accordingly, the issues of the civil war and the nationality and ethnic identity of the perpetrators and victims were suppressed. The article examines war memorials in the Yugoslav Federal Republic of Croatia to show that following the sociopolitical changes that occurred from the mid-1960s, these previously evaded issues became more prominent in public life and began to jeopardize the official policy of remembrance.