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The Croatian Trauma of Communism: An Example of the Struggle to Maintain National Identity

The first period of communist power was characterized with violent methods of repressive authorities and an open struggle against the Church as an ideological enemy. Although the pressure slightly subsided upon signing the agreement with the Vatican in 1966., that did not mean the state completely gave up its determination. It carried on with a somewhat more subtle methods to compromise the Church in the eyes of its congregation and the international public. Although left with a modest space for acting in public, the Church in Croatia found a way to adjust. It promoted the freedom of religious expression, freedom to choose by one’s own conscious and the freedom of all nations to their own identity. The Church did not only carry religious, but national identity and unity, at the same time avoiding its actions to be politically instrumentalized. Its engagement in promoting societal pluralism as an instrument of resolving conflict was based on the concept of fairness. As an only organization that managed to keep its independence from the state, it served as a moral pillar for solidarity and support to the process of democratization of society. Upon Croatia gaining its national independence, the Church called out for reconciliation and renewing of the society on the basis of peace and justice, condemning all forms of violence. With time passing since the fall of communist regime and the Croatian War of Independence, many other topics are prevailing over the past, especially among the youth. New, liberated position the Church found itself in, opened new areas for it to act within, but also shaped some new challenges to respond to.

Catholic Church, Communism, Yugoslavia, Croatia, Trauma of Communism, National Identity

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