engleski

Verifying a New Fascist Regime through Spectacular Diplomatic Gifting – the Case of Independent State of Croatia

While the praxis of exchanging diplomatic gifts has been in the core of the diplomatic praxis since ancient times, it was the Nazi and Fascist administration that expanded, rationalized and systematized it. An elaborate system of gifts and counter-gifts in which the balance of power and control is reflected, was publicly demonstrated as a series of spectacular manifestation. In this paper we examine the exchange of diplomatic gifts between fascist regimes of the Independent State of Croatia (1941-1945) and its respective ‘patron states’. Based on the primary documents, published press information, and newsreel series regularly released in German, Italian and Croatian cinemas of that period (Die Deutsche Wochenschau, Giornale Luce, Hrvatski slikopis), we analyze the type of the objects chosen to be gifted, the ceremonial staging of the acts of exchange, and the ways the public was informed about those spectacular displays. Special emphasis is given to the cultural objects taken from the public museum collections (i.e. historical military flag and/or antique weapons) to serve the purpose of the diplomatic gift, and/or to luxury objects (i.e. the limited edition Mercedes Benz) which afterwards became museum objects. Our final goal is to examine their role as symbolic capital in the pompous legitimatization of the NDH (Independent State of Croatia) regime and its alliance to the German Reich and to Fascist Italy.

diplomatic gift-giving, transfer of cultural objects, WWII

Research for this paper has been carried out in the framework of the HERA project 15.080 TransCultAA (www.transcultaa.eu). This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 649307.