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From Valjevo to Asinara: An Autobiographical Perspective by Gabro Cvitanović, a Croatian Military Chaplain in the Army of Austria-Hungary (1914–1918)

Gabro or Gabrijel (born: Jure) Cvitanović (Baška Voda near Makarska, 1887 – Zagreb, 1955) was one of the prominent Franciscan monks of Croatian origin. Born in a humble family, he studied philosophy and teology in Šibenik, Zaostrog and Makarska, becoming a priest in 1911. Following a doctoral study of church history in Munich, which was for a time interrupted by the First World War (being mobilized in the army of Austria-Hungary and captured by the Serbian army already in December 1914), he had been a lecturer on the Makarska School of Theology (1920–1944) and the Zagreb Faculty of Theology (1947–1953). Apart from a doctoral thesis on the French rule in Dalmatia, he published more than 150 contributions in various peridicals. However, his writings on the First World War were published only posthumuosly, in 1984, being in fact a single example of its kind in Croatia to be published in the whole 1942–2001 period, for the most part because of the unfavourable political circumstances. Following a brief introduction into these matters, the author will analyze the way Cvitanović has transformed a concise day-to-day diary into a 75 pages memoirs. After that, a short survey of his itinerary is going to be given (military hospital of Valjevo, a prisoner of war in Niš, retreat to the Adriatic coast), while most of the attention will be given to the remaining 42 pages concerning his experiences in the Asinara island prisoner’s camp (December 1915 – May 1918). Where possible, Cvitanović’s general attitudes on the causes and meaning of war, on the human suffering and other war-induced behaviour (he witnessed both hate and solidarity independent of the belligerent party) will also be presented and compared with other sources, hopefully to be further elaborated through discussion.

First World War, diary, autobiography, Austria-Hungary, prisoners of war, prisoner camp, Asinara, Serbia, Albania, Sardinia, Italy, Valjevo

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