Dr Katarina Damčević (seeFField visiting fellow) will give a talk on
“Ready for the Homeland? The Case of the HOS Memorial Plaque“
Time: 2-4 pm
Venue: University Regensburg, H24, Vielberth-Gebäude
Abstract: The war of symbols and the rise of nationalistically fuelled hate speech have become prominent in contemporary Croatia and are predominantly reflected through the presence of Ustaša insignia. While legacies of WWII and the Homeland War have triggered debates on multiple occasions in the past, a case from 2016 even briefly threatened to topple the government. Namely, on 5 November 2016 right-wing politicians and veterans of the paramilitary unit of the Croatian Defense Forces erected a memorial plaque to eleven fallen comrades near the Jasenovac Concentration Camp Memorial Site. The plaque included the Ustaša salute Za dom spremni and triggered a local and international backlash that led to an almost year-long debate among the political leadership in Croatia. This presentation aims to place the case of the memorial plaque in a wider meaning-making framework and outline some of the main tendencies that served to reinforce and preserve the established meanings surrounding the 1990s Homeland War.
Snacken with Balkans Snacks