From Martyrs to Planetary Croats

After the collapse of the fascist Independent State of Croatia (1941-1945), the most important contingent of political emigrants - about ten thousand people - found refuge in Perón's Argentina. This study presents the history of this emigrant community from its beginnings to the present day.
The traumas of military defeat, the loss of an independent state, the post-war murders and forced migration initially formed the community's identity. Over time, however, this Croatian diaspora also managed to reconfigure itself in the context of Western politics during the Cold War as victims of communism and Yugoslavia, and finally as democrats. For 45 years, this Argentinian community felt itself to be the active guardian of Croatian freedom. However, with the advent of independent Croatia in 1991, they found themselves faced with a disconcerting choice: whether to be Croats in the diaspora or Croats in the independent homeland.
Extensive archival research, supplemented by oral testimony, helped Nikolina Zidek identify instruments of intergenerational memory transmission between the first emigrant group in Argentina and their children and grandchildren, who share an identity rooted in traumatic history. She pieces together the puzzle of how a community that cherished its memory of the past became "planetary Croats" using new tools such as social media to connect with like-minded Croats in the homeland and around the world.

Nikolina Zidek is Adjunct Professor at IE School of Politics, Economics, and Global Affairs.