Balcanica 2010 Issue 41, Pages: 185-208
https://doi.org/10.2298/BALC1041185B
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Serbs in Croatia (1918-1929): Between the myth of “Greater-Serbian Hegemony” and social reality
Božić Sofija (Institute for the Recent History of Serbia, Belgrade)
The situation of the Serbian community in Croatia in the years following the
1918 unification has been analyzed in order to test whether the clichéd view
of Croatia and Croats as having been endangered and exploited had any impact
on the status of the Serbian community and, if it did, in what way. Although
the topic is far from being exhausted in this contribution, the examples
given suggest that the two nations in Croatia were deeply divided. The
sources studied cast quite a different light on the thesis that Croats were
“oppressed” by Serbs, a thesis that has for quite a long time been passing as
a valid historical interpretation in historiography. These sources suggest
that the perception of Serbs as hegemony-minded resulted from propaganda
rather than from the actual state of affairs. Besides, they show that the
Serbs - systematically portrayed to the Croatian public as invaders and
enslavers, while, by contrast, they saw themselves as being “third-rate
citizens” - lived their daily lives under strain, surrounded by intolerance,
subjected to various forms of pressure and violence, often fearing for their
livelihoods, even for their lives. The inexorable logic of facts leads to the
conclusion that members of the Serbian community in Croatia felt
discriminated against and not quite safe.
Keywords: Kingdom of SCS/Yugoslavia, Serbs, Croatia, ethnic relations, political ideologies, society