Conference Myths in south-eastern European textbooks 22-24 October 2014, Tirana Myths in south-eastern European textbooks

Internet material

http://www.novamakedonija.com.mk/NewsDetal.asp?vest=91710954511&id=9&setIzdanie=22085

http://peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/MK_950913_Interim%20Accord%20between%20the%20Hellenic%20Republic%20and%20the%20FYROM.pdf

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/02/15/macedonia-violent-inter-ethnic-incident-on-skopje-fortress/

Myths of statehood in post-Yugoslav textbooks

Jovana Mihajlović Trbovc

Tamara Pavasovic Trost
Jovana Mihajlović Trbovc, M.A., Ph.D. Candidate

Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

[e-mail]
and

Tamara Pavasovic Trost, Ph.D.

University of Graz, Austria

[e-mail]

Paper proposal for the conference “Myths in south-eastern European textbooks”, 22-24 October, Tirana

This paper will present the ways in which foundation of post-Yugoslav states is narrated in the contemporary history textbooks used in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia. Further, the paper will compare the meta-narratives about the dissolution of Yugoslavia within which these particular narratives are situated. Even in cases where multiple textbooks are used in a state (or entity within BiH), they follow the main narrative line typical for that state/entity.

Majority of international historiography about Yugoslav dissolution presents emergence of the new states as a result of various social and international processes, ranging from economic crisis in late SFRY to the emerging post-Cold War international setting. Quite contrary, the local history-textbooks tend to present the disintegration of the old common and proclamation of the new independent states in terms of realisation of (imagined) national interests.

Each of these (mutually conflicting) national narratives strives to legitimise the creation of the own state as rightful, based on popular will and democratic. For this purpose the history textbooks often avoid mentioning particular historical facts that would endanger the coherence of the narrative, hence, by the rule they silence the voice of the political opposition. Their common trait is to present the decisions of the political leaders (“fathers of the nations”) as the only legitimate solution in given time. In addition, these national narratives usually invoke continuity of the present state with some previous political formation that existed at some point during the centuries of convoluted history of the region. In this way the textbook create exclusivist interpretation of history which disables multi-perspective approach which is recommended by the contemporary trends in history teaching. Therefore this paper will demonstrate how the complex and contingent historical events are mythicized in order to serve the purpose of nation-building.

The Impact of the Political Context on Croatian Heroic Mythology

Igor Despot, PhD

Introduction

In Croatian historiography and consequently in school textbooks there are some essential defining moments in the understanding and interpretation of Croatian past. The first phase, from the second half of the 19th century to 1945, romanticized the Croatian political people - nobility and regardered as heroes successful fighters against the Turks (Nikola Šubić Zrinski) or those who have resisted the Austrian (Zrinski- Frankapan conspiracy) or the Hungarian authorities (Josip Jelačić). Commoners could not enter into those heroic narratives, although authors begun to write about Peasant Revolt of 1573 since the mid 19th century. Since 1945 and the victory of the socialist revolution, perspectives on the Croatian history were significantly altered. Social relations were explored in accordance with Marxist historiography and people that had hitherto been disdained as uninteresting (serfs, peasants) came in the focus of historians. There were many books that addressed the revolts of peasants against their feudal lords (heroes from the earlier period of historiography). Matija Gubac, one of the leaders of the rebellion 1573 against Franjo Tahy, feudal lord of Susedgrad-Stubica seigniory, has become widely known. Many schools were named after him, his memorial had been visited by generations of elementary school pupils. Matija Gubec was not the only rebel who became a hero in socialism. Famous were also Matija Ivanić and Hvar Rebellion and peasant revolts in the Zagreb surroundings. The nobles led by Gašpar Alapić, who defeated the army of peasants in the Peasant Revolt of 1573, despite the fact that they had fought against the Turks, became the bad guys. Monument of Ban Josip Jelačić, the former hero and fighter against Hungarians 1848, was removed from the central square in Zagreb and the square was 1945 renamed to Republic Square. Since 1989 and restoration of multi-party system, a partial return to the glorification of Croatian nobility has began. Jelačić monument was returned to Zagreb's central square, which has since been called the Ban Jelačić Square; Matija Gubec and social rebellions are presented in textbooks in just a few lines, or are completely thrown out, the number of visits to the memorial area dedicated to Matija Gubec has declined. Literature is again full of heroic resistance against Turkish invaders, and many amateur researchers have began seeking for noble origins of Croatian individuals, earning money for it. The nineties were particularly good period for such a job.

In this paper, I will analyze the historiographical literature before The Second World War, during socialist period and during the period of Croatian independent state. Through the analysis of selected textbooks from the end of the 19^th century to this day I will show a difference in creation of mythological heroes in Croatia and bring it in connection with the social context in which that occurs.

Heroic epos created in the 19th century

Franjo Rački, one of the leading historians of the late 19th century was also a very active political worker. In his person the connection between politics and historiography is most evident. At that time, there were very few educated people in Croatia and they considered political work aimed at improving peripheral position of Croatia within the Austro-Hungarian Empire as their duty. Disunity and division of the new Croatian nation in a dual monarchy made a fertile ground for the development of mythological literature in the service of politics. The most appropriate for highlighting the uniqueness of Croatia were Croatian noblemen who represented the Croatian political people. There were a few sources for the study of the independent Croatian principality and later kingdom, not enough to create a full picture and heroic literature of the time. With entering to personal union with Hungary and later joining the Habsburg state, Croatia lost its independence and all that was left was emphasizing of Croatian rights and Sabor (Parliament). The importance of questionable arrangements of twelve Croatian tribes with new Arpad dynasty was highlighted. That agreement is known as Pacta Conventa or Qualiter but one of the leading Croatian historians of the twentieth century Nada Klaić claimed that it was the forgery from 14th century. In the constitutional sense, important was also the agreement that Croatian noblemen, gathered in the Croatian Parliament, made with Ferdinand of Habsburg, who brought Croatia in the community of many nations, in which Ferdinand pledged to keep Croatian rights. As the main objective was the unification of Croatian lands and preserving the uniqueness in the complex multinational association, in historiography and in schools the nobles who represented political people were emphasized. They were part of the nation that has managed to preserve that uniqueness over the centuries. Best suited for heroic literature were battles against the Turks, where Croats were portrayed as defenders of not only the Monarchy but of the whole of Central and Western Europe - Antemurale Christianitatis. That further obliged the Monarchy and that was another reason, alongside the pre-existing reason, agreements with the ruling houses of Hungary and later the Habsburgs, why Croatia deserved its own uniqueness and better position than it had at that moment. Croatian noblemen Petar Kružić, Petar Berislavić, Krsto Frankapan, brothers Talovac and many others were labeled heroes of the whole Europe in the fight against the hated enemy of another faith.

The heroic mythology includes resistance to Habsburg or Hungarian authorities. The most popular were Zrinski-Frankapan Conspiracy and actions of Ban Josip Jelačić during the revolution 1848/49.

Two events of Early Modern Period, which occurred at an interval of seven years, however, attracted the most attention in Croatian historiography, but also in culture of nineteenth and twentieth century’s. These are the heroic defense of Szigetvár in 1566 and the Peasant Revolt of 1573. The amount of plays, series, great operas, epic poems dedicated to those completely different events shows that they outweigh any heroic act in Croatia to this day. In the following sections I will handle coverage of these events in Croatian history textbooks, and in this section the events themselves and their interpretation in Croatian historiography, culture and their echo in the world.

Defence of Szigetvár and Peasant Revolt of 1573 in History Textbooks until 1945

In history textbooks that were printed before the creation of socialist Yugoslavia, Nikola Šubić Zrinski and the defense of Szigetvár had the important role. The amount of text about Nikola Šubić Zrinski and the defense of Szigetvár varied from textbook to textbook but conceptually in most textbooks they were part of greater unites, except in textbook by Vjekoslav Klaić from 1894 and textbooks by Živko Jakić from 1935 and 1937. Vjekoslav Klaić in his textbook written for high schools for girls and lyceums, under the subheading Nikola Zrinski, wrote about Nikola's youth, battles against the Turks, Nikola as ban and his heroic death. That textbook is interesting because of several things. It does not mention Peasant Revolt at all and it's the only one that mentions that Gašpar Alapić was chosen by Nikola Šubić Zrinski to be the Deputy Commander. The chapter on Zrinski extends from page 89 to page 93. In the part about the defense of Szigetvár he mentioned the figure of 3000 Croat defenders and 100 000 Turks besieging Szigetvár. He emphasized that 30 000 Turks were killed under Szigetvár. Živko Jakić in his textbook for high schools, under the subheading Croatian Struggles with Suleiman, pointed out that Emperor Maximilian II did not send help to Szigetvár although he had 80,000 soldiers nearby. In addition, he highlighted the loyalty of Nikola to the Monarchy although he was offered to govern Croatia as a Turkish vassal. He devoted a special chapter to the Peasant Revolt in which he described the poor living conditions of the peasants in the 16th century, stressed the fact that there were feudal lords who treated their serfs well, as the Bishop of Zagreb and Zrinski family did, while Tahy as a stranger (it was pointed out that he was Hungarian) treated his serfs very badly. He described the tragic death of Gubec. In the textbook from 1900 by Franjo Valla, Szigetvár and Peasant Revolt had their place in the chapter Habsburg Austrian House and Turkey in Sixteenth nd Seventeenth Century. One after the other, at nearly the same extent of twenty rows, the events at Szigetvár and rebellion were described. In the section devoted to the Siege of Szigetvár it was stressesed that the "Croatian Leonida" stopped Suleiman, although he promised gold and the Croatian crown. He accused the nobles of Monarchy who did not want to fight to help Zrinski. When describing a Peasant Revolt, the author emphasized the ruthlessness of nobility, Tahy and others who participated in the suppression of the revolt. Ivan Hoić in his textbook for lower grades of secondary school divided chapters by the rulers. In the text subtitled Suleiman II he described the heroism of defenders of Szigetvár in fifteen rows, and under the subtitle Rudolf II he mentioned the Peasant Revolt under the peasant's king Matija Gubec, without going into detail about causes, course and consequences of the revolt. During the existence of Croatian puppet state in World War II, Stjepan Srkulj wrote several textbooks. In the textbook for 8th grade of high school, under the subtitle Nikola Šubić Zrinski, he pointed out that in the defense of Szigetvár vast majority were Croats, and he named Nikola "new Leonidas." In text under subtitle Peasant Revolt of 1573 he described the litigation of Tahy and Uršula Hening as the cause, described the developments and collaboration with the Slovenian peasants and finally ended with the sentences: "In the August of the same year the notorious culprit for the Peasant Revolt Franjo Tahy died. The whole Croatia cursed him as he caused that misfortune."

Analysing these chapters, we can see that both the defenders of Szigetvár and rebels against the nobility rule were described in a positive light. The connection that Gašpar Alapić had with both events was not presented and that is why he was either a positive hero as in Vjekoslav Klaić's book where he was a defender of Szigetvár or he was described negatively as in the textbook of Franjo Valla where he was a cruel suppressor of the Peasant Revolt. Common to all the textbooks was disregard towards foreigners - Emperor Maximilian II did not send help to Croats in Szigetvár who were defending the fort and thus saved Vienna all by themselves or Zrinski family was good to the serfs while the Hungarian Tahy was cruel to his people. In addition to this common segment that has been well thought out, the rest of the events were described without deeper analysis in the books, with the exception of textbooks by Vjekoslav Klaić who did not think that the Peasant Revolt was worth enough to find a place in the textbook.

Defence of Szigetvár and the Peasant Revolt in Textbooks of Socialist Yugoslavia

In the period of socialist Yugoslavia, a great attention was given to history teaching. The basic tasks of history lessons were formulated in programs for elementary and high school in 1960. The priority in the program for elementary school was that "... pupils gain knowledge of the continuous development of human society, of its gradual, but unstoppable movement from lower to higher forms of socio-economic life and thus build confidence of a human inherent constant struggle for a better life and the feeling of belonging to the progressive forces in this fight." The Peasant Revolt of 1573 perfectly fitted - serfs were progressive force in the struggle against feudalism and pupils were expected to comprehend Franjo Tahy as opponent to progressive forces, while Matija Gubec was a staunch advocate for the abolition of feudalism. History textbooks chronologically followed the development of the production relations and productive forces in the spirit of dialectical materialism, and the development from the original classless society through slavery, feudalism and capitalism, where the classes were in perpetual antagonism. Progress had continued towards the classless society that was achieved ​​in Yugoslavia during struggle for people's liberation in World War II. Accordingly, large space in the textbooks was dedicated to the Peasant Revolt and in 1973, on the 400th anniversary, in the Oršić castle in Gornja Stubica The Peasant Revolt Museum was opened and pupils from all over the country went there on excursions. In Vladimir Babić's textbook for 6th grade in primary school and the second year of high school, along with a detailed description of the hardship of peasants life, for the first time their program was stressed. In that program they asked for the creation of a government that would introduce a general tax and military duty, abolish customs and build roads to the sea and obey the emperor. It was pointed out that the rebellion undermined the feudal order and strengthened peasant class consciousness, and the ruthlessness of feudal lords in Stubica battle and execution of Gubec was described. Tahy was portrayed as a cruel feudal lord.

In the same textbook, battle of Szigetvár deserved only 18 lines in which the emphasize was on Suleiman's death and his offer to Zrinski to take the ruling position.

In the curriculum for primary schools in 1972, among other tasks, stated was the need to "give pupils a basic knowledge of major historical events, cultural goods and leading figures from the history of the Croatian people, other Yugoslav peoples and peoples who had higher impact on historical events in our country and the world." Prior to that provision, like in the Olga Salzer's textbook from 1963. Nikola Šubić Zrinski and the Siege of Szigetvár were not even mentioned. The Peasant Revolt was observed similarly as in Babić's textbook, with the addition of a list of the various uprisings after 1573. Since 1972 texts were standardized: a few lines about the Siege of Szigetvár and a few pages on the Peasant Revolt, with added maps of important battles. In conclusion, the heroic defense of Szigetvár was not excluded from history books because it was the struggle against foreign invaders (Turks), but the defenders were members of the aristocratic class, so it was not opportune to excessively glorify them.

Textbooks after Socialism

Curriculum in history in primary and secondary schools after the collapse of socialism and the creation of the Croatian state has passed through various stages. At the beginning, the old lessons kept up, "a thorough cleaning of unnecessary topics" still wasn't conducted. In the last twenty-five years there has been a lot of changes and reforms. This can, perhaps, be traced on the example of the Peasant Revolt 1573. In the seventh (and the first modified) edition of the textbook by Ivo Makek and Josip Adamček from 1991 the Peasant Revolt was still described in a separate section and occupied four pages of the book. Defense of Szigetvár was described in only fourteen lines. In the following year Ivo Makek wrote a new textbook. Peasant Revolt was incorporated into a larger unit, but the description was still on three pages. Text about Szigetvár was not significantly changed. From that textbook on, the tendency to reduce the description of the Peasant Revolt was evident and in recent modifications of the program it became an optional part of the curriculum.

After the independence, there is a free market of textbooks in Croatia. There are four publishing houses that publish history textbooks. In textbooks by Neven Budak and Marija Mogorović Crljenko (2007) and Željko Brdal and Margita Madunić (2009 and 2013) peasant uprisings were not mentioned. Not just the Peasant Revolt of 1573, there aren't any discussion about the social life and the rural life whatsoever. Early Modern Period in Croatia is seen only through intellectual movements (Humanism and the Renaissance, the Reformation and Counter-Reformation), battles against the Turks, the structure of the Military Frontier and resistance to the central government through the Zrinski-Frankapan Conspiracy. Nikola Šubić Zrinski retains the similar amount of text, with the facts previously published, the only difference beeing that some of the textbooks added historical sources.

The Peasant Revolt Museum is integrated into the Museums of Croatian Zagorje. The new exhibition includes rooms of family Oršić and Illyrian movement and the number of visitors is drastically reduced. A good part of Croatian students will not even hear of the existence of any resistance to feudal elites during the period of Croatian Early Modern Period.

Conclusion

In every country political elites determine education policy. Croatia is not exception. The Peasant Revolt and Nikola Šubić Zrinski present good examples for monitoring that education policy in history teaching. One of the proclaimed objectives of teaching is to develop love for the homeland and the most suitable for that goal are fighters against invaders. That is why Nikola Šubić Zrinski has always been appreciated as a hero. His noble position that was in dialectical materialism perceived as something negative could not hurt such a perception. On the other hand, the resistance of the peasants against their feudal lords was part of the social history. The attitude towards that resistance depends largely on society and social values ​​that it promotes. During the socialist era, Matija Gubec and other insurgents were seen as those who spinned the wheel of history in the right direction, in the direction of a classless society. With the collapse of socialism, a classless society ceased to be the ideal. The previous settings of Marxist historiography have been denied and the Peasant Revolt has become just a phenomenon of the time without far-reaching consequences. The Peasant Revolt is not mandatory part of the program, and, depending on the author, it is not mentioned or it's included in larger units.

The National Liberation Movement in Albanian history textbooks during socialist period

Dr. Gentiana Kera

The National Liberation Movement during World War II in Albania has been an important topic of historiography during socialist regime, a fact also reflected in history textbooks. A resistance myth was created in which the Albanian people under the leadership of the Albanian Communist Party gloriously defeated the Italian and German fascist invaders. The explanation of this historical event has been characterised to a large degree by an emphasis of the contribution of the Albanian Communist Party and the National Liberation Army to this war neglecting the activities of other resistance groups, especially during the first years of Italian occupation. The National Liberation Movement became also an inspiration for writers and artists during socialist period, which created a huge amount of works representing this event of contemporary Albanian history.

The aim of the proposed paper is twofold: Firstly, to analyse how this historical events of Albanian history in the 20^th century have been presented and explained in the history textbooks during socialist period. The analysis will focused on several main questions such as how first groups and forms of resistance were represented in history textbooks, how were partisans represented in textbooks, and how important meetings during the war, such as the meetings of Peza and Mukje were presented in history textbooks. Another important issue which will be addressed is how these historical events were used to legitimise the power seizure of the Communist Party immediately after World War II.

MITIZIMI DHE ÇMITIZIMI I HERONJVE MBUROJË E SISTEMIT KOMUNIST

VOJSAVA KUMBULLA

FLORENCA STAFA

MAJLINDA PEZA


Candidate. VOJSAVA KUMBULLA

Departamenti i Historise

Universiteti i Tiranes “ Histori - Filologji”

Mobile: [phone]

E-mail . [e-mail]

PhD Candidate. FLORENCA STAFA

Departamenti i Historise

Universiteti i Tiranes “ Histori - Filologji”

Mobile: [phone]

E-mail [e-mail]

Dr. MAJLINDA PEZA

Departamenti i Historise

Universiteti Elbasanit: “ Aleksandër Xhuvani”

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