The collection was promoted at the CHF’s Zagreb headquarters by CHF director Marin Knezović MSc, Dr Ivan Rogić, Dr Ivan Čizmić, Dr Franjo Maletić, Friar Josip Bebić and Dr Marin Sopta. The event was moderated by Tuga Tarle.
Croatia Abroad, a collection of papers from the First Croatian Emigrant Congress held in Zagreb was presented on the 19th of October by publishers the Croatian Heritage Foundation and the Maksimir Centre for Culture and Information. The collection was promoted at the CHF’s Zagreb headquarters by CHF director Marin Knezović MSc, Dr Ivan Rogić, Dr Ivan Čizmić, Dr Franjo Maletić, Friar Josip Bebić and Dr Marin Sopta. The event was moderated by Tuga Tarle.
The collection is a selection of papers submitted by researchers, experts, business people, journalists, priests, writers and activists that deal with the issues facing Croatian emigrants and the relationship of the emigrant communities with the homeland as presented at the congress in Zagreb.
The gathering, held last year in June, was organised by the Croatian Heritage Foundation, the Croatian Studies department of the University of Zagreb, the offices of the Croatian Bishops’ Conference and the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia-Herzegovina for the faithful abroad, joined by many co-organisers, including the Croatian World Congress, the State Office for Croats Abroad, the Croatian Club for International Cooperation, the department of Croatian language and culture at the University of Waterloo in Canada, the Centre for the Study of Croatian Emigration at Macquarie University in Australia, The Maksimir Centre for Culture and Information, the Croatian Catholic University, the Zagreb School of Economics and Management, the National and University Library, the Catholic Faculty of Theology and the Croatian Writers’ Society.
The First Croatian Emigrant Congress pooled one hundred forty researchers and leading figures in the religious, political, economic and culture scene in Croatia and abroad. It was organised with the objective of formulating new strategies and systematising the monitoring and global networking of homeland and emigrant Croatia. The event produced a resolution, presented at the Croatian Heritage Foundation by the organising committee president Dr Marin Sopta. The resolution’s eleven points sum up the objectives of the congress and its deliberations on the relationship between the Republic of Croatia and the emigrant communities.
The four-day working event was also an opportunity to exchange contacts and network across all fields of societal life and modern mobility and an event that encouraged new answers to the burning issues facing emigrant Croatia.
The congress focused its work on several topical areas: Croatian Emigrants – Here and Now (1); Science in the Diaspora: Perspectives for Cooperation (2); The Dilemmas of the Second Generation (3); Learning Croatian (4); The Croatian Faithful in the Diaspora (5); Diaspora and Identity (6); Improving Economic Cooperation Between the Croatian Diaspora and the Croatian Economy (7); Opportunities and Potential for Investment in Croatia (8); Institutions and their Portraits (9), with the presentation of Vesna Drapač’s book Constructing Yugoslavia at the CHF headquarters and the Cultural Links Between Croatia and the Croatian Diaspora (10). There was also an exhibition of the serial publication Croats Abroad at the National and University Library.
Included in the collection are papers presented by: Luka Budak, Branko Salaj, Šimun Šito Ćorić, Antun Babić, Marin Sopta, Friar Josip Bebić, Vlado Šakić, Anđelko Akrap and Marin Strmota on the first topic (1), Dragan Primorac, Caroline Hornstein Tomić and Borna Pleše, John P. Kraljić, Danijel Džino and Janko Herak on the second topic (2). The third (3) topic is represented by papers submitted by Jure Vujić, Ante Beljo, Božo Skoko, Wolfy Krašić, Tuga Tarle, Ivica Tolić and Ante Nazor, the fourth (4) by Vice John Batarelo, Rebeka Mesarić Žabčić, Ilija D. Šutalo, Tihomir Telišman, Stjepo Bartulica, Ante Lučić and Marija Durakovich. The fifth (5) topic was presented by Diana Stolac, Vinko Grubišić, Jim Hlavač, Aleksandra Ščukanec, Marko Lukenda and Sanja Vulić, and the sixth (6) by Monsignor Želimir Puljić, Mirko Mataušić and Suzana Vrhovski Peran, Miroslav Akmadža, Adolf Polegubić, Aldo Sinković, Tvrtko Beus and Marko Zadravec, Josip Anthony Kešina, Domagoj Tomas and Loredana Fabijanić and Friar Jozo Grbeš. The seventh (7) topic is represented by papers penned by Helena Burić, Walter Vori Lalić, Gojko Borić, Petar Hinić, Marina Perić Kaselj, Ivo Čulina, Tomislav Sunić, Domagoj Novosel, Ruža Studer, Katarina Pejić, Josip Pavešić, Berislav Jandrić and Marino Manin, Ivan Bulić and Ivan Hrstić. Presenting papers on the eighth (8) congress topic are Saša Poljanec Borić, Marijana Babić, Dragica Mikinac, Jadranka Matešić Belfranin, Nikola Mijatović, Jakov Žižić, Predrag Haramija and Olivera Jurković Majić, Natasha Levak, Caroline Spivak, Ratimir Kvaternik and Zdravko Belančić and Tomislav Đurasović. The ninth (9) topic is presented in papers by Ivan Čizmić, and the tenth (10) by Zdenka Weber, Željka Lovrenčić, Drago Šaravanja, Zinka Šarić, Božidar Petrač, Vesna Kukavica, Ozana Ramljak and Katica Jurčević, Mladen Ibler, Vladimir Bubrin, Nevenka Nekić, Ivan Čizmić, Marica Čunčić, Stjepan Šulek and Lidija Bencetić.
Text by: Diana Šimurina-Šoufek; Photos by: Snježana Radoš
