The multimedia Matis Club at the Croatian Heritage Foundation was host on 21 October of the promotion of Leksikon hrvatskoga iseljeništva i manjina, a lexicon of our diaspora and ethnic Croatian enclaves abroad. The 1,096-page tome presents 3,464 entries detailing emigration from Croatia, in particular that of the past two centuries. On hand to present this volume and the lexicographical material it presents, of relevance to the Croatian national corpus and culture abroad, including movements, organisations, events and prominent figures from forty-five countries, were CHF director Mijo Marić, Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences director Željko Holjevac, reviewer Vladimir P. Goss, the director of the Pastoral Directorate for Croats Abroad (an office of the Croatian Bishops’ Conference and the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia-Herzegovina for the Croatian Foreign Pastorate) Tomislav Markić, and the volume’s editors Vlado Šakić and Ljiljana Dobrovšak. Also on hand to welcome everyone was Dario Magdić in his capacity as deputy to state secretary Zvonko Milas and as the representative of the prime minister’s office. Musical interludes were provided by opera singer Antonela Malis. The promotion was excellently moderated by the head of our publishing department Vesna Kukavica. The event gathered a limited number of guests in line with the latest restrictions recommended by the local civilian protection directorate for the City of Zagreb. The event was streamed via the Facebook Internet site at the Croatian Heritage Foundation’s profile page.
In his presentation CHF director Marić noted that this lexicon aims to be a compendium of our knowledge of Croatians abroad. Marić said that the systematisation of the material presented in this work was a multi-year effort, noting that this was understandably so given the dearth of research of both our ethnic enclaves in neighbouring countries and the complex history of emigration from Croatia. The editorial team of Šakić and Dobrovšak coordinated the efforts of hundreds of young associates from a dozen leading heritage institutions, including the Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography and the National and University Library in Zagreb, and from the foremost diaspora organisation in forty-five countries.
As the introduction to the lexicon notes, the idea to launch this publishing venture came from Zdenka Babić Petričević, former head of the CHF board of directors and a member of Croatian Parliament, who was supported in this by writer Hrvoje Hitrec and the late Ljubomir Antić, current and former members of our board of directors. In short, this lexicon bears witness to Croatian achievements from the North to South Pole. The book is a true national lexicographic treasure in which the editorial focus has been directed at material relevant to the Croatian national corpus and culture abroad, said CHF director Marić.
The publication of books that showcase the history, literature, culture and artistic production of ethnic Croatians abroad for a domestic readership is always cause for celebration among the Croatian communities abroad and a clear signal that the homeland has not forgotten them, and that there are still individuals and institutions that share a concern for their fellow Croatians that have throughout our history been compelled by various reasons to leave their native lands, and that have in their new homes preserved the language and culture of their distant ancestors. In his letter from Budapest, read by Željko Rupić of the CHF, reviewer Dinko Šokčević observed that this significant undertaking on the part of the Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences and the Croatian Heritage Foundation is a true source of delight for our communities around the world.
In his review Vladimir P. Goss notes that the lexicon provides an inventory of the individuals, groups, achievements, and characteristics of people of Croatian ancestry that have roots in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and of those who have partially or temporarily worked and lived abroad. It is ideologically neutral and offers no political agenda. For a land with a relatively large diaspora this lexicon broadens our insight and understanding of the significance of the Croatian people, at least a third of which constitute a truly global presence. This is major step forward in forging the identity of the global Croatian presence and a vital medium in bringing all people of Croatian ancestry around the world together. Furthermore, Goss added, this lexicon constitutes an excellent legitimation to the world, history and ourselves.
The lexicon is a joint publication of the Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences and the Croatian Heritage Foundation, with cover art by eminent Croatian-Australian painter Charles Billich.
The range of areas covered include multidisciplinary fields of history and sociology, linguistics, cultural anthropology, human geography and the ethnographic attributes of Croatian migrants, artistic endeavour and achievements in the sciences, diaspora publishing activity, and Croatian language instruction abroad. Some one hundred domestic and foreign specialists worked to compile and condense the macropaedic entries concerning the global Croatian emigrant presence. The lexicon also includes micropaedic entries, the most numerous of which are the biographies of prominent individuals, artists and researchers. The careful reader will, among other things, learn of migrant workers, overseas emigrants, members of our ethnic enclaves in the European neighbourhood, dissidents, émigrés, adventurers and those engaged in the trends of contemporary mobility.
The publishing team has created a broad alphabetic database of lexicographic knowledge based on research of migration among people of Croatian roots. This pioneering work has been accessible to the public on the Internet since 2015, with the print edition coming on the eve of the seventieth anniversary of the Croatian Heritage Foundation and the thirtieth anniversary of the Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences.
The lexicon is a joint publication of the Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences and the Croatian Heritage Foundation, with cover art by eminent Croatian-Australian painter Charles Billich.
Croatia regained its independence on the pillars of its historical presence and the Homeland War at the end of the twentieth century, and our knowledge of the contemporary Croatian diaspora and ethnic enclaves abroad are a vital element of the Croatian global and European identity. Notably, all the processes that preceded independence involved the engagement of Croatians abroad.
Following the creation of an alphabetical list of entries, the specialists and researchers with the Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography and the Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences developed the database. The database of the lexicon currently numbers 12,783 entries and will continually be broadened through information gathering. Over 2,900 entries cover our ethnic enclaves, 9,000 cover diaspora communities, and the remainder covers concepts, places and events. Editor Dobrovšak pointed out that all of the information in the database will be available for the creation of an encyclopaedia of the Croatian diaspora and minority enclaves or separate lexicons (e.g. a lexicon of Croatians in the United States of America, a lexicon of Croatians in Hungary, a lexicon of Gradišće Croats, etc.) and for further research. The just under ten years that have passed since work started on the lexicon have seen the participation of numerous institutions and individuals. As expected, Dobrovšak added, the database includes many more entries than the print edition, which speaks to the great quantity of information concerning the diaspora and Croatian enclaves that still awaits systematisation and that remains unknown to the broader audience.
Among the guests of the presentation of this encyclopaedic tome, which will for understandable reasons see a limited print run, were our ambassador to Argentina Duška Paravić, the chair of the parliamentary committee on Croatians abroad Zdravka Bušić MP, Zdravko Gavran of the foreign ministry, Anja Jelavić of the culture ministry, Milan Kovač and Hrvoje Hitrec, president and member of our board of directors respectively, Croatiana Orešković and Milan Bošnjak of the State Office for Croats Abroad, rector of the Croatian Catholic University Željko Tanjić, academician Ante Markotić, the president of the Prsten association Pavo Zubak, Marin Sopta, Božo Skoko, Tuga Tarle, Drago Šaravanja, Ivana Bačić Serdarević, Darko (Teodoro) Mažuranić, Ruža Studer-Babić, Jadranka Vincek, Kristijan Jusić, and Marijan Lipovac.
CHF director Marić presented Ms Dobrovšak and Ms Kukavica with bouquets as a sign of our great gratitude to all those who have in any way contributed to the achievement of this publishing venture, individuals and institutions, diaspora associations and Catholic missions, and in particular the editors, Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences director Željko Holjevac, project head Vlado Šakić and the joint team that has invested their efforts into this lexicon.
By: Diana Šimurina-Šoufek
Photography: Snježana Radoš