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Description
The project aims to highlight the problem of lack of adequate protection and valorization of anti-fascist heritage in public and museum spaces in Zagreb and anti-fascist heritage in general. The problem is a consequence of historical revisionism, clericalism and opportunism of local government. Recent research also shows worrying attitudes of young people towards democracy, human rights and the relativization of fascism. The recent change of government at the local level is an opportunity to provide stronger institutional support for the rehabilitation of anti-fascism, both on a symbolic and discursive level, and in concrete procedures, documents and budget allocations. Given the political importance of Zagreb, these results will encourage similar initiatives at the national level.
Target group are decision-makers, primarily local political authorities, but also those who make decisions in the field of culture. Addional target groups are: CSOs - strengthened through research and networking for further advocacy on this topic, citizens - aware of the importance of anti-fascist heritage will indirectly affect decision makers, and young people - encouraged to learn and internalize anti-fascist values.
The project will contribute to strengthening civic awareness and engagement in promoting anti-fascist values and halting the process of historical revisionism and further degradation of democratic institutions and attitudes. Direct results will expand the space for further action and strengthen the role of CSOs, and therefore the effects of the project are multiplied in the long run.
The project is on cooperation with institutions of local government, which is most clearly reflected in the fact that MAZ was able to arrange the return of the busts of Anka Butorac and Marijan Cavic to public space, and even more in the fact that for the first time the anniversary of the liberation of Zagreb, celebrated with Trnjanski kresovi 2022., is publicy supported.
Summary of project results
From the 90''s, during the Homeland War, nationalist and revisionist policies became socially dominant in Croatia, which, among other things, saw their opposition in the anti-fascist narrative of the National Liberation Struggle (NOB) in the WWII. The result of these policies is the destruction or removal of over 3,000 monuments and memorials to the suffering of victims of fascism and the anti-fascist struggle, the rewriting of history according to political needs and contrary to scientific principles, but also the general normalization of nationalist and retrograde political positions. By relativizing and sympathizing with fascism, political symbolism has been reconfigured in such a way that the memory of anti-fascist resistance and fascist terror is still often suppressed. Such policies open the way to the radicalization of the right-wing and the emergence of neo-fascism as a threat to democratic values, institutions and society based on anti-fascist values. These processes also took place in Zagreb for thirty years, where streets and squares were massively renamed, commemorative plaques were removed, busts were destroyed and museum displays were removed. Even large cultural institutions have largely internalized such trends, and proof of this is the recent controversy surrounding the election of the director of the Museum of the City of Zagreb, whose position related to the NOB was inappropriate and characterized by revisionism. A similar example is the collection of the former Museum of the Revolution of the People of Croatia, which belonged to the Croatian Historical Museum, and has been inaccessible to the public for decades. Although these processes were more destructive outside Zagreb, due to the large population and status of the capital, they have a special symbolic significance in Zagreb.
The project aims to contribute to solving the problem of denying anti-fascist heritage and memory, especially the destruction and neglect of anti-fascist heritage in the area of Zagreb. The general problem arising from this is the relativization of fascism, the devaluation of anti-fascist values and the strengthening of radical and extreme right-wing political positions. The third aspect of the problem is the lack of systematic opposition to such retrograde social tendencies.
With this project, MAZ tried to revalue the anti-fascist heritage and offer elaborate models of its actualization in modern times through extensive research, dissemination of research results, and a public and advocacy campaign.
Artifacts related to the anti-fascist struggle deposited at the beginning of the 90s in institutions in Zagreb were listed and cataloged, in order to obtain an estimate of the total museum holdings. At the same time, data was collected on the removed and destroyed monumental heritage in the area of Zagreb, and the current condition of the locations of this heritage was recorded photographically and video. After that, research was conducted on the impact of historical revisionism on museum materials and the commemoration of the anti-fascist struggle in public space.
The conducted research served as a basis for the creation of a policy paper that contains a set of concrete recommendations for the re-actualization of the anti-fascist heritage and opposition to related processes of historical revisionism. In parallel with the research, and for the purpose of visibility of the project, a presentation of the project/round table with relevant speacers on the topic of preservation and valorization of the anti-fascist heritage was also organized.
The advocacy campaign included various events of an educational and advocacy nature, such as educational walks for citizens, in which significant places in the history of the anti-fascist struggle were visited and a presentation of notable events and persons was given. Also, based on research and collected materials, an exhibition on the removed and destroyed anti-fascist heritage was prepared. Part of the exhibition was a video assembled from the interviews with NOB participants in order to bring the memories and experiences of NOB participants closer to target groups, especially young people.
An initiative to establish a platform for connecting and planning future collaborations and joint action on topics related to the anti-fascist struggle at the local and national level was also launched.
Through the implementation of the project, the target groups were informed and sensitized about the problem of the destruction of anti-fascist heritage and the suppression of anti-fascist heritage. By carrying out the activities, pressure was created on the decision-makers to affirm the topics related to NOB through protocol and commemorative activities, but also to start planning more permanent and complex public policies and the necessary budget allocations in a timely manner. This contributed to the general goal of spreading awareness of the importance of anti-fascist values such as solidarity, human rights, equality and tolerance.
The local government and institutions were informed about the state of the museum fund and memorial heritage in the public space on the subject of NOB. They were given suggestions for interventions in the direction of protecting and affirming the memory of the anti-fascist struggle. The city government is encouraged to support future similar initiatives, and city institutions are encouraged to exhibit or lend museum materials for use. The mentioned benefits of the project show that these are not just one-time activities focused on temporarily directing attention, but an initial step in the direction of long-lasting and multiplying effects. The achieved advances on the discursive and symbolic level will be the impetus for similar future initiatives.
MAZ has strengthened itself for the further implementation of advocacy activities and has added this type of activity to the regular protest, educational, commemorative and other activities. The project piloted new activities of the association - educational walks. They relied on previous and new research by MAZ and collaborating organizations, but they were presented in an innovative format, making them more accessible and receptive to the general public and young people. Piloted activities remained as permanent didactic material that can be upgraded in the future.
Initiative for establishing platform of organizations will contribute in the long term to the rapprochement and cooperation of often fragmented initiatives and activities. Once established, the platform will also be used as a place for continuous and diverse activities; ad hoc initiatives, advocacy activities, project cooperation.