Croatia

Croatia has a lot of dates. Founded in the 7th century. Became a medieval duchy on 4 March ,853. Was recognised by the Pope on 21 May in 879. Elevated from Duchy to Kingdom in 925. United with Hungary in 1102. Became part of the Habsburg Empire on 1 January, 1527. Gained independence from the Austria-Hungary on 29 October, 1918. Joined Yugoslavia on 1 December 1918. Declared its independence on 25 June, 1991. And on 8 October each year Croatia celebrates Dan Nezavisnosti, or Independence Day.

Leading up to 8 October in 1991 were the speech made by President Tuđman on 5 October, calling on the population to defend Croatia against what he termed the “Greater-Serbian imperialism.” On 7 October there was an explosion in the main government building in Zagreb—though Croatia’s leaders survived this event. The following day Croatia cut all ties with then-Yugoslavia. This didn’t stop the war—in particular, Vukovar fell to the Serbs after a siege lasting three months. This resulted in the Vukovar massacre (not the only massacre during the period by any means), when 264 people were killed by Serb militias, who were aided by the Yugoslav People’s Army. The victims were mostly Croats, but the community was a mixed Croat-Serb community, and there were victims on both sides—the only positive outcome here is that this event contributed to the move toward a resolution of the war. It took till 1992 for the ceasefire to hold. Still, it didn’t all end there—there was intermittent conflict in 1993 and it took till 1995 for the war to end—after most eruptions of violence. At the end of it all, tens of thousands of Croats had been expelled from their homes by force, with nearly 12,000 killed and 1348 still missing. 118,000 Croats were expelling from Serb-held parts of Bosnia, most of whom continue to live in Croatia. On the flip-side, around 200,000 Serbs fled from Croatia at the end of the way, and only a small fraction of these have returned to Croatia.

Now Croatia is starting to get a reputation as a tourist spot—especially those beaches on the Adriatic. (I’m yet to set foot on them, but have high hopes that moment will come soon.) There are thousands of islands that belong to Croatia too—including the beguilingly vowel-less Krk.

I have a short poem for you today by Anka Zagar. I found it online here.

Vermeer

she has come in from all sides
into the water that makes you from all sides
alone wanting to remember
how she had come in,
that girl that would like to
put pearls on her neck

—Anka Zagar
Translated from the Croation by Sibila Petlevski