Croatisation


Croatisation or Croatization is a process of cultural assimilation, and its consequences, in which people or lands ethnically only partially Croatian or non-Croatian become Croatian.

Croatisation of Serbs

Religion

in the Roman Catholic Croatian Military Frontier were out of the jurisdiction of the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć and in 1611, after demands from the community, the Pope establishes the Eparchy of Marča with seat at the Serbian-built Marča Monastery and instates a Byzantine vicar as bishop sub-ordinate to the Roman Catholic bishop of Zagreb, working to bring Serbian Orthodox Christians into communion with Rome which caused struggle of power between the Catholics and the Serbs over the region. In 1695 Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Lika-Krbava and Zrinopolje is established by metropolitan Atanasije Ljubojevic and certified by Emperor Josef I in 1707. In 1735 the Serbian Orthodox protested in the Marča Monastery and becomes part of the Serbian Orthodox Church until 1753 when the Pope restores the Roman Catholic clergy. On 17 June 1777 the Eparchy of Križevci is permanently established by Pope Pius VI with see at Križevci, near Zagreb, thus forming the Croatian Greek Catholic Church which would after World War I include other people; Rusyns and Ukrainians of Yugoslavia.

Croatisation in the NDH

The Croatisation during Independent State of Croatia was aimed primarily towards Serbs, and towards Italians, Jews and Roma to a lesser degree. The Ustaše aim was a "pure Croatia" and the biggest enemy was the ethnic Serb population of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ministers of NDH announced the goals and strategies of the Ustaše in May 1941. The same statements and similar or related ones were also repeated in public speeches by single ministers, such as Mile Budak in Gospić and, a month later, by Mladen Lorković.
Even with a predominant Croatian majority, Dalmatia retained relatively large Italian communities in the coast. Italians in Dalmatia kept key political positions and Croatian majority had to make an enormous effort to get Croatian language into schools and offices. Most Dalmatian Italians gradually assimilated to the prevailing Croatian culture and language between the 1860s and World War I, although Italian language and culture remained present in Dalmatia. The community was granted minority rights in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia; during the Italian occupation of Dalmatia in World War II, it was caught in the ethnic violence towards non-Italians during fascist repression: what remained of the community fled the area after World War II.

Croatisation in Bosnia and Herzegovina (19th century – present)

During the 19th century, with the emergence of ideologies and active political engagements on introduction of ethno-national identity and nationhood among South Slavs, strong pressure was exerted on Bosnia and Herzegovina divers religious communities from the outside forces, mainly from Serbia and Croatia. At the time, this pressure provoked some resistance, especially among Bosnian Franciscans, some of whom fiercely advocated against imminent Croatisation of Bosnian Catholics on one side, as well as imminent Serbianisation of Bosnian Orthodox people on the other, as prominent friar and historian, Antun Knežević, called them Catholic Bosniaks and Orthodox Bosniaks in his works. Knežević position and doctrine was that all Bosnians or Bosniaks are one people of three faiths, and that up to late 19th century, Croatian identity never existed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although Fra Antun Knežević was not a unique phenomenon in this sense, he was certainly among the most articulate ones, and along with Fra. Ivan Franjo Jukić, who was his teacher and mentor earlier in his life and from whom he learned and took the ideas, as a champions of the notion that Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims are one nation and Bosnia and Herzegovina country with deep cultural and historical roots, they had strongest impact and left deepest mark on Bosnian culture and history albeit insufficient to eventually halt the process. Even earlier, since at least 17th century many other members of Franciscan order in Bosnia were developing and adopting the idea of a Bosniak identity regardless of religion, nurturing it within the brotherhood and carrying it over into 18th and 19th century.
Meanwhile, contemporary scholars saw Croatisation as a long lasting process of influencing and changing historical memory, through various methods and strategies. Dubravko Lovrenović, for instance, saw it as influencing a reception and interpretation of Bosnian medieval times, underlining its contemporary usage via revision and re-interpretation, in forms spanning from historical mythmaking by domestic and especially neighboring ethno-nationalist, to identity and culture politics, often based on fringe science and public demagoguery of academic elite, with language and material heritage in its midst.
Following the establishment of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia in November 1991, and especially from May 1992 forward, the Herzeg-Bosnia leadership engaged in continuing and coordinated efforts to dominate and "Croatise" the municipalities which they claimed were part of Herzeg-Bosnia, with increasing persecution and discrimination directed against the Bosniak population. The Croatian Defence Council, the military formation of Croats, took control of many municipal governments and services, removing or marginalising local Bosniak leaders. Herzeg-Bosnia authorities and Croat military forces took control of the media and imposed Croatian ideas and propaganda. Croatian symbols and currency were introduced, and Croatian curricula and the Croatian language were introduced in schools. Many Bosniaks were removed from positions in government and private business; humanitarian aid was managed and distributed to the Bosniaks' disadvantage; and Bosniaks in general were increasingly harassed. Many of them were deported to concentration camps: Heliodrom, Dretelj, Gabela, Vojno, and Šunje.
Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, the official language Serbo-Croatian broke up into separate official languages and the process in relation to Croatian involved the Croatisation of its lexicon.

Notable individuals who voluntarily Croatised

families: