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Photo of Edo Jardas and Steve Nelson ( Stjepan Mesaros ) in Spain | Croatian State Archive in Rijeka , Edo Jardas collection
Restored bust of Robert Domany in Plaški , 2020 | Vjeran Pavlaković
they saw defending the democratically elected government against fascism as an opportunity to fight against injustice and express international solidarity with the Spanish people .
This exhibition did not seek to glorify war or offer an ideological interpretation of the past , but rather to acknowledge the sacrifice of individuals who travelled to an unknown country to defend democratic and humanist values in a turbulent age characterized by the rise of fascism . The values of peace , dialogue , tolerance , and international solidarity are those that need to be reflected upon , 80 years after the Nationalists proclaimed victory and implemented a brutal dictatorship that lasted over 35 years . Rijeka2020 is an opportunity to place Rijeka within the broader context of European events in the twentieth century , and the Spanish Civil War was that moment when one country inspired artists , writers , activists , workers , and antifascists from around the world to rally around the cause of democracy . Although the cultural memory of the Spanish Civil War in Croatia has faded over the
past 30 years , the exhibition sought to spark a new understanding of this conflict and the lessons we can draw from it in order to not repeat the mistakes of the past . Moreover , the exhibition ’ s reflection on memory politics more broadly was intended to draw attention to the fact that other aspects of Croatia ’ s antifascist past have been deliberately erased from public space and collective memory since the disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s . While it is not surprising that new historical narratives would merge in the wake of Croatia ’ s War of Independence ( Domovinski rat , 1991-1995 ), it is problematic that Croatia ’ s antifascist heritage of the twentieth century was subject to nationalist revisionism that sought to rehabilitate Nazi-fascist collaborators , the Ustaša regime , as a counterweight to the Partisan movement of the Second World War . Reactions to this exhibition , along with the work of many civic organizations in Croatia over the past decade , indicate that despite the rise of populism , extreme nationalism , xenophobia , and radical-right groups across Europe , many segments of Croatian society
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Observing Memories ISSUE 4