Original scientific paper
THE TIME OF POLITICAL REPRESSION: »THE GREAT TRIALS« IN CROATIA, 1945-1948
Nada Kisić-Kolanović
; Institute of Contemporary History, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The article deals with the issue of political trials in Croatia immediately after the imposition of the communist regime in 1945. This period was marked by a radicalism of the political power toward its opponents, especially toward the representatives of the defeated Independent State of Croatia, the followers of the Croatian Republican Peasant Party, and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. The brutality of the new government toward political opponents was also visible in the 1945 elimination of renegade groups without trial. In an atmosphere of deficient criminal legislature and imprecise and too broad a definition of criminality of actions against the regime, the political trials became staged processes in which the state had limitless power in punishing dissidents. Thus, even when one takes into account the need for stabilization of the new regime and for punishment of »war crimes«, the legal mechanisms in Croatia were primarily used for physical elimination and discouragement of political opponents.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
209967
URI
Publication date:
1.9.1993.
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