Pro tempore, No. 14, 2019.
Stručni rad
Images of Germans in Croatian History Textbooks from 1945 to 1975 (Summary)
Ozren Loparić
Sažetak
The notions about Germans played a key role in the constitution of the Yugoslav peoples´ imagery. The careful formulation of these images in elementary students’ history textbooks from 1945 to 1975 formed mental images, value judgments, and partly molded Yugoslav identity. The analysis of auto-representation and hetero-representation in history textbooks uncovers how the Other Nations and the Self-image in Yugoslavia were perceived. By examining the appearance of the German people as historical agents in the textbook narrative in a certain historical period, the diversity of the concepts, stereotypes and mental images becomes apparent. The students are the target audience of textbooks and elements of texts that have played a role in shaping their attitudes can easily be identified. In particular, authors often use the notions about Germans as a starting point in setting up standards for value judgment. The impact of the above-mentioned ideas on the students was long-lasting and profoundly shaped attitudes of entire generations. Both the textbook content and their personal experience helped to shape the attitude towards Germans; a gradual change of perspective in the portrayal of Germans can also be detected. The development of personal identity in Yugoslavia was often based on contrasting with German people, so necessary attributes that served as the foundation of Yugoslav imagination were emphasized. The history textbook analysis has shown a predominantly negative attitude towards Germans accompanied by attributions taught in schools from 1945 to 1965. In the mid-sixties in Yugoslavia there was a change in the attribution and the notions about Germans slowly moved away from the rigid value judgments from the earlier years. Thus, the notions about Germans in history textbooks changed and the value judgments are redefined and reevaluated. This process leads to a permanent change of Yugoslavian attitude towards the Germans. (Summary)
Ključne riječi
images; Yugoslavia; Germans; history textbooks
Hrčak ID:
232393
URI
Datum izdavanja:
21.9.2019.
Posjeta: 834 *