The Agrarian Reform in Croatia 1945-1948: Archival Perspective

Abstract

The records of the Department for the Agrarian Reform and Colonisation of the Ministry of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of Croatia (NRH) i.e. its sixth series (The Implementation of the Agrarian Reform) mostly contain agrarian decisions issued firstly by the county and municipal, later the district agrarian commissions in the territory of the NRH, as well as decisions issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (1945-1947) and its successor the Ministry of Agriculture (1947-1951) during the period of the implementation of the agrarian reform from 1945 to 1948, with few various decisions issued later on, until 1951. The Ministry of Agriculture acquired, registered and systematised these decisions that had mostly been created by the activities of its predecessor, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The reform was carried out via four basic procedures – the procedure on ascertaining agrarian objects (physical and legal persons who had a land surplus), the procedure on ascertaining agrarian subjects (physical persons with little land), assigning land, and in the territory of Istria and Dalmatia feudal agrarian relations were ascertained and abolished i.e. the colonate and sharecropping, together with enforced auctions in Istria. After gaining a detailed insight in the records it had been ascertained that large interventions were necessary in order to achieve a more homogenous records structure that would enable easier search of decisions. The paper gives a short outline of the agrarian reform, its legal framework and the authorities that implemented it, whereas greater emphasis was put on the practical work with records, the problems during the systematization of decisions pertaining to individual procedures and records related to the reform that, however, are not directly part of procedures that were carried out. It also addresses the reasons for partial change of the previous structure and solutions found regarding the arrangement, mostly carried out in the context of digitization.