Confiscation of the Textile Industry in Karlovac from 1945 to 1946

Abstract

The topic of this paper are the economic processes initiated through political decisions in Karlovac and its surroundings after World War II, from 1945 to 1946. In a wider context of economic relations, the focus is on the confiscation of the textile industry in Karlovac and its surroundings as a leading initiator of economic development in the mentioned area. Confiscation, through judicial government, meant taking private property away by force with the aim of collectivising property for the needs of the central unitarist and totalitarian government. After studying the available documentation, it is obvious that the most successful companies in the textile industry, but not only them, became the state’s property via judicial decisions. After that, the state, through its administrative and central way of governing, made all important business decisions related to the confiscated companies as well as directly about the economic situation in the whole country. Moreover, it is important to emphasise that confiscation was one of the ways used to punish pre-war and wartime political opponents. It was also a way of making them unimportant in social relations, and finally making them dependent on the central government, which, as I have already stressed, dictated political and economic processes on all levels.