Franjo Tuđman and the Problems of Publishing the Book Nacionalno pitanje u suvremenoj Europi

Abstract

Based on sources from various fonds of the Croatian State Archives, especially the documentation of the State Security Service of the Croatian Republican Secretariat of the Interior regarding Bogdan Radica and Franjo Tuđman and the correspondence between these two intellectuals who were kept under surveillance by the Service, the author presents the circumstances surrounding the initiative to print Tuđman’s book, Nacionalno pitanje u suvremenoj Europi (The National Question in Contemporary Europe), abroad. Namely, after criminal prosecutions in 1972 and 1981, Tuđman was forcibly removed from social life, pressured by the reality of Yugo-unitarism. The bold effort to publish his book despite all threats grew into an attempt to end his imposed isolation, which lasted until 1988, when he was accepted as a member of the Croatian Writers’ Association, after which he began to participate at public forums and, in 1989, published the book Bespuća povijesne zbiljnosti (Horrors of War: Historical Reality and Philosophy).