The War Archive and the Museum of the Independent State of Croatia

Abstract

This paper discusses unexplored and as yet only slightly explored aspects of the activities of the War Archive and the Museum of the Independent State of Croatia. The initial part of the paper introduces the context of war at the time, i.e. the context of the foundation of the institution with emphasis on potential international models such as the Museum of Military History in Vienna. The organization of this specific archive and museum is discussed on the basis of the rules and regulations (Directives of the Museum of Military History, War Archive, Regulations of the War Archive and the Museum) on the basis of unpublished archival sources and as well as of the documentation of the War Archive and the Museum of the Independent State of Croatia (stored in the Croatian State Archives and the Croatian History Museum in Zagreb). The analysis is particularly focused on the military role of the staff, i.e. on the role of the Ministry of the Croatian Home Guard (after the Ministry of Armed Forces) of the Independent State of Croatia which operated as a cultural institution within the hierarchical framework of the War Archive and the Museum. Further, special attention is paid to work systematisation, i.e. the administrative section of the institution, as regards departments and the role of the management, professional staff and advisory councils in the way they operate. The issues of separating archival and museum activities in theory and in practice as concerns collecting and inventorying are highlighted as distinct phenomena. The latter is also concerned with accommodation issues (first at Krešimir Square and afterwards at Jesuit Square in Zagreb) with emphasis on a lack of exhibition space and suitable external storage facilities in wartime conditions. In line with this we publish a draft for the unaccomplished construction of the War Archive and the Museum of the Independent State of Croatia at the Strossmayer Promenade in Zagreb. On the basis of available archival records, a list of permanent and part-time employees by name has been reconstructed, including some well-known personalities of cultural life in wartime and the postwar period. The collection policy is explored in the context of cultural policies in the Independent State of Croatia with emphasis on the most significant acquisitions from 1941 to 1945 and the circumstances of collecting archival and museum records in wartime. Finally, the postwar fate of the collected records, i.e. their storage in cognate cultural, archival and museum institutions in Croatia has been addressed as well as the final cessation of the War Archive and the Museum of the Independent State of Croatia.