Matica hrvatska, Catholic Priesthood and the Croatian Political Emigration in the Zadar Area 1970-1972 through the Prism of Repressive Bodies in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Abstract

Based on the original documentation of the Yugoslav communist regime, this article presents the course of events regarding Matrix Croatica (MH) in 1970-1972 in the Zadar area and the connection of its activities with the Catholic clergy and Croatian political émigré circles. In particular, through the use of the only recently available documentation collected by the State Security Service of the Republican Secretariat for Internal Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Croatia (SDS/RSUP SRH) on prominent Zadar politicians, professors, priests and university students, as well as personal files of individuals, which are not always complete and credible, but do present a certain starting point and together with the rest of the documentation create the necessary assumptions for a more comprehensive analysis of this topic. As part of these considerations, an attempt is made to present the ideological pressure that paralleled the repressive actions of the authorities to which prominent individuals from the Zadar area were exposed during and after the Croatian Spring.