Vjeran Pavlakovic

Although my research focuses on volunteers from Croatia who fought in the Spanish Civil War, attention will also be paid to the broader Yugoslav context of the late 1930s, in particular the rise of extreme left and right ideologies as an answer to Yugoslavia's national question. The debate within Croatia from 1936-39 over the conflict in Spain reflects the increasing internal ideological divisions in the Croatian National Movement, foreshadowing the conflict in Yugoslavia itself after 1941. The participation of Yugoslavs in Spain was a crucial period for the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, whose Spanish cadres facilitated an eventual Communist takeover. The lessons of Spain and the subsequent interpretation in historiography, public ritual, and contemporary Croatia will be covered.