World War II Monuments and Political Geography in Croatia: A Spatial Analysis

• In Event: Memories in Stone, Satire, and Soil: The Politics of Commemoration in the Balkans

Abstract

This article is interested in the link between collective memory and political identity, seen through the lens of geography. More concretely, it is interested in the character of the connection between World War II monuments and the electoral geography of Croatia, approached in a quantitative manner. I am interested in the role and impact of historical monuments. Seen from a spatial perspective, monuments are physical interventions which "transmit" a certain political message within a given physical radius. The monuments built during the Yugoslav socialist regime commemorated the partisan struggle, victims of fascism, the solidarity of the Croatian and Serbian people, and socialism. This cultural heritage was politicized in a new way in the 1990s. Many monuments were destroyed during the Homeland War (1991-1995) or immediately after. Therefore, monuments are sites of political contention and can even be swept up during episodes of political violence. What can we show empirically? Is it possible to demonstrate an effect of monuments in a quantitative test of their connection with electoral geography? And furthermore, is it possible say why some monuments were destroyed and others were not? This paper will present current findings and possible future directions of research. It is part of an ongoing research effort devoted to constructing a comprehensive geographic data-set of World War II monuments in Croatia.

Author

• Marko Grdešić, U of Zagreb (Croatia)