Our Revenge is a Free State of Croatia, Book Presentation

The Croatian Heritage Foundation (Hrvatska matica iseljenika) invites you to the solemn presentation of the book by historian Wollfy Krašić titled "Our Revenge is a Free State of Croatia", which focuses, according to its subtitle, on "Commemorations of the Bleiburg Tragedy in Croatian Emigrant Communities and on the Bleiburg Field in the Period from 1945 to 1990".

The presentation will take place on Thursday, November 5, 2026, at 5 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Croatian Heritage Foundation, Trg Stjepana Radića 3, Zagreb.

Alongside the author, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sc. Wollfy Krašić, the book will be discussed by historians Dr. Sc. Ivan Tepeš and Dr. Sc. Marin Sopta.

The publisher is the Association Croatian Way of the Cross - Center for the Investigation of Communist Totalitarianism and Its Legacy. The co-publishers of the book are: The Bleiburg Honorary Guard, the Institute for Migration Research, and the Croatian Heritage Foundation. The book was printed with the partial support of the Central State Office for Croats Abroad.

A special artistic program will be performed by dramatic artist Dragan Despot, flutist Rašeljka Lucija Petrač, and soloist Nika Pastuović, with piano accompaniment by Tomislav Brebrić. The moderator is Vesna Kukavica, head of the Foundation's Publishing Department.

About the Book

This historiographical study by a renowned historian of the younger generation examines how Croatian emigrant communities and commemorations on the Bleiburg field from 1945 to 1990 shaped the culture of memory regarding the Bleiburg tragedy and the Way of the Cross. The book's author demonstrates that over time, on the free West, these commemorations became an expression of growing Croatian unity: the event was recognized as a national tragedy rather than just the defeat of a single political option. The messages did not call for revenge, but instead demanded the right to the truth about the tragic events and strengthened perseverance in the struggle for an independent, democratic Croatian state as the most permanent monument to the victims and the most effective barrier against "new Bleiburgs". The title phrase is an unsettling quote from a book by an authentic political emigrant, Kazimir Katalinić. The historiographical study, spanning 350 pages, consists of nine thematic sections accompanied by clear scientific argumentation regarding the echoes of these tragic historical events and the inevitable transgenerational traumas of their protagonists, along with a comprehensive scientific apparatus citing reliable primary sources. The concluding sections describe the meeting, after four and a half decades, of surviving refugees and political emigrants with the homeland public on the Bleiburg field in 1990, and in the book's finale, the author conclusively focuses on the reconstructions and interpretations of the Bleiburg tragedy - between myths and reality.

About the Author

Historian Wollfy Krašić was born on July 12, 1988, in Rijeka. He studied at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb, graduating with the thesis "The Activities of Dr. Ante Ciliga in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the Independent State of Croatia from 1936 to 1944." He completed his postgraduate studies in modern and contemporary history by defending his doctoral dissertation "The Croatian Spring and Croatian Political Emigration" (2016). On both occasions, his mentor was Prof. Dr. Sc. Ivo Banac. He is employed as an associate professor at the Department of Demography and Croatian Diaspora at the Faculty of Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb. His research focuses on the activities of the Croatian political emigration, as well as homeland resistance and the intellectual opposition to the Yugoslav communist regime, and the phenomenon of labor migration from communist Yugoslavia. In addition to teaching in the integrated study program of demography and Croatian diaspora, he also teaches in the doctoral history program. He is currently an editorial board member of three scientific journals – Kroatologija: Journal for Croatian Culture of the Faculty of Croatian Studies, Obnova: Journal for Culture, Society and Politics, and the Journal of Croatian Studies: Annual Review of the Croatian Academy of America. Along with this book, he has published three other scientific monographs: The Croatian Spring and Croatian Political Emigration (Zagreb: Školska knjiga, 2018); The Croatian Resistance Movement: Croatian State-Building Organizations and Groups 1945-1966 (Zagreb: AGM, 2018), and On The Road To Freedom: Croatian National Resistance to the Yugoslav Communist Regime, 1945-1966 (Chicago: CroLibertas, 2023). Furthermore, he has published more than 30 scientific papers. He has presented at a series of prestigious scientific and professional conferences both at home and abroad, thanks to the competitiveness of his authorial discourse. He has also written a large number of popular-science and publicist texts in prestigious domestic and foreign newspapers, journals, and internet portals. He has held a series of notable public lectures and has appeared as a guest on television, radio, and YouTube shows.