Events in the aftermath of World War 2. in Austria and Slovenia and their impact on Croatia in the 1990s

Abstract

The post-war massacres that occurred in Yugoslavia after the World War II are almost unknown outside the Croatian community where they became a symbol of Croatian tragedy in the twentieth century, and an undeniable basis for all later symbolism and mythology employed in the raise of nationalism during the break up of Yugoslavian state. This research deals with the events not only in the historical context, but shows their role in the contemporary post conflict society nowadays. The basic hypothesis of the thesis that is structured into two parts (historical-descriptive one which explains how the human rights violations in 1945 occurred and what had caused them and the analytical part about the democratic changes in the year of 1990 and the influence of the Bleiburg events upon the programs of the political parties and the public opinion), is to show that unresolved historical mass human rights violations can become important factor in contemporary human rights breeches.