COURAGE

connecting collections

The Foreign Croatica Collection is the largest collection of books and periodicals published by Croatian authors in foreign countries. The Collection includes publications in many languages covering numerous issues on Croatia and the Croatian people, including those related to the socialist period. It is the most important collection in Croatia containing books by Croatian émigrés banned during the time of socialist Yugoslavia.

The ‘Office of the President of the Republic’ collection was a constituent part of the former archive of J.B. Tito and today comprises a separate unit within the Archives of Yugoslavia. It contains materials that were created in connection with the activity of the president of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito, who was at the helm of the state from 1945 to 1980. The collection is exceptionally rich in material relevant for the study of all aspects of Yugoslav history, and also contains documents relating to opposition activities during the time of his rule.

The temporary collection "Forms of Resistance" is dedicated to the artistic opposition against the communist regime in Bulgaria from 1944 to 1985. The exhibition highlights different forms of repression against particular artists at particular moments during the period of state socialism. It also shows the active role of some painters, as well as their forms of resistance against the dogmas of Socialist Realism and against ideological guidance. The upper time limit is the beginning of the perestroika in the Soviet Union, which marks the beginning of the final disintegration of the system of state socialism, also with regard to the political control of arts.