Location

• Zagreb Petrinjska ulica, Croatia 10000
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Languages

• Croatian

Name of collection

• History of Homosexuality in Croatia

Provenance and cultural activities

• The History of Homosexuality in Croatia Collection (in Croatian: Zbirka Povijest homoseksualnosti u Hrvatskoj) took form in the period 2007-2011 through a process of gathering archival materials and interviews, with the ultimate goal of providing insight into, and enabling research of Croatian gay and lesbian history in the second half of the 20^th century, especially in the socialist period. This pioneering project was developed by the Domino Association (better known as Queer Zagreb), a non-governmental organization dedicated primarily to the development and promotion of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) and queer culture and artistic practices in Croatia. In 2007, with Zvonimir Dobrović and Gordan Bosanac at the organization’s helm, Domino initiated projects that aimed to build and disseminate the historical memory of the Croatian gay and lesbian community. Thus, the organization collected court sentences for the crime of “unnatural fornication” meted out against homosexual men between 1945 and 1977. It also interviewed gay men and lesbians who spent most of their lives in socialist Yugoslavia.

  Furthermore, Toni Marošević (1945-2013) – a journalist, and the first openly gay man in Croatia – donated part of his personal bequest to Domino. These materials provided insights both into his private life and professional work during the 1980s, when Marošević promoted a positive image and acceptance of homosexuality in the media.

  The twenty-five interviews conducted in 2007 trace the direct lived experiences of gays and lesbians in socialist Croatia. The material was collected using the free association narrative interview method (Hodžić, 2012). The oldest respondents were born in 1945, and the youngest one in 1976. Therefore, the autobiographical accounts cover the span from the early 1960s up until the early 2000s. The original audio recordings are unavailable to the public and to researchers because the interviews were conducted with the proviso that they were used for this project specifically, with the final outcome of a published volume. However, it is probable that the original audio recordings and transcripts will be made available to researchers sometime in the future.

  Based on the interviews, a volume has been published, under the title of Oral History of Homosexuality in Croatia: Documenting Private and Public Life of Sexual and Gender Minorities (Dobrović and Bosanac 2007). On over 250 large-format pages, the book provided a selection of minimally edited and thematically sorted interviews with 25 people who had had homosexual experiences of some sort in their lives. Some among them had lived their gay or lesbian identities from early adolescence; others had only sporadically engaged in same-sex sexual and romantic relations; and some lived in heterosexual marriages publicly, while having homosexual relations privately. The book was reviewed in academic journals and in the press (Dota 2008; Duhaček 2008; Lazarin 2008) and was translated into English in 2016 (Dobrović and Bosanac 2016).

  In Croatia, from the 19^th century up to 1977, male same-sex sexual relations were deemed a felony punishable by prison, as was the case in most other European countries. However, before Domino’s project, little was known about if and how the Criminal Code provision that prohibited “unnatural fornication” had been enforced in judicial practice. Several respondents claimed that the provision was indeed enforced, and even cruelly so, in the first years of communist rule. This prompted Domino to search for court sentences against homosexuals in socialist Croatia.

  The court sentences and other materials pertinent to criminal cases against men convicted for “unnatural fornication” have been collected in extensive research into the Supreme Court of Croatia archival collection in the Croatian State Archives (HDA) and various local Zagreb tribunal collections originally kept in the State Archives in Zagreb (DAZG). In 2009 and 2010, several dozen verdicts for homosexual behaviour issued by Croatian tribunals from 1945 to 1977 (most of them dating before mid-1950s) were found.

  These sentences showed that by the mid-1950s in socialist Yugoslavia, homosexuality was branded as a corruptor of youth and a decadent, a rotten remnant of the old, overthrown bourgeois regime. The authorities were convinced that homosexuals came from the ranks of “decadent intellectuals,” the urban middle class, the clergy, all of which were perceived as “corruptors of healthy working-class youth.” Recent research (Dota 2017: 217-224) shows by 1977 about 1,500 men were convicted for homosexuality throughout Yugoslavia, of whom 500 in Croatia alone. From the 1960s onwards, a number of physicians, sexologists and attorneys began to frequently and publicly call for decriminalization of homosexuality. In 1977, homosexuality was indeed decriminalized, but only in some parts of the Yugoslav federation (Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Vojvodina).

  Court sentences and transcripts also demonstrated some men’s resilience and resistance: they argued that homosexuality was natural and harmless, expressed their disapproval with the law, and some even demanded total decriminalization of male homosexuality (Dota 2017, 94-95).

  In January 2010, the Domino Association organized a round-table discussion about the retrieved court sentences, and the Zagreb-based daily Jutarnji list published an article on the topic (Dota 2010a; Dota 2010b).

  The photocopies of court judgments are preserved by the Domino Association. They are available to the public and can be accessed at the NGO's premises by previous appointment. So far, they have been viewed by some professional historians for their academic research. The materials can be freely used and quoted, but not reproduced since the originals are owned by Croatian public archives.

  The materials are preserved in boxes and file folders, or otherwise shelved, but are not catalogued or curated. Since the collection was established after the demise of the Yugoslav socialist state, there was never a need to conceal it from the communist authorities.

  The Domino Association regularly submits project proposals to local, national and international institutions and foundations. For the Oral History of Homosexuality in Croatia research and book publishing project it was awarded ca. €13,000 from the COC Netherlands Foundation (Cultur en Ontspannings Centrum), and from the Croatian Ministry of Culture and the National Foundation for Civil Society Development.

Description of content

• The History of Homosexuality in Croatia Collection preserves material gathered through personal testimonies and photocopies of court verdicts for same-sex relations issued by Croatian tribunals from 1945 to 1977.

  The collection consists of:

  1. Audio recordings of interviews with approximately 30 people on their experiences and memories as homosexuals and lesbians who lived in socialist Croatia. In the book The Oral History of Homosexuality in Croatia (Doborvić and Bosanac, 2007) these statements are selected, minimally edited and published, while the full transcripts are maintained in the Collection. The oral memories were recorded in 2007 with the help of a dozen of volunteers, under the professional guidance of historians and other experts.

  2. Photocopies of court verdicts and other documents in criminal cases for “unnatural fornication” (homosexual behaviour) from the socialist era, found in Croatian public archives institutions: the Supreme Court of Croatia archival collection in the Croatian State Archives (HDA) and various local Zagreb tribunal collections from the State Archives in Zagreb (DAZG).

  3. The bequest of Toni Marošević (1945-2013), the first openly gay man in Croatia. In the 1980s, Marošević worked as a journalist at Omladinski radio [Youth Radio] (later Radio 101) where he hosted a show devoted to promoting a positive image and acceptance of homosexuality in socialist society.

  The materials are preserved in boxes and file folders, or otherwise shelved, at the Domino Association’s premises, but are not catalogued or curated.

Content

• grey literature (regular archival documents such as brochures, bulletins, leaflets, reports, intelligence files, records, working papers, meeting minutes): 10-99
• voice recordings (including oral history recordings): 10-99

Operator(s)

• Domino-Queer Zagreb

Owner(s)

• Domino-Queer Zagreb

Stakeholder(s) of the collection

• Dobrović, Zvonimir

Geographical scope of recent operation

• national

Topics

• alternative lifestyles and resistance of the everydays
• human rights movements
• minority movements

Founder(s)

• Domino-Queer Zagreb

Date of founding

• 2007

Place of founding

• Zagreb, Croatia
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Creator(s) of content

• Bosanac, Gordan
• Dobrović, Zvonimir

Collector(s)

• Bosanac, Gordan
• Dobrović, Zvonimir

Important events in the history of the collection

• Publication: Dobrović, Zvonimir & Gordan Bosanac (eds.). Usmena povijest homoseksualnosti u Hrvatskoj (Oral History of Homosexuality in Croatia ), 2007. Book
• Round table: “In the Name of the People! – Trials against Homosexuals and Lesbians in Croatia, 1945-1977”

Featured items

• Appeal letter against Zagreb District Court verdict K 236/949-7, December 1949
• Marošević, Toni. Notes for “Frigidna utičnica” [The Frigid Socket] radio show. 1984. Manuscript

Access type

• parts are closed to the public

Publications

• Dobrović, Zvonimir and Gordan Bosanac, eds. 2007. Usmena povijest homoseksualnosti u Hrvatskoj: dokumentiranje svjedočanstava o privatnom i javnom djelovanju seksualnih i rodnih manjina [Oral History of Homosexuality in Croatia: Documenting Private e Public Life of Sexual and Gender Minorities] Zagreb: Domino.

Author(s) of this page

• Dota, Franko

References

Bosanac, Gordan. 2013. “Sjećanja Tonija Maroševića (Zagreb, 2007.)” [Memories of Toni Marošević (Zagreb, 2007)]. Published as a series, from March 20 to April 3, 2013 on Queer.hr (accessed on 04-04-2013). Note: no longer available online.

Dobrović, Zvonimir and Gordan Bosanac, eds. 2007. Usmena povijest homoseksualnosti u Hrvatskoj: dokumentiranje svjedočanstava o privatnom i javnom djelovanju seksualnih i rodnih manjina [Oral History of Homosexuality in Croatia: Documenting Private e Public Life of Sexual and Gender Minorities] Zagreb: Domino.

Dobrović, Zvonimir and Gordan Bosanac, eds. 2016. An Oral History of Homosexuality in Croatia. Zagreb: Domino.

Dota, Franko. 2008. “Usmena povijest homoseksualnosti u Hrvatskoj: dokumentiranje svjedočanstava o privatnom i javnom djelovanju seksualnih i rodnih manjina – preteča LGBT pokreta u Hrvatskoj, uredili Zvonimir Dobrović i Gordan Bosanac, Domino, Zagreb, 2007.” Book review. Historijski zbornik 61, no. 2: 465–468.

Dota, Franko. 2010a. “Neprirodni blud koji podriva temelje socijalističke Hrvatske: biti gay u Jugoslaviji” [The Unnatural Lechery That Undermines the Foundations of Socialist Croatia: Being Gay in Yugoslavia]. Jutarnji list, no. 4140, 9th January, 2010. Accessed July, 4, 2018, https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/neprirodni-blud-koji-podriva-temelje-socijalisticke-hrvatske/2211960/.

Dota, Franko. 2010b. “Okrugli stol U ime naroda – suđenja homoseksualcima i lezbijkama u Hrvatskoj 1945.-1977.” [Round table: In the Name of the People! – Trails against Homosexuals and Lesbians in Croatia, 1945-1977]. Review. Historijski zbornik 63, no. 1: 390–391.

Dota, Franko. 2017. Javna i politička povijest muške homoseksualnosti u socijalističkoj Hrvatskoj (1945. – 1989.) [Public and Political History of Male Homosexuality in Socialist Croatia, 1945-1989]. Ph.D. Thesis. Zagreb: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb.

Duhaček, Gordan. 2008. “Homoseksualnost od Tita do Tuđmana” [Homosexuality from Tito to Tuđman]. Dnevni Kulturni Info: Radio 101, January 7th, 2008. Accessed April 13, 2016, www.dnevnikulturni.info/vijesti/knjizevnost/690/homoseksualnost_od_tita_do_tudjmana.

Hodžić, Amir. 2012. “The Making of: Oral History of Homosexuality in Croatia”. LGBTI ALMS: The Future of LGBT Histories. Accessed July 4, 2018, http://lgbtialms2012.blogspot.nl/2012/06/making-of-oral-history-of-homosexuality.html.

HR-DAZG-1007-527: “Žalba na presudu Okružnog suda u Zagrebu K 236/949-7” [Appeal letter against Zagreb District Court verdict K 236/949-7], December, 1949.

Kajinić, Sanja. 2016. “The First European Festival of Lesbian and Gay Film Was Yugoslav: Dismantling the Geotemporality of Europeanisation in Slovenia.” In LGBT Activism and Europeanisation in the Post-Yugoslav Space, ed. Bojan Bilić, 59–80. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kuhar, Roman. 2003. Media Representations of Homosexuality. An Analysis of the Print Media in Slovenia, 1970–2000. Ljubljana: Mirovni inštitut.

Lazarin, Branimira. 2008. “Muškarci su se voljeli i u vrijeme Tita” [Love between Men in Tito's Time]. Jutarnji list, January 26th, 2008. Accessed July 4, 2018, https://www.jutarnji.hr/arhiva/muskarci-su-se-voljeli-i-u-vrijeme-tita/3288557/.

Tomeković, Dubravka. 1984. “Prvi jugoslavenski Gay-radio” [The First Yugoslav Gay-Radio]. Start, no 400, May 19th, 1984.

Tratnik, Suzana. 2013. “Toni Marošević (1945-2013). In Memoriam.” Narobe, June 10, 2013. Accessed August 23, 2018, https://narobe.si/toni-marosevic-1945-2013/.

Vuletic, Dean. 2012. “Law, Politics and Homosexuality in Croatia, 1941–1952”. In Doing Gender – Doing the Balkans. Dynamics and Persistence of Gender Relations in Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav Successor States, eds. R. Kersten-Pejanić, S. Rajilić and C. Voss, 197–207. Munich and Berlin: Verlag Otto Sanger.

Bosanac, Gordan, interview by Dota, Franko, June 27, 2018. COURAGE Registry Oral History Collection