Location

Zagreb Trg Marka Marulića 21, Croatia 10000
Show on map

Languages

Croatian
English
French
German
Italian
Serbian
Spanish

Website

http://arhinet.arhiv.hr/details.aspx?ItemId=1_5649

Name of collection

Bogdan Radica Personal Papers

Provenance and cultural activities

Bogdan Radica began gathering his collection during WWII and completed it during the period Yugoslavia broke up and the 1991-92 Croatian Homeland War. Radica was the primary person and collector who assembled materials for the collection. There was no clear purpose in beginning the collection, except in creating a personal archive. It was mainly based on his work as a publicist, journalist, and professor working and living abroad. The collection was owned by the Radica family, i.e. his daughter Bosiljka before she deposited it at the CSA. Since they lived outside Yugoslavia, there was no need to hide the collection from the communist Yugoslav government. However, his works were strictly prohibited in Yugoslavia. On 10 April 1947, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia in Belgrade banned his book titled Agonija Evrope (Agony of Europe) along with some other books he had written. That is why he wrote very negatively about international communism and the Yugoslav regime. Later, his book titled Hrvatska 1945 (Croatia 1945) also came under attack by the government when it was issued in 1974. In it, he describes the terror carried out by Yugoslav communists.

In 1988, Croatian historian Ljubo Boban asked Radica to donate his collection to the then Archive of Croatia. Although Radica greatly appreciated Boban’s academic work, he adamantly refused the request, despite believing that the Communist dictatorship in Yugoslavia was coming to an end. The main reason was his general distrust of the regime with which he was in ideological conflict as a member of the cultural opposition and an older member of the émigré population. The previous year, in 1987, Radica donated a smaller part of his collection to the Yale University Library through Professor Ivo Banac. It contained fifteen archival boxes of material relating to the period from 1939 to 1986. Most of it concerned his work at Information Press of the Royal Embassy of Yugoslavia in Washington. After the onset of democratic changes in 1990, his intention was to donate the rest (major part) of his collection to the Public Library of Split and to the National and University Library in Zagreb, which is evident from Ivan Mihel's letter of 14 May 1992. However, with his death in 1993, this did not happen. Finally, based on information from Ivo Banac, Radica’s private library was donated to the Public Library of Split. Later, after his death, Ivo Banac arranged the transfer of the collection from Yale to the CSA in Zagreb, following the digitisation of the collection aided by the Curator of the Slavic Collection at Yale University, Tamara Lorković. In 2001 and 2006, Radica's daughter, Bosiljka Raditsa, donated the bigger part of the collection to the CSA. This led to the fulfilment of Radica's desire to transfer his collection to his homeland after the fall of Communism and make it available to researchers and the public. The collection was institutionalised by the gift agreement between Bosiljka Raditsa and the CSA and by the annexe to that gift in 2006.

The records were deposited on three separate occasions, in 1996, 2001 and 2006. The collection was formed on the basis of three acquisitions. Thanks to Ivo Banac, acquisition no. 14/1996 was donated by the Yale University Library. Acquisition no. 21/2001 was donated by the collector's daughter, Bosiljka Raditsa, and consisted of 118 archival boxes. The last acquisition, no. 43/2006, was also donated by Bosiljka Raditsa and consisted of twenty two archival boxes. After processing the records, the collection now resides in 116 archival boxes and four fascicles. Currently, the records have been summarised and partially listed, with the description of the second acquisition being most detailed.
Given that Radica was one of the most prominent Croatian political émigrés of the last century, his collection is a first class source of twentieth-century Croatian political and cultural history. It also sheds light on the spectrum of events in confronting international communism. As a further note, Radica was a liberal who advocated democracy and human rights. Accordingly, his collection is relevant for world and European history, as Radica belonged to the global anti-communist movement organised by Eastern European émigrés in America.

Description of content

Radica's collection contains personal documents (passports, recommendations, university certificates, faculty licenses, diplomatic documents, etc.), manuscripts, articles, books, travels, memoirs and autobiography notes, written speeches, lectures and various other notes (twentieth-century Croatian and Yugoslav topics mainly relating to politics, history and literature). The main topic is the Croatian national question and the Yugoslav communism, but other topics include numerous issues relating to the history of the Balkans, as well as European and world history. These issues concern democracy, international communism, world literature, USA, Italy, Spain, the USSR, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria and Albania. The collection is written in Croatian and English, with part of it in Italian and Spanish.

The collection also includes his book Sredozemni povratak (Mediterranean Recovery) (München-Barcelona: Knjižnica Hrvatske revije, 1971) and typewritten manuscripts for the books Hrvatska 1945 (Croatia 1945) (Munich-Barcelona: Knjižnica Hrvatske revije, 1974), Živjeti nedoživjeti - uspomene jednog hrvatskog intelektualaca kroz moralnu i ideološku krizu Zapada (To Live but not to Experience - Reminiscences of a Croatian Intellectual through Moral and Ideological Crisis of West) (Munich-Barcelona: Knjižnica Hrvatske revije, 1982). There are also originals and copies from the following articles: “Yugoslavia's Tragic Lesson to the World” (The Reader's Digest), “Yugoslavia Today” (The New Republic), “Is Titoism Different?” (Challenge), “What Price Tito?” (The American Mercury), “Hrvatska poslije Karagjorjeva prah i pepeo, pobjede i poraza” (“Croatia after Karadjordjevo: Dust and Ash of Victory and Defeat”) (Hrvatska revija) i “Jugoslavija u američkoj politici” (“Yugoslavia in American Politics”) (Nova Hrvatska). The people whom Radica dedicated a vast number of essays and articles include the first Yugoslav dissent, Milovan Đilas, and one of the most prominent leaders of Tito's cultural policy and Croatian writer, Miroslav Krleža. Also worth mentioning from among the unpublished manuscripts is the text titled “I served Tito” .

Various materials were used for writing his works (copies of documents, numerous publications and others), followed by private and official correspondences (Vinko Nikolić, Ivan Meštrović, Jure Prpić, Jure Petričević, Bruno Bušić, Milovan Đilas, Vladko Maček, Mirko Vidović, Mihajlo Mihajlov, Nikola Čolak, Ante Kadić, Jakša Kušan, Vinko Grubišić, Branko Pešelj, Mato Vučetić, Zlatko Markus, Konstantin Fotić, Bogoljub Jevtić, Pavao Tijan, Ivan Babić, Tihomil Rađa, Dinko Tomašić, Franc Snoj, Zlatko Tomičić, Juraj Krnjević, Mate Meštrović, Roko Kaleb, Pavle Ostović, Karlo Mirth, Prince Paul of Yugoslavia (Karađorđević), Franjo Tuđman and other Croatian and Serbian emigrants and dissent milieu); a letter to the American president Gerald Ford in 1974; manuscripts and the books of other authors (Nora Beloff, Truth about Titoism, Ivan Meštrović, Pisma Ivana Meštrovića Bogdanu Radici (1946.-1961.) (The Letters of Ivan Mestrovic to Bogdan Radica 1946-1961) (Munich-Barcelona: Knjižnica Hrvatske revije, 1984), Vojislav Koštunica and Kosta Čavoški, Stranački pluralizam ili monizam (Party pluralism and monism) (Belgrade: Centre for Philosophy and Social Theory, 1983), F. Cicak, Memoirs, Ivan Mužić, Hrvatska politika i jugoslavenska ideja (Croatian politics and Yugoslav idea) (Split: Privatna naklada, 1969), Z. Lisac, Sul marxismo (About Marxism), Dinko Šuljak, Tražio sam Radićevu Hrvatsku (I Was Looking for Radić's Croatia) (Munich-Barcelona: Knjižnica Hrvatske revije, 1988), Vladimir Stanković, The Catholic Church and the Croatian in Foreign Lands, Jacques Bačić, Red Sea, Black Russia; various newspapers, reviews, bulletins, press clippings and articles of American and European, émigré and Yugoslav press: New York Times, Reader's Digest, The New Leader, The Nation, The New Republic, The Christian Science Monitor, Slavic Review, Christian Anticommunism Crusade, L'Osservatore Romano, Il Mondo, Corriere della Serra, ABC, Journal of Croatian Studies, Contemporary Society, Nova Hrvatska (New Croatia), Hrvatska sloboda (Croatian Freedom), Danica, Vjesnik Hrvatskog narodnog vijeća (News of the Croatian National Council), Hrvatska revija (Croatian Review), Poruka slobodne Hrvatske (Message from Free Croatia), Zajedničar (Partaker), Kroatische Berichte, Srpska borba (Serbian Struggle), Glas kanadskih Srba (Voice of Canadian Serbs), Nova reč (New Word), Vjesnik (News), Politika (Politics), Večernji list (Evening Gazette) and others.).

The materials of various organizations in which Radica was the member, cooperator or supporter: Croatian Academy of America, The Wilson Center, The International League for Human Rights, The International PEN Club, The Free Committee for the Free World, American Historical Association, American friends of Captive Nations, South Slavs Association, Hrvatsko narodno vijeće (Croatian National Council), Radio Free Europe, Liberal International, Democracy International Committee to Aid Democratic Dissidents in Yugoslavia and Hrvatska demokratska zajednica (Croatian Democratic Union) (correspondences, programs, memorandums, bulletins, newsletters, materials of congress and symposiums); various materials of émigré intellectuals like Ante Ciliga; university lectures at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey (1950-1974) on European modern history since French revolution (courses titled “Intellectual History of Europe since 1789”, “The Balkans”, “Modern Italy Bibliography Exams”, “The Balkans and Russia”, “The Great Men”, “The Comparison of Civilisations”) and test questions for students; private photos with the members of family and other known people (e.g. Andrija Štampar, Franjo Tuđman, Alojzije Stepinac, Jere Jareb). The records are in paper format and are not digitised.

Content

manuscripts (ego-documents, diaries, notes, letters, drafts, etc.): 1000-
photos: 10-99
publications (books, newspapers, articles, press clippings): 100-499
publications (books, newspapers, articles, press clippings): 1000-

Operator(s)

Croatian State Archives

Owner(s)

Stakeholder(s) of the collection

Bosnar, Marijan

Geographical scope of recent operation

diaspora

Topics

Important events in the history of the collection

Featured items

Access type

parts are closed to the public

Author(s) of this page

Kljaić, Stipe

References

“Pismo Ivana Mihela, ravnatelja Nacionalne i sveučilišne biblioteke u Zagrebu 14. 5. 1992. Bogdanu Radici (A letter from Ivan Mihel, Director of the National and University Library, to Bogdan Radica, 14th May 1992)”.
Croatian State Archives. Bogdan Radica Personal Papers (HR-HDA-1769), box 2, “Pismo Ljube Bobana Bogdanu Radici 1988. godine (A Letter of Ljubo Boban to Bogdan Radica in 1988)”.
Kljaić, Stipe. Interview with Marijan Bosnar. November, 15, 2016.
Kljaić, Stipe. Interview with Prof. Ivo Banac. November 18, 2016.
Krašić, Wolffy. "Hrvatsko proljeće i hrvatska politička emigracija (The Croatian Spring and the Croatian Political Emigration)." PhD diss., University of Zagreb, 2016.
Mihaljević, Nikica. Za vratima domovine – sudbine i pogledi hrvatskih intelektualaca u emigraciji (At the Door of the Homeland - Destinies and Views of Croatian Intellectuals in Exile). Zagreb: PIP Naklada Pavičić, 2011.
Sadkovich, James J. Tuđman: prva politička biografija (Tudjman: The First Political Biography). Zagreb: Večernji edicija, 2010.
Pandurić, Josip. “Sudbina Agonije Europe Bogdana Radice” (The Fate of Bogdan Radica’s Agony of Europe). In Radica, Bogdan, Agonija Europe: razgovori i susreti, 9-17. Zagreb: Disput, 2006.
Radica, Bogdan. Hrvatska 1945 (Croatia 1945). München-Barcelona: Hrvatska revija, 1974.
Radica, Bogdan. Živjeti i nedoživjeti – uspomene jednog hrvatskog intelektualca na moralnu i ideološku krizu Zapada (knj.1.) (To Live but not Experience - Memories of a Croatian Intellectual on the Moral and Ideological Crisis of the West, vol. 1). Zagreb-München-Barcelona: Hrvatska revija, 1982.
Vidmarović, Đuro. „U DHK Obilježena 110. Obljetnica Rođenja Bogdana Radice." (In the Croatian Writers Society 110th birthday of Bogdan Radica Commemorated). Portal Hrvatskoga Kulturnog Vijeća. Accessed February 10, 2017. http://www.hkv.hr/izdvojeno/komentari/dvidmarovic/19015-d-vidmarovic-u-dhk-obiljezena-110-obljetnica-rodenja-bogdana-radice.html.
Radica, Bogdan. “Pismohrana Bogdana Radice na Yale-University” [The archives of Bogdan Radica at Yale University]. Hrvatska revija 37 (1987): 349.

Banac, Ivo , interview by Kljaić, Stipe , November 18, 2016. COURAGE Registry Oral History Collection

Bosnar, Marijan , interview by Kljaić, Stipe , November 15, 2016. COURAGE Registry Oral History Collection

COURAGE

connecting collections

Bogdan Radica Collection