Location

Zagreb Trg Marka Marulića 21, Croatia 10000
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Languages

Croatian

Name of collection

HR-HDA-1561. State Security Service of the Republic Internal Affairs Secretariat of the Socialist Republic of Croatia. Internal issues. Operation Tuškanac.

Provenance and cultural activities

The best example of cultural opposition from communist period in Croatia is the cultural and political movement in the early 1970s known as the Croatian Spring, the Croatian national movement or the mass movement (maspok), which encompassed a significant number of Croatian people and had their mass public support (Goldstein 2008, pp. 462-463). Together with a part of the Croatian reformist and nationally oriented political leaders (Savka Dabčević-Kučar, Mika Tripalo, Pero Pirker, Ivan Šibl, Dragutin Haramija) and the cultural and literary organization Matica hrvatska, its third essential component consisted of Croatian university students and professors, mostly at the University of Zagreb.

The institutionalisation of this student movement began in December 1970 when Ivan Zvonimir Čičak, a graduate student at Institute for the Theological Culture of Laypersons at the Faculty of Theology in Zagreb, was elected to the newly established post of student vice-chancellor at the University in Zagreb (Akmadža 2012, p. 604). Afterward, in the spring of 1971, the previous student leaders were dismissed, and a new, more nationally oriented leadership was elected, led by Dražen Budiša as president of the Student Association of Zagreb and Ante Paradžik as president of the Student Association of Croatia, which gathered representatives from all Croatian university centres (Šušak 2008, pp. 773-774; Veselinović 2016, p. 135). Before their election, the previous student leaders and various student organisations contested Ivan Zvonimir Čičak's election as student vice-chancellor, accusing him of connections to the Catholic Church, i.e., of being a clerical nationalist (Akmadža 2012, p. 604).

As a sign of the strong support for reformist political leaders in Croatia, during 1971 students organised mass meetings and public forums, and in November they decided to go on general strike at the University of Zagreb. They were joined by several other universities (Split, Zadar). This student strike was viewed by Tito as a “long and accurately prepared counterrevolutionary action supported by certain foreign elementsˮ (Goldstein 2008, p. 470). Through speeches at meetings and forums, student newspapers and pamphlets distributed at the University and other places, and by scrawling graffiti with slogans at public places (buildings, trams stations, etc.), students promoted ideas on national equality and greater Croatian autonomy. They were, inter alia, prompted by debate on constitutional amendments as the main political theme in the autumn of 1971. The amendments supposed to provide a definition of Croatia (as nation state or otherwise), to solve the question of national self-determination, the name of the official language, the capital of the Republic, its anthem and other matters (Veselinović 2016, p. 136). In their public demands, students also sought changes in the foreign trade and currency system (“foreign currency to those who earned itˮ) and reform of the army (Goldstein 2008, p. 468; Akmadža 2012, p. 606). Student leaders often participated at founding meetings of branches of Matica hrvatska, and at the same time the most prominent members of this organization attended and delivered speeches at student meetings and forums (Veselinović 2016, p. 135).

The crackdown on the Croatian Spring and the repression against its members came in December 1971, after the twenty-first session of the Presidium of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, held in Tito's residence in Karađorđevo. Croatian political leaders were removed from their posts and banned from engaging in any public work. On the eve of the twenty-third session of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Croatia held in Zagreb on 12 December 1971, where they formally resigned, as a show of support students distributed pamphlets calling for demonstrations in front of the Central Committee's headquarters. According to a report by the Republic Internal Affairs Secretariat of the Socialist Republic of Croatia, some pamphlets were seized, and a dozen of students were criminally indicted. Besides the staff of the Public Security Service in Zagreb, 812 police officers from other towns and cities were engaged to suppress the demonstrations (HR-HDA-1561. SDS RSUP SRH. Internal issues, code 016.1/4-25). The most prominent members of Matica hrvatska (Marko Veselica, Vlado Gotovac, Šime Đodan, Hrvoje Šošić and others) and student leaders (Dražen Budiša, Ivan Zvonimir Čičak, Goran Dodig, Ante Paradžik) were sentenced to several-years in prison in show trials, based on charges of enemy propaganda and “criminal offences against the people and state by a counterrevolutionary attack on the state and social orderˮ (Goldstein 2008, p. 470; Irvine 2011, p. 28; Akmadža 2012, p. 608; HR-HDA-1561. SDS RSUP SRH. Internal issues, code 016.1/4-43).

Activities at University of Zagreb had been monitored by the Croatian State Security Service since the middle of 1968, after the eruption of student demonstrations in Belgrade on 2 June, which also had reverberations in other Yugoslavian republics (Jandrić 2002, pp. 11-40). The Federal Internal Affairs Secretariat forwarded communiqués on activities in Belgrade to all republic-level security services, together with instructions on operative measures which should be taken. The republic services exchanged information on specific student activities (meetings, public forums, texts in student newspapers, dissemination of slogans and pamphlets) and their participants. With the objective of monitoring activities among students at the University of Zagreb, the State Security Service's Centre in Zagreb employed a range of operative measures during that year (surveillance, recording of speeches at public meetings, taking photographs, tapping phones, screening correspondence in all student dormitories, faculties, the Student Centre, the Croatian Heritage Foundation, Matica hrvatska, the Institute for the History of the Labour Movement and other institutions; interrogations at the State Security Service). For a specified number of persons (students, professors), the State Security Service opened intelligence files and “files in preliminary work due to hostile activities during student demonstrations” (HR-HDA-1561. SDS RSUP SRH. Internal issues, codes 016.1/1, 016.1/2 and 016.1/3).

A certain number of students and professors were monitored by the Croatian State Security Service under Operation Klek, directed against advocates and supporters of the Declaration on the Status and Name of the Croatian Literary Language drafted by Croatian scholars in 1967 (HR-HDA-1561. SDS RSUP SRH. Internal issues, code 017/12). At the beginning of February 1971, the Croatian State Security Service launched a new operation named Tuškanac (the name of a residential neighbourhood and forest park in Zagreb), with the reasoning that the previous operative activities “showed that the working methods of Čičak and his supporters after his election to the post of student vice-chancellor differ from the methods of other persons under Operation Klek.ˮ Besides Ivan Zvonimir Čičak, Operation Tuškanac initially encompassed 17 other people “who supported him at that post (HR-HDA-1561. SDS RSUP SRH. Internal issues, code 016.1/4-1). In the operative plan for 1972, because of the “identified nationalist/chauvinist/separatist activities” in the earlier period, the State Security Service Centre in Zagreb planned to process 51 persons, mostly students, but also high school students, teachers in high schools and university assistants. Furthermore, “for the purpose of interrogations for the purpose of intercepting hostile activities, clarifying ambiguous details and engaging new persons for cooperation,ˮ plans were made to cover 65 more students. As before, house searches, wiretaps in homes and offices, screening of correspondence, supervision and other methods of surveillance were planned.

All documents created or collected during Operation Tuškanac were originally formed by the Croatian State Security Service in a special thematic unit, designated by numerical code 016.4/4. They were classified in the “Terrorismˮ unit, under sub-heading “Other subversive activities.ˮ

The content of the collection is fully relevant to cultural opposition topics. It documents the methods employed by the Yugoslav/Croatian secret services, the extent of intelligence and counter-intelligence activities, as well as state repression against students and professors at the University of Zagreb, and related participants in the Croatian Spring, the Croatian reform movement in the early 1970s.

The collection was handed over to the Croatian State Archives in Zagreb on an ex officio basis from the Security and Intelligence Agency of the Republic of Croatia in 2015. All documents that were initially classified were declassified at that time. Under the Amendments to the Archives Act of May 2017, the documents became publicly available without any particular restrictions.

Description of content

The collection includes plans for operative actions, various operational reports, event chronologies, minutes, copies and transcripts of recorded public forums and meetings of student organisations (Student Association of Croatia, Student Association of Zagreb, constituent assembly of Tomislav Student Club from Duvno in Zagreb on 18 April 1971, constituent assembly of Territorial Student Club from Kupres in October 1971, meetings of students at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science, the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb, student meetings in dormitories in Zagreb) during 1971, at which “hostile and nationalist activitiesˮ were identified. It also includes the transcripts of audio recordings of interviews with student leaders conducted by foreign journalists, clippings from the foreign press on the student movement in Croatia, official records on interrogations of over 200 persons in the State Security Service Centre in Zagreb, copies of indictments and criminal charges, anonymous letters and pamphlets, information on materials seized during searches of homes and offices, as well as other written materials collected by the Croatian State Security Service during Operation Tuškanac, conducted against students and professors at the University in Zagreb early in the 1970s based on charges of nationalist and hostile activities against the communist regime in Croatia. It was one of several operations conducted by the Croatian State Security Service against members of the Croatian Spring, a national movement in which student reform demands were an essential element.

All documents created or collected during Operation Tuškanac were originally formed by the Croatian State Security Service in a special thematic unit, designated by numerical code 016.4/4. They were classified in the “Terrorismˮ unit, under sub-heading “Other subversive activities.ˮ In total, the collection includes approximately 5,700 pages of documents. This initial structure of collection was retained after the Croatian State Archives assumed possession of the documents. The collection has been supplemented with documents on other aspects of Croatian national movement in early 1970s contained in other Croatian State Security collections, also in the Croatian State Archives in Zagreb.

The content of the collection is fully relevant to cultural opposition topics. It documents the methods employed by the Yugoslav/Croatian secret services, the extent of intelligence and counter-intelligence activities, as well as state repression against students and professors at the University of Zagreb, and related participants in the Croatian Spring, the Croatian reform movement in the early 1970s.

Content

grey literature (regular archival documents such as brochures, bulletins, leaflets, reports, intelligence files, records, working papers, meeting minutes): 1000-

Geographical scope of recent operation

national

Topics

Founder(s)

State Security Service of the Republic Internal Affairs Secretariat of the Socialist Republic of Croatia

Date of founding

1971

Place of founding

Zagreb, Croatia
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Creator(s) of content

State Security Service of the Republic Internal Affairs Secretariat of the Socialist Republic of Croatia

Collector(s)

State Security Service of the Republic Internal Affairs Secretariat of the Socialist Republic of Croatia

Supporters

Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia

Important events in the history of the collection

Featured items

Access type

completely open to the public

Author(s) of this page

Bukvić, Nenad

References

Akmadža, Miroslav. 2012. „Katolička crkva i Hrvatsko proljeće ˮ. Časopis za suvremenu povijest (Zagreb), 44, no. 3: 603-630.

Goldstein, Ivo. 2008. Hrvatska povijest. Zagreb: Europapress holding.

Heđbeli, Živana. 2011. Institucije državne uprave Republike Hrvatske od osamostaljenja do članstva u Europskoj uniji. I. dio 1990. – 2004. Zagreb: Documenta – Centar za suočavanje s prošlošću.

HR-HDA-1561. Služba državne sigurnosti Republičkog sekretarijata unutrašnjih poslova SRH. Unutarnja problematika. Akcija Tuškanac, šifra 016.1/4. [HR-HDA-1081. State Security Service of the Republic Internal Affairs Secretariat of the Socialist Republic of Croatia. Internal issues. Operative action Tuškanac, code 016.1/4]

Hrvatska enciklopedija online [Croatian Encyclopedia online]. „Hrvatsko proljeće ˮ. Accessed on May 30, 2018.

Irvine, Jill. 2011. „Hrvatsko proljeće i raspad Jugoslavije ˮ. Političke analize (Zagreb), 2, no. 7: 28-37.

Jandrić, Berislav. 2002. „Prilog proučavanju studentskih demonstracija na Filozofskom fakultetu u Zagrebu 1968.ˮ. Časopis za suvremenu povijest (Zagreb), 34, no. 1: 7-40.

Kursar, Tonči. 2006. „Prijeporni pluralizam 1971.ˮ. Politička misao: časopis za politologiju (Zagreb), 43, no. 4: 143-155.

Mikšić, Diana. 2015. „HR-HDA-1561 Služba državne sigurnosti Republičkog sekretarijata za unutrašnje poslove Socijalističke Republike Hrvatske”. In: Iseljeništvo. Vodič kroz fondove i zbirke Hrvatskoga državnog arhiva, Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv, 405-415.

Mikšić, Diana. 2016. „HR-HDA-1561 Služba državne sigurnosti Republičkog sekretarijata za unutrašnje poslove Socijalističke Republike Hrvatske”. In: Prvi svjetski rat. Vodič kroz fondove i zbirke Hrvatskoga državnog arhiva, Zagreb: Hrvatski državni arhiv, 175-179.

Ministarstvo unutarnjih poslova RH. June 2016. „Godišnje izvješće o radu za 2015. godinu”. Accesed on September 22, 2017.

Radelić, Zdenko. 2015. „KPJ i sigurnosno-obavještajni sustav u Hrvatskoj (1941.-1951.)”. Historijski zbornik (Zagreb), 68, no. 1: 73-105.

Sigurnosno-obavještajna agencija. „Služba za zaštitu ustavnog poretka”. Accesed on April 24, 2017.

Sigurnosno-obavještajna agencija. „Protuobavještajna agencija”. Accesed on September 22, 2017.

Sigurnosno-obavještajna agencija. „Sigurnosno-obavještajna agencija”. Accesed on September 22, 2017.

Sigurnosno-obavještajna agencija. 2016. „Javno izvješće 2016”. Accesed on April 27, 2017.

Sigurnosno-obavještajna agencija. 2017. „Javno izvješće 2017”. Accesed on September 21, 2017.

Sigurnosno-obavještajna agencija. 25 September 2015. „SOA predala arhivsko gradivo bivše Službe državne sigurnosti Hrvatskom državnom arhivu”. Accesed on April 27, 2017.

Šušak, Ivica. 2008. „Hrvatsko proljeće – počeci političkog interesnog pluralizma ˮ. Hrvatska i komparativna javna uprava: časopis za teoriju i praksu javne uprave (Zagreb), 8, no. 3: 767-783.

Veselinović, Velimir. 2016. „Politička djelatnost Ante Paradžika ˮ. Anali Hrvatskog politološkog društva: časopis za politologiju (Zagreb), 12, no. 1: 133-155.

Zakon o sigurnosno-obavještajnom sustavu Republike Hrvatske [The Law on security and intelligence system in the Republic of Croatia], Narodne novine RH, no. 79 and 105, 2006.

Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o arhivskom gradivu i arhivima [The Law amending and supplementing the Law on Archival Records and Archives], Narodne novine RH, no. 46, 2017.

Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o unutarnjim poslovima [The Law amending and supplementing the Law on internal affairs], Narodne novine RH, no. 19, 1991.

Zubak, Marko. 2014. „Omladinski tisak i kulturna strana studentskoga pokreta u Socijalističkoj Federativnoj Republici Jugoslaviji (1968. – 1972.)ˮ. Časopis za suvremenu povijest (Zagreb), 46, no. 1: 37-53.

COURAGE

connecting collections

Operation Tuškanac in the Croatian State Security Service Collection (1971)