Odjeci uspostave Banovine Hrvatske u hrvatsko-bunjevačkoj javnosti
Echoes of the Establishment of Croatian Banovina in the Bačka-Croatian Public

Summary/Abstract: In the paper the author analyses the response of the Ba~ka- -Croatian (Bunjevac) public to the establishment of Croatian Banovina in 1939-1941. Making use of the available sources, first and foremost newspaper articles, journals and advertising brochures, the author discusses the importance of strengthening political and cultural ties between Zagreb and Subotica on the eve of the Second World War. The author also presents the main guidelines of the process of national integration of the Ba~ka- -Croatian ethnic community into the Croatian nation. Therefore, the decisive role of the Ba~ka-Croatian elite at the time in preserving national identity, in other words the self-confident declaration of Ba~ka-Croats and Sokci group as Croats, is observed. The resistance of the Backa-Croatian community against frequent attempts of assimilation by Serbian hegemonistic circles has also been presented. The author stresses the importance of the little known public support and activities on the part of the Ba~ka-Croatian cultural and political elites with the aim of annexing "Backa Croatia", that is, annexing six northern Backa and Baranja counties with the majority of Catholic Sokci and Bunjevci populations to the independent Croatian Banovina.

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