Josip Buturac and his world

Tadić, Vinko. (2018). Josip Buturac and his world. Radovi zavoda za hrvatsku povijest, 50(2). pp. 171-208. ISSN 0353-295X

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Abstract

This article deals with the life and work of a priest, publicist, historian and archivist Josip Buturac and is mainly based on the analysis of both his published and unpublished autobiographical works and other relevant sources of his personal collection kept in the Croatian State Archives in Slavonski Brod, Department of Požega. The objective of this article is to present and discuss Buturac’s life and work as well as to analyse his attitude towards the main political ideas of the 19th and 20th centuries, assessment of activities of the main characters of modern and contemporary Croatian history, national and religious identity and his relationship with his native land, especially when it comes to his literary works which are greatly related to the history of the Požega Valley. In order to make his life and his world more transparent, this article explores Josip Buturac’s attitude towards the Serbs, chetniks, partisans, Ustasha and his contemplation on his moral, intellectual, and spiritual endeavours and dilemmas. He was a man with the conservative outlook, an anti-communist and an adversary of liberalism. His life is intertwined with radical Croatian nationalism and Christian humanism, exclusiveness and tolerance, dialogue and conflict. But when it comes to his activity during the socialist regime, he shows highly adaptive skills which can be seen in his mostly successful integration in the Yugoslav socialist regime. His ideological prejudice and emotions sometimes made him construct distorted image of the past. His literary works represent a significant contribution to understanding of the history of the Catholic Church in Croatia and the development of archive systems.

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