European Memory Culture Exemplified by the Suffering of Croats at Bleiburg and the Way of the Cross was the topic of a namesake conference held on November 12, 2024, at the European Parliament in Brussels. The conference was organized by Željana Zovko (HDZ/EPP), Vice President of the European People's Party group, and featured historians from the Faculty of Croatian Studies at the University of Zagreb, Assoc. Prof. Vlatka Vukelić and Assist. Prof. Vladimir Šumanović. They presented summaries of their talks in the European Parliament TV studio in the program From the Heart of Europe.

"We have a well-conceived and thoroughly developed legal basis, but its implementation is very limited," highlighted historian Assoc. Prof. Vukelić, pointing to the selective application of laws in EU member states. Partial law enforcement and selectivity in historiography limit memory, while the 2019 law condemns the Nazi regime but fails to equally denounce other totalitarian systems, such as communism. Prof. Vukelić also emphasized that memory culture in Croatia has been preserved thanks to the efforts of the Croatian diaspora. The break from communism in Croatian territories did not occur as it did in the former Czechoslovakia. Here, it happened through armed, violent means. The year 1990 is crucial as it marks the point at which Yugoslav memory culture was severed, and Croatian memory culture on Croatian historical territories began to form. This should be the starting point, Prof. Vukelić stressed.

Historian Assist. Prof. Šumanović delivered a talk at the European Parliament titled Memory Culture and the Culture of Forced Forgetting – Bleiburg between Silencing and the Right to Truth, analyzing how the Croatian people preserved the memory of Bleiburg despite systematic attempts to suppress this part of history through repression, propaganda, and the educational system of the SFRY, which distorted interpretations of World War II. He also emphasized the key role of Croatian emigrants and the Catholic Church in preserving the memory of these tragic events.

prof. Šumanović highlighted the lack of historians in the Croatian academic community dedicated to this topic, partly due to ideological barriers and professional commoditization, as well as limited access to archives. He underscored the important role of the Faculty of Croatian Studies, which organized several international scientific conferences titled Communist Crimes, providing an opportunity for broader discussion on this subject.

In her closing remarks to the Croatian and European public, Prof. Vukelić concluded that human rights violations know no date, race, or gender. The conference at the European Parliament represents a significant step for Croatia as part of the community of European nations, which needs the support of European politics in this matter. Politics has not given science the opportunity to develop. This is a significant step for Croatian scientific truth and for the recognition of human rights in Croatia.

Prof. Šumanović concluded that it is most important that Bleiburg has finally made its way into the heart of Europe. This, in some way, brings satisfaction to all the victims of the Bleiburg tragedy and to all those who, in preserving the truth about Bleiburg, have themselves been victims.