It took a new person to make it happen. It was Željko Holjevac, who helped organise the second international Croatian-Slovak conference and would eventually lead Croatia’s SCCH team. This time the conference took place in Zagreb on 7 – 11 May 2014. It was attended by 28 scientists from Croatia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic and was organised by the Department of History and the Department of West Slavic Languages and Literature at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Zagreb in cooperation with the Department of Slovak History at the Faculty of Arts at Comenius University in Bratislava. The proceedings to this conference were also published in 2017. This second and equally memorable three-hundred-page publication is entitled Croatia and Slovakia, vol. 2. 1Croatia and Slovakia, vol. 2: Historical Parallels and Connections (from 1780 to Present Day). Ed.: Željko Holjevac – Martin Homza – Martin Vašš. Zagreb – Bratislava: FF Press, 2017.
The final decision by the relevant authorities to establish the commission was helped to some extent by the official ceremonies of both scientific outputs, which took place in the two capitals, i.e. Bratislava and Zagreb. The one in Bratislava was held in the Rector’s Hall at Comenius University with the participation of the rector, the deans of both faculties, Slovakia’s Education Minister, Dušan Čaplovič, and the Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia in Bratislava, Jakša Muljačić, as well as other diplomatic officials.
It was not until 2018 that the SCCH gained momentum. On 19 January 2018, the Ministers of Education of the Republic of Croatia and the Slovak Republic met in Zagreb and, among other things, extended the validity of the Cooperation Program between the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic and the Ministry of Science, Education and Sport of the Republic of Croatia from 2018 to 2022, whose Article 11 stipulating the creation of the SCCH had remained unfulfilled during the previous period. This fact just made this task even more relevant. It was up to the stakeholders to complete the ratification process of this agreement and finally bring the commission to life. However, a few serious issues still needed to be addressed. First of all, it was necessary to define a common statute, the number of members the commission would have, the strategy for selecting the different humanistic disciplines in order to secure their parity, and the names to be appointed to the different posts in the future commission from among the worlds of humanities of Croatia and Slovakia.
On 20 June 2018, a working meeting was held at Comenius University aimed to solve these and other issues. The Croatian side was represented by Željko Holjevac, from the Department of History at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, as well as by Ivica Šute, Holjevac’s colleague from the same department, Zrinka Kovačevič Stričević from the Department of Slovak Language and Literature from the same faculty, and by the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia, Miroslav Lovrić.
The Slovak side was represented by Jaroslav Šúšol, Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Comenius University, by Martin Homza, Head of the Department of Slovak History at the same institution, as well as by Martina Stiffelová and Katarína Baranyaiová on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports of the Slovak Republic. The Minutes from the Reception of this Foreign Working Visit, prepared by Katarína Baranyaiova, point out that the identified problem areas were successfully resolved. The participants also suggested the place (Bratislava) and approximate time (spring 2019), as well as the main topic of the SCCH first session (Slovaks and Croats on the Road to Independence: History and Perspectives). 2Author’s archive. See SCCH webpage (under construction).
After a working meeting of both delegations, the first official ceremony in Slovakia, Croatia and Slovakia, vol. 2. followed. It took place in the Scientific Council Hall at Comenius University with the participation of Slovak Education Minister, Martina Lubyová, the Rector of Comenius University, Karol Mičieta, and the Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia in Bratislava, Aleksander Hein.
On this solemn occasion, the Slovak Minister said:
“This publication is one of the few works that proves what public officials of the Slovak Republic and the Republic of Croatia are currently declaring, namely that we are interested in the Western Balkans, that we are interested in studying the history of this geographical space and in continuing our common relations.” 3Public Relations Department of Comenius University Rectorate: Profesor Martin Homza predsatvil novú publikáciu o slovensko-chorvátskych vzťahoch. See more
- 1Croatia and Slovakia, vol. 2: Historical Parallels and Connections (from 1780 to Present Day). Ed.: Željko Holjevac – Martin Homza – Martin Vašš. Zagreb – Bratislava: FF Press, 2017.
- 2Author’s archive. See SCCH webpage (under construction).
- 3Public Relations Department of Comenius University Rectorate: Profesor Martin Homza predsatvil novú publikáciu o slovensko-chorvátskych vzťahoch. See more