The twentieth century in Europe be gan with the first war in the Balkans in 1912. It also ended with a series of wars in the Western Balkans between the nations that had formed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the first half of the 1990s, and the bombing of the rest of Yugoslavia by NATO troops in 1999. That century saw two world wars begin and end. It also saw social experiments being introduced with great splendour, carried out with less glory to finally end up in the dustbin of history in the form of totalitarian regimes. The 20th century undoubtedly witnessed a significant improvement in the standard of life of people. On the other hand, it was in this period that human reasoning reached its highest pride. However, some big plans of Man did not come out. For example, Man was not able to reverse the course of rivers. Fortunately. Therefore, the history of Slovakia and Croatia can flow down its natural course. The Danube undoubtedly personalises the soul of Europe’s biggest people, the Slavs. And just as the river has right and left tributaries, this imaginary body has left and right limbs. All of Slovakia’s rivers, but the Poprad, flow into the Danube to become its left affluents. Likewise, a substantial part of the river network in present-day Croatia also flows into the Danube as its right tributaries. Like it or not, this natural water system conditions the people living on its shores to interact with each other at many different levels. This was already known to the Romans, the first to integrate the Danube world politically, culturally, religiously, as well as economically and militarily. Likewise, it has always been clear to the Holy See, which still dreams of restoring the province of Illyricum. And it was also clear to the king of Panonnia and later saint, Ladislav I, the most outstanding representative of the Nitra line of the Arpads, whose political career began in Poland. In fact, in 1091 Ladislav I managed to annex the Kingdom of Croatia to his realm – the crystallising SlavicHungarianRomanian “commonwealth”. His successor, King Coloman the Learned, gave this union a legal framework. 1See Andriana Steta: The Pacta Conventa as the Result of the Arpadian Dynasty’s Policy. In: Slovakia and Croatia: Historical Parallels and Connections. Ed.: Martin Homza – Ján Lukačka – Neven Budak. Bratislava – Zagreb: Department of Slovak History, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava – PostScriptum, 2013, p. 81 – 84. This is how Slovaks and Croats became part of one and the same kingdom, in which they lived, created spiritual and economic values, and coexisted among other nations until 1918.
Of course, this over-eight-hundredyear-long coexistence left lasting marks. Over this timespan, Slovaks and Croats developed multilateral and multi-layered bonds. Therefore, it is no coincidence that several Slovaks traveling to Croatia experience a kind of deja vu there. The same happens with Croats coming to Slovakia. However, feelings need to be expressed. From looking for words to describe and verbalise it, it is necessary to move on to understanding why it is so. 2On motivation to the cognitive process, see Summa Theologiae by Thomas Aquinas I, 1 – 13. Ed., trans. and comment,: Peter Volek. Trnava: Saint Adalbert Association, 2017, p. 237: “Man has a natural desire to know the causes of whatever he sees.” And this is the main reason why the Slovak-Croatian Commission for Humanities (hereinafter SCCH) was actually established. The following lines describe how it happened, how the public should understand this commission, and what its goals are about.
- 1See Andriana Steta: The Pacta Conventa as the Result of the Arpadian Dynasty’s Policy. In: Slovakia and Croatia: Historical Parallels and Connections. Ed.: Martin Homza – Ján Lukačka – Neven Budak. Bratislava – Zagreb: Department of Slovak History, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava – PostScriptum, 2013, p. 81 – 84.
- 2On motivation to the cognitive process, see Summa Theologiae by Thomas Aquinas I, 1 – 13. Ed., trans. and comment,: Peter Volek. Trnava: Saint Adalbert Association, 2017, p. 237: “Man has a natural desire to know the causes of whatever he sees.”