IN-PERSON: Prague – Section A

Abstract

As a part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Dubrovnik records a dynamic political life focused on national aspiration for the autonomous Croatian state. Therefore, the launch of political newspapers significantly ignites the spread of political ideas and party ideology. Three political newspapers (Crvena Hrvatska, Dubrovnik, and Prava Crvena Hrvatska) were printed in Dubrovnik from 1891 to 1918. The analysis of the content of the political newspapers has brought to light numerous seizures (censorships) of articles that were exercised by the Austrian authorities in Dubrovnik. Censorship found its legal bases in criminal codes, primarily in the “Criminal Procedure Act on Printed Matter” (1873). That law was part of the comprehensive “Criminal Procedure”, which, according to the Austrian model, Francis Joseph introduced to his kingdoms and lands of the Imperial Council, and therefore also to Dalmatia, as well as of the “Criminal Code Act on Crimes, Misdemeanours and Offences” (1852). These acts implied stricter, most often monetary or prison penalties, yet the sanctions for inappropriate text in Dubrovnik newspapers usually was only the seizure of the articles. This study will show how the censorship state apparatus controlled the press by utilizing the first Dubrovnik political newspapers as an example. The text analysis method of newspaper content will determine the motives and reasons for confiscating the articles in all three city newspapers. A comparative analysis of the Tiskovine fund of the District Court in Dubrovnik, preserved in the State Archives in Dubrovnik, will reveal the Monarchy’s relationship to politics and writing of Dubrovnik newspaper and the legislation through which the government implemented censorship rulings.