Paper short abstract:

The paper examines ways in which the revising of history and the construction of places, by focusing on certain historic episodes, influence people's attachment to a place and the creation of new cultural practices.

Paper long abstract:

The paper examines ways in which revisions of history and the construction of places influence people's attachment to place and the creation of new cultural practices. It is based on fieldwork and the analysis of publications related to the village of Zrin (Central Croatia, Banovina region). The focus is on several historic episodes in the course of the Middle Ages, the Second World War and the Croatian War of Indepedence (1991-1995), observed from the postsocialist perspective. The name Zrin is connected to the noble family Zrinski, whose fate is taken as a reflection of the turbulent Croatian history in the public discourse. The village was destroyed in WW2, after which the surviving Croatian inhabitants were relocated to other parts of the country where their descendants still live. Every year since 1996 the prosecution of Croats is commemorated by a pilgrimage. The question raised is: in which moments and why do communities feel a need for the creation of such places, and how do these places influence their lives? What practices can "fill" these locations with historical meanings and simbolism and in which circumstances this occurs, thus turning these places into carriers of the "burden of the past"? In the paper I show how the importance of establishment of physical contact to this kind of place affect the creation of new cultural practices. I analyze different reasons and ways of the attachment of individuals and communities to such places.