Damnatio Memoriae – The Contested Memory of Antonio Bajamonti in Split Sara Čović, University of Zadar [email protected] Abstract The nation-building political situation of the 19th century caused a tense situation in today's Croatia which was then divided into smaller provinces - Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia. From 1835 the Croatian national revival movement took place in Croatia and Slavonia until it was interrupted by Bach's absolutism in 1848. The two united entities, Croatia and Slavonia, wanted Dalmatia to become a part of the union but things were different in Dalmatia. In the first half of the 19th century, under the threat of multiple occupiers, people of Dalmatia created a special national ideology that was territorially defined. In that way Dalmatia opposed the request for unification. Such political atmosphere continued in the second half of the 19th century which was marked by fierce political conflicts in Dalmatia. The conflicts mostly erupted between the People's Party, that wanted the unification of Dalmatia and Croatia, and the Autonomous Party, that saw Dalmatia as an autonomous entity. In the period from 1860 until 1880 the mayor of Split was the leader of the Autonomous Party Antonio Bajamonti. Bajamonti's politics and intentions were directed into the prosperity of Split. At the time Split was an underdeveloped town and it can be stated that Bajamonti's policies, such as his urbanization plans, did much for its future development. However, Bajamonti is a historical figure that is almost forgotten in today's Split. Why is that so? That is not an easy question to answer and a few aspects need to be analyzed. The nature of the politics of the Autonomous Party and of Bajamonti is going to be examined while 87 Carnival Volume 20, October 2020 taking into consideration the research of Croatian scholars on the topic. A special emphasis is going to be placed on Bajamonti's urbanization plans for Split. Later historical events are going to be analyzed as well, especially the Italian occupation of Dalmatia in the Second World War, in order to illustrate the positive and transformative role that Bajamonti's actions played in the subsequent development of Split. Introduction From a political perspective, the second half of the 19th century was a turbulent period in Dalmatia. That situation was the outcome of the processes that started with the beginning of the 19th century. The 19th century was generally marked with dynamic and violent events that followed the French Revolution and the formation of nation-states. After the Napoleonic wars today's Croatia was under the authority of the Austrian Empire but it was divided in two parts - Croatia with Slavonia and Dalmatia.1 This was because the infrastructure, such as roads and train lines, that was connecting the two parts was underdeveloped. Alongside that, the two regions had significantly different historical paths. Throughout history Croatia and Slavonia were under the dominant influence of the Germanic culture while Dalmatia was mostly influenced by Venice and other cities of the Apennine peninsula.2 Those facts led the politics of those two regions in different directions, especially in terms of national identity and nation-state formation. The period between 1835 and 1848 was the time of the Croatian national revival movement which took place in Croatia and Slavonia. The Croatian revivalists advocated the unity of Croats 1 Mirko Đinđić, “Identitetski ‘lomovi’ dalmatinskih Talijana” [Identity "breaks" of Dalmatian Italians], Politička misao: časopis za politologiju 44 (2007): 122. 2 Duško Kečkemet, Ante Bajamonti i Split [Ante Bajamonti and Split] (Split: Slobodna Dalmacija, 2007), 55. 88 Carnival Volume 20, October 2020 through their historical, cultural and religious oneness and worked on the standardization of the Croatian language.3 In 1848 Croatian revivalists were devoted to incorporating Dalmatia into the territory of Croatia. Dalmatians strongly rejected that request by emphasizing cultural dissimilarities between Dalmatia and Croatia.4 The Croatian national revival movement was repressed in 1848 under Bach's absolutism. The years 1848 and 1849 were the time of Revolution in the Habsburg Monarchy and Baron Alexander von Bach played a significant role in the politics of the Empire during and after the Revolution.5 From 1848 he was the Minister of Justice and from 1849 until 1859 the Minister of the Interior.6 Beginning with 1848, and explicitly between 1852 and 1859, Bach pursued a repressive policy of centralization and control in the Empire that affected the nationalist movements.7 Again in 1860 representatives of Croatia and Slavonia asked for the unification with Dalmatia but the Dalmatian representative declined.8 The possibility of the unification of Croatia and Dalmatia was brought to an end after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 that established the dual monarchy.9 Croatia fell under the administration of the Kingdom of Hungary, while Dalmatia was administered by the Austrian half of the Empire. Politically, Croatia and Dalmatia were divided until 1882 when the People's Party won the municipal elections 3 Josip Vrandečić, Dalmatinski autonomistički pokret u XIX. stoljeću [The Dalmatian Autonomous Movement in the 19th Century] (Zagreb: Dom i svijet, 2002), 69. 4 Ibid., 75. 5 Pieter Judson, Povijest Habsburškog Carstva [The Habsburg Empire: A New History] (Zagreb: Sandorf, 2016), 193-194. 6 Ibid., 259. 7 Ibid., 259-262. 8 Đinđić, “Identitetski ‘lomovi’,” 124. 9 Ibid., 126. 89 Carnival Volume 20, October 2020 in the city of Split.10 But why did the political representatives of Dalmatian refuse the idea of unification with Croatia for so many decades? The answer lies in the national identification of the people of Dalmatia which affected the political life of Dalmatia in the second half of the 19th century. Đinđić claims that after the French occupation and under the threat of Italian irredentists Dalmatians created a proto-national community.11 That means that in the first half of the 19th century Dalmatia didn't follow the tendency of nation-state formation but created a community that consisted of various ethnic groups and which was territorially and not nationally defined. The Dalmatian proto-national community gathered Slavic (Croatian) and Italian ethnic groups which made it difficult to establish a unique ethnic identity. Instead, the community identified itself along territorial divisions. During the period of Croatian national revival movement the Dalmatian representatives advocated the Slavo- Dalmatic national ideology that claimed the Slavic origins of the inhabitants of Dalmatia but also emphasized the strong influence of Italian culture and language.12 The Slavo-Dalmatic ideology was fueled with the vision of an autonomous Dalmatia within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The voice of the People's Party became more prominent in Dalmatia around 1860. Its main goal was the unification of Croatia and Dalmatia. That was also the time when the Autonomous Party was formed. It advocated the self-administration of Dalmatia within the Empire. Those two parties were the main ones in Dalmatia during the other half of the 19th century, but there were also irredentist groups that wanted Dalmatia to be united with Italy (which was also going through the process of unification) and conservative groups that were loyal to the Austrian Empire.13 The 10 Vrandečić, Dalmatinski autonomistički pokret, 218. 11 Đinđić, “Identitetski ‘lomovi’,” 122. 12 Vrandečić, Dalmatinski autonomistički pokret, 68-72. 13 Đinđić, “Identitetski ‘lomovi’,” 123-125. 90 Carnival Volume 20, October 2020 political conflicts between the Autonomous Party and the People's Party were most evident in Split which was led by the mayor and leader of the Autonomous Party Antonio Bajamonti in the period between 1860 and 1880. It can be argued that three men had the biggest impact on the development of Split up until the 20th century. The first one is the Roman emperor Diocletian who built the palace that became the foundation of the later city. The second one is the French general Auguste Marmont who initiated the transformation of the medieval town of Split into a modern city by removing its medieval and baroque fortifications and building avenues. The third man was the mayor Bajamonti. Bajamonti's goal was to improve the economic prosperity of Split by implementing an urbanization plan for the city. Today, the emperor Diocletian and the general Marmont are well known and praised in Split but the figure of Antonio Bajamonti is almost erased from the collective memory of the city.14 Why is that so? Before we go into that, some other questions need to be answered first. What was Bajamonti's politics about? Is the consignment of Bajamonti to oblivion in Split connected exclusively with his political viewpoint? There are a few Croatian scholars that have done research on the topic of the Autonomous Party in Dalmatian and the importance of Antonio Bajamonti for Split. Josip Vrandečić in his book Dalmatinski autonomistički pokret u XIX. stoljeću (The Dalmatian Autonomous Movement in the 19th Century) made a great contribution to the understanding of the activity of the Autonomous Party in Dalmatia as well as to the understanding of the political situation in 19th century Croatia. Grga Novak is also an author who cast a light on the historical situation of Dalmatia and especially of the city of Split. The most important person who fought to prevent the complete erasure of Bajamonti from the history of Split is surely Duško Kečkemet. Among others, Slavko Muljačić 14 Kečkemet, Ante Bajamonti, 321. 91 Carnival Volume 20, October 2020 and Stanko Piplović have done much to highlight the important role that Bajamonti played in the history of Split. Antonio Bajamonti Antonio Bajamonti was born in Split on September 18th, 1822. By the time he was born the Bajamonti family had lived for generations in Split.15 It is believed that the Bajamontis were a noble family, originating from Spain, who were sent to Sicily in the 12th century by the Spanish king Alfonso VII.