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{{Short description|Process of cultural assimilation into Croatian identity}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}

'''Croatisation''' [[American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization)|or]] '''Croatization''' ({{langx|sh|kroatizacija, hrvatizacija, pohrvaćenje}}; {{langx|it|croatizzazione}}) is a process of [[cultural assimilation]], and its consequences, in which people or lands ethnically only partially [[Croats|Croatian]] or non-Croatian become Croatian.

== Croatisation of Italians in Dalmatia ==
[[File:VenetianDalmatia1797.jpg|thumb|300px|Austrian linguistic map from 1896. In green the areas where [[Slavs]] were the majority of the population, in orange the areas where [[Istrian Italians]] and [[Dalmatian Italians]] were the majority of the population. The boundaries of [[Venetian Dalmatia]] in 1797 are delimited with blue dots.]]

Even with a predominant Croatian majority, [[Dalmatia]] retained relatively large [[Italian people|Italian communities]] in the coastal cities. Many [[Dalmatian Italians]] looked with sympathy towards the [[Risorgimento]] movement that fought for the [[unification of Italy]].<ref name="corsadelricordo">{{cite web|url=http://www.corsadelricordo.it/la-storia|title=Trieste, Istria, Fiume e Dalmazia: una terra contesa|access-date=2 June 2021|language=it |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210619163040/https://www.corsadelricordo.it/la-storia |archive-date=19 June 2021}}</ref>{{better source needed|reason=Not a history site, but promotional website for a race|date=June 2025}} However, after 1866, when the [[Veneto]] and [[Friuli]] regions were ceded by the [[Austrian Empire|Austrians]] to the newly formed [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|Kingdom of Italy]], Dalmatia remained part of the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]], together with other Italian-speaking areas on the eastern Adriatic. This triggered the gradual rise of [[Italian irredentism in Dalmatia|Italian irredentism among many Italians in Dalmatia]], who demanded the unification of the [[Austrian Littoral]], [[Fiume]] and Dalmatia with Italy. The Italians in Dalmatia supported the Italian Risorgimento: as a consequence, the Austrians saw the Italians as enemies and favored the Croatian communities of Dalmatia.<ref name="ReferenceB">''Die Protokolle des Österreichischen Ministerrates 1848/1867. V Abteilung: Die Ministerien Rainer und Mensdorff. VI Abteilung: Das Ministerium Belcredi'', Wien, Österreichischer Bundesverlag für Unterricht, Wissenschaft und Kunst 1971</ref>

During the meeting of the Council of Ministers of 12 November 1866, Emperor [[Franz Joseph I of Austria]] outlined a wide-ranging project aimed at the [[Germanization]] or [[Slavization]] of the areas of the empire with an Italian presence:<ref>''Die Protokolle des Österreichischen Ministerrates 1848/1867. V Abteilung: Die Ministerien Rainer und Mensdorff. VI Abteilung: Das Ministerium Belcredi'', Wien, Österreichischer Bundesverlag für Unterricht, Wissenschaft und Kunst 1971, vol. 2, p. 297. Citazione completa della fonte e traduzione in Luciano Monzali, ''Italiani di Dalmazia. Dal Risorgimento alla Grande Guerra'', Le Lettere, Firenze 2004, p. 69.)</ref>

{{blockquote|text=His Majesty expressed the precise order that action be taken decisively against the influence of the Italian elements still present in some regions of the Crown and, appropriately occupying the posts of public, judicial, masters employees as well as with the influence of the press, work in [[Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol|South Tyrol]], [[Dalmatia]] and [[Austrian Littoral|Littoral]] for the Germanization and Slavization of these territories according to the circumstances, with energy and without any regard. His Majesty calls the central offices to the strong duty to proceed in this way to what has been established.|author=|source=Franz Joseph I of Austria, Council of the Crown of 12 November 1866<ref name="ReferenceB">''Die Protokolle des Österreichischen Ministerrates 1848/1867. V Abteilung: Die Ministerien Rainer und Mensdorff. VI Abteilung: Das Ministerium Belcredi'', Wien, Österreichischer Bundesverlag für Unterricht, Wissenschaft und Kunst 1971</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Jürgen Baurmann, Hartmut Gunther and Ulrich Knoop| title=Homo scribens : Perspektiven der Schriftlichkeitsforschung | year= 1993 |isbn= 3484311347|page=279| publisher=Walter de Gruyter |language=de|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l3tCTXoeAysC&pg=279}}</ref>}}
[[File:Dalmatia.png|thumb|247x247px|Proportion of [[Dalmatian Italians]] in districts of Dalmatia in 1910, per the Austro-Hungarian census]]

Dalmatia, especially its maritime cities, once had a substantial local Italian-speaking population ([[Dalmatian Italians]]). According to Austrian censuses, the Italian speakers in Dalmatia formed 12.5% of the population in 1865,<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal|last=Peričić|first=Šime|date=2003-09-19|title=O broju Talijana/talijanaša u Dalmaciji XIX. stoljeća|url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/12136|journal=Radovi Zavoda za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Zadru|language=hr|issue=45|pages=342|issn=1330-0474}}</ref> but this was reduced to 2.8% in 1910.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.omm1910.hu/?/de/datenbank|title=Spezialortsrepertorium der österreichischen Länder I-XII, Wien, 1915–1919|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529164005/http://www.omm1910.hu/?%2Fde%2Fdatenbank|archive-date=2013-05-29|language=de}}</ref> The Italian population in Dalmatia was concentrated in the major cities. In the city of [[Split, Croatia|Split]] in 1890 there were {{formatnum:1969}} Italians (12.5% of the population), in [[Zadar]] {{formatnum:7423}} (64.6%), in [[Šibenik]] {{formatnum:1018}} (14.5%) and in [[Dubrovnik]] {{formatnum:331}} (4.6%).<ref>Guerrino Perselli, ''I censimenti della popolazione dell'Istria, con Fiume e Trieste e di alcune città della Dalmazia tra il 1850 e il 1936'', Centro di Ricerche Storiche - Rovigno, Unione Italiana - Fiume, Università Popolare di Trieste, Trieste-Rovigno, 1993</ref> In other Dalmatian localities, according to Austrian censuses, Italians experienced a sudden decrease: in the twenty years 1890-1910, in [[Rab (island)|Rab]] they went from 225 to 151, in [[Vis (island)|Vis]] from 352 to 92, in [[Pag (island)|Pag]] from 787 to 23, completely disappearing in almost all the inland locations.

There are several reasons for the decrease of the Dalmatian Italian population following the rise of [[Nationalism in Europe|European nationalism]] in the 19th century:<ref>{{cite book| last= Seton-Watson| first= Christopher| title= Italy from Liberalism to Fascism, 1870–1925 | publisher= Methuen | pages=47–48| year= 1967|isbn=9780416189407}}</ref>
* The conflict with the Austrian rulers caused by the Italian "''[[Risorgimento]]''".
* The emergence of [[Croatian nationalism]] and [[Italian irredentism]] (see ''[[Risorgimento]]''), and the subsequent conflict of the two.
* The [[emigration]] of many Dalmatians toward the growing industrial regions of northern Italy before [[World War I]] and North and South America.
* Multi generational [[Cultural assimilation|assimilation]] of anyone who married out of their social class and/or nationality – as perpetuated by similarities in education, religion, dual linguistic distribution, mainstream culture and economical output.

In 1909 the [[Italian language]] lost its [[Status (law)|status]] as the official language of Dalmatia in favor of Croatian only (previously both languages were recognized): thus Italian could no longer be used in the public and administrative sphere.<ref>{{Citation|year=1970|title=Dalmazia|encyclopedia=Dizionario enciclopedico italiano|volume=III|page=730|publisher=[[Treccani]]|language=it}}</ref> After the [[World War I]], Dalmatia was annexed to [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]], and the Italian community underwent a policy of forced Croatisation.<ref>"Italiani di Dalmazia: 1919-1924" di Luciano Monzali</ref>
The majority of the Italian Dalmatian minority decided to transfer in the Kingdom of Italy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://secolo-trentino.com/2020/02/11/primo-esodo-dalmati-1870-1880-1920/|title=Il primo esodo dei Dalmati: 1870, 1880 e 1920 - Secolo Trentino|access-date=16 May 2023|archive-date=25 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225193222/https://secolo-trentino.com/2020/02/11/primo-esodo-dalmati-1870-1880-1920/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

During the [[Governatorate of Dalmatia|Italian occupation of Dalmatia in World War II]], it was caught in the ethnic violence towards non-Italians during fascist repression. What remained of the Italian community in Dalmatia fled the area after World War II during the [[Istrian–Dalmatian exodus]]:<ref>Društvo književnika Hrvatske, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=mX9lAAAAMAAJ&q=Croatisation+after+World+War+II Bridge]'', Volume 1995, Numbers 9–10, Croatian literature series – Ministarstvo kulture, Croatian Writer's Association, 1989</ref> from 1947, after the war, Dalmatian Italians were subject by Yugoslav authorities to forms of intimidation, such as nationalization, expropriation, and discriminatory taxation,<ref name="books.google.fr">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JHnEI2m5tFIC&pg=PA309|title=Genocide: Truth, Memory, and Representation|page=295|author=Pamela Ballinger|date=7 April 2009|publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0822392361|access-date=30 December 2015}}</ref> which gave them little option other than emigration.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ia-qdCeUaXIC&pg=PA136 |title=Ethnic Cleansing and the European Union – Page 136, Lynn Tesser|isbn=9781137308771|last1=Tesser|first1=L.|date=14 May 2013|publisher=Springer }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=da6acnbbEpAC&pg=PA103 |title=History in Exile: Memory and Identity at the Borders of the Balkans |page=103 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=0691086974 |last1=Ballinger|first1=Pamela|year=2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ykMVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA133|title=Refugees in the Age of Total War|pages=139, 143|author=Anna C. Bramwell, University of Oxford, UK|date=1988|isbn=9780044451945}}</ref>

In 2001 about 500 Italians were counted in Dalmatia. In particular, according to the official Croatian census of 2011, there are 83 Italians in [[Split, Croatia|Split]] (equal to 0.05% of the total population), 16 in [[Šibenik]] (0.03%) and 27 in [[Dubrovnik]] (0.06%).<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.dzs.hr/Eng/censuses/census2011/results/htm/e01_01_04/E01_01_04_zup17.html|title = Central Bureau of Statistics|access-date=27 August 2018}}</ref> According to the official Croatian census of 2021, there are 63 Italians in [[Zadar]] (equal to 0.09% of the total population).<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.dzs.hr/Eng/censuses/census2011/results/htm/e01_01_04/E01_01_04_zup13.html|title = Central Bureau of Statistics|access-date=25 January 2023}}</ref>

==Croatisation in the NDH==
{{Main|Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia}}
[[File:Croatia-41-45.gif|thumb|Division of Yugoslavia after its invasion by the [[Axis powers]] during the World War II.
{{legend|#339966|Areas annexed by Italy: the area constituting the [[province of Ljubljana]], the area merged with the [[province of Fiume]] and the areas making up the [[Governorate of Dalmatia]]}}
{{legend|#ff0000|[[Independent State of Croatia]] (NDH)}}
{{legend|#0000ff|Area occupied by [[Nazi Germany]]}}
{{legend|#996666|Areas occupied by [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920-1946)|Kingdom of Hungary]]}}]]

The Croatisation during [[Independent State of Croatia]] (NDH) was aimed primarily towards Serbs, and to a lesser degree, towards Jews and Roma. The [[Ustaše]] aim was a "pure Croatia" and the main target was the ethnic Serb population of [[Croatia]], [[Bosnia (region)|Bosnia]] and [[Herzegovina]]. The ministers of NDH announced the goals and strategies of the Ustaše in May 1941. The same statements and similar or related ones were also repeated in public speeches by single ministers, such as [[Mile Budak]] in [[Gospić]] and, a month later, by [[Mladen Lorković]].<ref>Eric Gobetti, ''"L' occupazione allegra. Gli italiani in Jugoslavia (1941–1943)"'', Carocci, 2007, 260 pages; {{ISBN|88-430-4171-1}}, {{ISBN|978-88-430-4171-8}}, quoting from V. Novak, Sarajevo 1964 and Savez jevrejskih opstina FNR Jugoslavije, Beograd 1952</ref>

*One third of the Serbs (in the [[Independent State of Croatia]]) were to be forcibly converted to Catholicism
*One third of the Serbs were to be expelled (ethnically cleansed)
*One third of the Serbs were to be killed

A [[Croatian Orthodox Church]] was established in order to try and pacify the state as well as to Croatisize the remaining Serb population once the Ustaše realized that the complete eradication of Serbs in the NDH was unattainable.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tomasevich |first1=Jozo |title=War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: Occupation and Collaboration |date=2001 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-80477-924-1 |page=547 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fqUSGevFe5MC&pg=PA547}}</ref>

== Notable individuals who voluntarily Croatised ==
*[[Dimitrija Demeter]], a playwright who was the author of the first modern Croatian drama, was from a [[Greeks|Greek]] family.
*[[Vatroslav Lisinski]], a composer, was originally named ''Ignaz Fuchs''. His Croatian name is a literal translation.
*[[Bogoslav Šulek]], a [[Lexicography|lexicographer]] and inventor of many Croatian scientific terms, was originally ''Bohuslav Šulek'' from [[Slovakia]].
*[[Stanko Vraz]], a poet and the first professional writer in Croatia, was originally ''Jakob Frass'' from [[Slovenia]].
*[[August Šenoa]], a Croatian novelist, poet and writer, is of German descent. His parents never learned the [[Croatian language]], even when they lived in Zagreb.
*[[Dragutin Gorjanović-Kramberger]], a geologist, palaeontologist and archaeologist who discovered [[Krapina man]]<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927013702/http://www.modernhumanorigins.net/krapinac.html Krapina C<!-- Bot generated title -->]}}</ref> (Krapinski pračovjek), was of [[Germans|German]] descent. He added his second name, Gorjanović, to be adopted as a Croatian.
*[[Slavoljub Eduard Penkala]] was an inventor of Dutch/Polish origins. He added the name Slavoljub in order to Croatise.
*[[Lovro Monti]], Croatian politician, mayor of [[Knin]]. One of the leaders of the Croatian national movement in Dalmatia, he was of Italian roots.
*[[Adolfo Veber Tkalčević]], linguist of German descent
*[[Ivan Zajc]] (born'' Giovanni von Seitz'') a music composer was of German descent

=== Other ===
Notable individuals, of Croatian origin, partially ''Magyarized'' through intermarriages and then ''Croatized'' again, include families:
*[[Keglević]]
*[[Pejačević]] (Pejasevich)
*[[Ladislav Pejačević]]
*[[Teodor Pejačević]]
*[[Dora Pejačević]]<ref>Dora Pejačević[4] ANCESTRY[5][6][7] Dora Pejačević
Budapest, 1885 –
Munich, 1923

(Roman Catholic)
	Father:
Teodor Pejačević Našice, 1855 –
Vienna, 1928)

(Roman Catholic)
	Grandfather:
Ladislav Pejačević [8][9]
(Sopron, 18 – Našice, Veröce 1901 )

(Roman Catholic)
	Great-grandfather:
Ferdinánd Pejačević[10] Sopron1800-Graz,(A) 1878(...)

(Roman Catholic)(mother:Erdödy)
Great-grandmother:
Mária Döry de Jobaháza[11]
Zomba, 1800 – Zalabér, Zala 1880) (Roman Catholic) mother: felsöbüki Julianna Nagy
Grandmother:
Gabriella Döry de Jobaháza?

Zomba 1830 –
Našice 1913)

(Roman Catholic)

	Great-grandfather:
Gábor Döry de Jóbaháza[12]
(Pécs 1803, Szentgál 1871)

(Roman Catholic) (mother: felsöbüki Júlia Nagy 1766-1828)
Great-grandmother:
Erzsébet Döry de Jóbaháza

Zomba 1806 – Našice 18... (Roman Catholic) (f: Pál Döry/ m: Anna Krisztina Tallián, 1787 Ádánd-1809 Pécs)
Mother:
Elisabeth Vay

Alsózsolca, Borsod 1860-1941 (Roman Catholic)
	Grandfather:
báró vajai Béla Vay

(1829 Alsózsolca, Borsod-1910 Alsózsolca-
)
(Roman Catholic)
	Great-grandfather:
báró vajai Lajos Vay

1803 Golop, Borsod – 1888 Vatta
)
(Roman Catholic)
Great-grandmother:
gróf Erzsébet Teleki de Szék.

(1812 Sáromberke, Maros-Torda – 1881 Budapest) (Roman Catholic)
Grandmother:
gróf széki Zsófia Teleki Gernyeszeg 1836, Maros-Torda, Transylvania, –
, 1898)

(Roman Catholic)
	Great-grandfather:
gróf Domokos Teleki de Szék

1810 Marosvásárhely, Maros-Torda – 1876 Kolozsvár, Kolozs
(Roman Catholic)
Great-grandmother:
Jozefa Bánffy de Losonc

1810 Déva, Hunyad

(Roman Catholic)
</ref>
*[[George Martinuzzi]]

== See also ==
* [[Cultural assimilation]]
* [[Anti-Croat Sentiment]]
* [[Bosniakisation]]
* [[Germanisation]]
* [[Italianization]]
* [[Magyarization]]
* [[Serbianisation]]
* [[Serbs of Croatia]]
* [[Istrian–Dalmatian exodus]]
* [[Dalmatian Italians]]
* [[Istrian Italians]]
* [[Forced assimilation]]
* [[Independent State of Croatia]]
* [[Ustaše]]
* [[Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia]]
* [[Greater Croatia]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==

{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite book|last=Bilandžić |first=Dušan |author-link=Dušan Bilandžić |title=Hrvatska moderna povijest |language=hr |publisher=Golden marketing |year=1999 |isbn=953-6168-50-2 }}
* {{cite book |last=Bougarel |first=Xavier |author-link=Xavier Bougarel |date=2018 |title=Islam and Nationhood in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Surviving Empires |location=New York |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9781350003613}}
* {{Cite book|last=Dizdar |first=Zdravko |title=Časopis za suvremenu povijest |volume=36 |chapter=Djelovanje HKD "Napredak" u Hrvatskoj (1902. - 1941.) |publisher=Hrvatski institut za povijest |year=2004 |language=hr }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Donia |first1=Robert J. |last2=Van Antwerp Fine |first2=John |title=Bosnia and Hercegovina: A Tradition Betrayed |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers |year=1994 |isbn=978-1-85065-211-3 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/bosniahercegovin0000doni }}
* {{Cite book|last=Donia |first=Robert J. |title=Sarajevo: A Biography |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=2006 |isbn=0-472-11557-X }}
* {{Cite book|last=Klaić |first=Vjekoslav |author-link=Vjekoslav Klaić |title=Bosna (Zemljopis) |publisher=[[Matica hrvatska]] |year=1878 |language=hr }}
* {{cite journal |last=Kurtić |first=Najil |date=2013 |title=Novine u Bosni u osmanskom periodu i nacionalno samoidentificiranje Bošnjaka |trans-title=Newspapers in Bosnia in the Ottoman period and the national self-identification of Bosniaks |url=http://untz.ba/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Bosanski_jezik_2013.pdf |language=bs |journal=Bosanski jezik |volume=10 |pages=107&ndash;125 |access-date=6 February 2024}}
* {{Cite book|last=Maletić |first=Franjo |title=Who is Who in Croatia |publisher=Golden marketing |year=1993 |asin=B0000D6QL5 }}
{{Refend}}

{{Cultural assimilation|sp=ize}}

[[Category:Social history of Croatia]]
[[Category:Cultural assimilation]]
[[Category:Slavicization]]