To all,
A few weeks ago I sent a letter in Croatian ( I believe it was on the
CROWN web site) to the Croatian Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of
Culture regarding promoting Croatia in the tourism/cultural field. So far
no answer!
I just want to translate here my letter to the ones who don't read
Croatian. It is in some way in line with some of the suggestions Marko P.
made recently, and I could say "been there, done that". Our small
Croatian organization, (which has disbanded since) at my suggestion has
purchased books about Croatia, including "Serbia's Secret War", Mark
Tanner's "Croatia, a Nation Forged in War", "Heavenly Serbia", several
booklets about the destruction of Vukovar and its hospital, "Croatia,
Myth and Reality", "Anatomy of Deceit" and sent or brought them
personally to two regional main libraries (LA and Orange County) and two
universities (UCLA and Chapman). Included were also travel brochures from
the Croatian tourist Office. In addition, we bought one quite expensive
book for the L.A. main library "Croatia in the Early Middle Ages" - for
which they never even sent an acknowledgement, not even after I wrote and
asked if they received it. So I can say, we have done a small part, that
was possible for us to do, already a while back. Here is the translation
of that letter
To:
Mrs. Pave Zupan Ruskovic, Minister of Tourism
cc: Dr. Anton Vujic Minister of Culture
Zagreb, Croatia
Wishing to better - or perhaps even for the first time for some -
acquaint the West with Croatia's history and culture, which places
Croatia firmly among the Western cultures, I am turning to you with my
plea that you do everything in your power to promote this idea on
different levels.
As the Minister of Tourism, I believe that you could, with the support of
the Ministry of Culture and the HAZU, promote tourism meant for
educational and scientific institutions, such as the Archaeological
Institute of America, The Smithsonian Institute and the National
Geographic .( At least these three I know of in the U.S. because I
subscribe to their magazines.) The last one was showing very poor
knowledge by their "experts", when they printed in an issue last year a
map of former Yugoslavia showing Serbs as the first Slavic settlers in
today's Croatia, while not even mentioning Croatians. Such false
information should not have been possible ten years after the
establishment of independent Croatia. It is high time that Croatia is
recognized in academic/cultural circles.
That is why I believe that promoting cultural and historical sites in
Croatia as a destination for persons and institutions who are interested
in such research is necessary and helpful to Croatia's image.
Very truly yours,
Hilda M. Foley
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