January 3, 2021 marks the 78th anniversary of a devastating day for two villages on the island of Hvar, the subject of Miki Bratanic's latest book - Island in Flames.

When I first visited the village of Vrbanj on Hvar back in 2003, I was struck by how many ruins there were in such a living village. Indeed, as I learned, Vrbanj is the biggest village on the island, with over 400 inhabitants. It was only years later that I learned the reason why. For back in 1943, on this very day, the occupying Italian forces burned most of the houses in Vrbanj. Many lay ruined for decades until at least some were renovated after the property boom of 2003-5, as foreigner buyers snapped up enchanting stone ruins on an idyllic Adriatic island. Almost all of them without knowing the reason their new purchases were in such a state of disrepair.

Dalmatian historian and Vrbanj patriot has recorded this troubled period in the island's history with his latest book, An Island in Flames, which is due out shortly. 

On this day 3.1.1943. Italian fascists set fire to the villages of Dol and Vrbanj on the island of Hvar. Most of the houses were completely destroyed, and in the middle of winter people were left not only without a roof over their heads, but also without wine and olive oil, the basic source of income from which they lived, which was either spilled or taken away. After that event, a large humanitarian action was launched in Zagreb to collect aid for the victims on the island of Hvar. And many people helped, from ordinary small people, companies, institutions, and municipalities, cities and counties. The rich documentation of the "Committee for Aid to the Victims of the Island of Hvar" from Zagreb, founded by people from the island, preserves, among other things, the payment slip for donations from the city of Vukovar, as well as an interesting list of a ten-member exiled family from Sucuraj. 

The Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Finance collected aid, both financial and various material forms of footwear, clothing, construction materials, agricultural tools and various other necessities, mostly food, intended for the victims on the island of Hvar.

The board was initially set up to collect so-called aid  "Burners" from Vrbanj and Dol victims of the Italian-Fascist arson in 1943, but was of great importance later to the exiles as well from all over the island deported by the German Nazis in 1944.

Among the many requests for help from 1944 there is a list of 25 people from Sucuraj on the island of Hvar who stayed in Šljivoševci, a village in Baranja that belongs to Donji Miholjac, then 53 people in Tiborjevci, then 40 people from various places the island of Hvar who stayed in Šid, 30 people in Brod, and many more them in various other places, mostly in Slavonia.

So this is one big tragic island story, that's why I called it An island on fire, because indeed that flame of war engulfed the whole island.

Thanks to good people, the complete documentation has been preserved on the work of the Committee, so today we can know what the amounts of goods collected and people involved. We also know how they addressed the Committee people from the island of Hvar who were expelled from the island in 1944 and to whom
help was needed, and how their names were preserved in lists and petitions, so this will certainly be a material of interest to many to their descendants or acquaintances.

(An Island in Flames, by Miki Bratanic - the painting is by academic painter Bartul Petric, who visited Vrbanj just a few days after this happened).

The first written report on the tragedy of Vrbanj can be found in the telegram the very next day, January 4, 1943, addressed to Bishop Miho of Hvar by the parish priest of Vrbanja, Don Ivo Šeperica:

Yesterday the Italian authorities set fire to the village of Vrbanj, and about 180 houses in ruins, about 60 were rest spared, but the people were left without housing, without food, without suits, without beds and blankets and no money people in a desperate state of food. Send everything to Vrbanj so that the people do not suffer report the matter to the county authority let them stand up for the people regarding food. Also, you should know there are two victims so far.

The initiation of assistance at the highest state level was encouraged by the bishop Hvar's Miho Pušić in a letter sent on January 7, 1943 to the Ministry of the Interior, in which he reports on the difficult situation on the island of Hvar and begs for help. On the same day, Bishop Pušić sent a telegram to the then Archbishop of Zagreb Alojzije Stepinac, asking him for personal engagement and warning in a special way how the Italian military authorities threatened to destroy the entire island if any of their soldiers are killed.

The rest is history, recorded in a hundred documents that are here find to witness one great tragedy, but also one great one humanitarian action that our island of Hvar may never have in history did not experience. Many will be able to find their family in them a story, or an example of what kind of people we have to be in difficult times.

An Island in Flames will soon be available. For the latest news on how to get it, as well as more from the fabulous Miki Bratanic, check out his official website. 

February 6, 2020 - Miki Bratanic, the Dalmatian writer and poet, who has done more to promote the heritage and culture of the Dalmatian konoba, has been inspired by the opening of Rijeka 2020, and he proposes an offshoot for Split 2021.

Soon after I started Total Hvar all those years ago, I became aware of a chap called Miki Bratanic, whose roots were from the Hvar village of Vrbanj. A writer and poet based in Split, this Miki Bratanic chap had rather a passion for the humble Dalmatian konoba. So much so in fact that he had turned his own konoba in the family home in Vrbanj into a fantastic little museum, and not long after my visit, it became officially recognised by the Ministry of Culture. And if you on Hvar, I recommend a visit (and a wine tasting from Miki's excellent range). 

Not content with having the ultimate konoba, Miki then wrote a great book about the history of the konoba, a book which has been very successful and has gone around the globe. Miki doesn't know this, but I have been very jealous of his book, Konoba. Several years ago, I went to see the then Split Tourist Board director to see if he wanted to buy a number of copies of Split, An Insider's Guide, a guide book for the city that I co-wrote with Mila Hvilshoj. The director told me he was not interested as my book was too big to fit into his little tourist gift bag. Unlike the Konoba, by Miki Bratanic... But he did write an excellent piece on Diocletian, owner of the first Dalmatian konoba for Total Split, so I forgive him.

Years passed. I hadn't seen Miki for a long time until I caught him in Zagreb in December, as he picked up an award at the FIJET Marko Polo awards. And then our paths crossed again, this time online in a discussion about the controversial opening of Rijeka 2020. 

And then this - a translation of Miki's Facebook post. A fantastic concept, which we are pleased to support. How about you? 

Dear friends, It's my great pleasure to announce the project concept "The tavern, the cradle of Dalmatia - 100 years of turbulent Croatian history", which I, in cooperation with a great promoter of Croatia, Paul Bradbury, the owner of the Total Croatia News portal, as well as with other interested partners, would apply for in the competition for the programme of cultural needs of the City of Split for 2021.

Modelling it on the recent state-of-the-art artistic and cultural installation in Rijeka, which has aroused the enthusiasm, admiration and widespread acceptance from many prominent people in Split and Dalmatia, an identical ''installation account'' of our own history would be made through the prism of taverns, viticulture and winemaking on Split's Riva, as well as in Diocletian's taverns, ie cellars, along with suitable art programmes.

Through stories and photographs, the painstaking but proud life of the people of Dalmatia would be presented through various chronologically ordered socio-political changes.

The historic flags under which Dalmatia or its parts existed over the last 100 years lined up along the Riva as follows:

From the east of Riva, that is, from the entrance to the Diocletian's Tavern, the flag of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia would first be placed. After that, the flags of Fascist Italy and then Nazi Germany would be lined up.

The flag of the Independent State of Croatia would be located right in the centre of the waterfront, where the passage to Marko Marulić Square is. Immediately after that, the flag of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, ie the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, would be placed.

It would be modelled on what Rijeka has artistically done (who distorted the Nazi flag), so an octopus or an eledone would be inserted instead of the five-pointed star. After that, a SAO Krajina flag would be mounted, on which an artistic intervention would also be made, but for now, what it will be will remain a little secret.

After that flag, the first official flag of the Republic of Croatia would be erected, the one with the initial white checker first, and then, all the way at the western end of the waterfront, the present-day Croatian flag with the initial red checker first would be erected. Of course, this is just an initial artistic idea concept.

Since the artists in Rijeka have already used one of the totalitarian symbols, the five-pointed star, and it makes no sense to copy everything exactly, then another symbol of a totalitarian regime could be prominently displayed in Split, but there's still more to think about in regard to that.

Unlike the Rijeka artists, who have masterfully explained the artistic message of the five-pointed star, I'm personally completely uncreative and unimaginative in designing messages with such symbols, so I'd need the help of our broad artistic domain.

In any case, I'd like to invite all associations, non-governmental organisations, individuals, especially artists, designers, architects, photographers, conservators and anyone else who would like to join in on this project, to make themselves known via my inbox.

Programmes for the cultural needs of the City of Split are usually submitted in autumn, but preparations should still begin on time in order to produce the best possible documentation.

This project aims to showcase the need for human patience, work, perseverance, love, mutual respect, the acceptance of diversity, tolerance, and constant progressive thoughts while striving for peace in the world, and in a special way, this is intended to show that Dalmatia is the cradle, and Split with its great Marko Marulić, is the capital of Croatian culture.

Once again, heartfelt congratulations to Rijeka on the title of "European Capital of Culture 2020" and on the motivation and inspiration for our turbulent story of Split.

I look forward to working with you and I warmly welcome you all.

Yours, Miki Bratanic