8 Mar 2023/PSSI

On Wednesday, March 1, 2023, the PSSI Regional Security Program’s Western Balkans team Markéta Slavková and Tamara Grabovac attended the book presentation of Prof. dr. Boban Batrićević, a prominent Montenegrin historian and an expert on the local political situation, working at the Faculty of Montenegrin Language and Literature in Cetinje. The event was organized by the Association for the citizens of the former Yugoslavia Lastavica and held at the association's gallery café in Prague, Czech Republic.

The title of the book, In the claws of the Jewish dragon: Antisemitic propaganda in Montenegro during the WW2 (U kandžama jevrejske aždaje: Antisemitska propaganda u Crnoj Gori u Drugome svjetskom ratu, Cetinje: FCJK 2021), also summarizes its content. This is truly an innovative and important contribution to Montenegrin modern history because until lately, this problem has not been addressed and the presence of Jews in Montenegro was rarely reflected in scholarly literature. The event was moderated by Prof. Batrićević's colleague, Dr. František Šístek (Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences), who is also involved in the research of the history of the Montenegrin Jews and is the author of the book Jews in Montenegro from the Antiquity to Holocaust (Jevreji u Crnoj Gori od antike do Holokausta, Cetinje: FCJK 2022). 

A better understanding of the antisemitic propaganda during World War II helps us also comprehend better the contemporary forms of propaganda and disinformation campaigns. Prof. Batrićević concluded that although the content of propaganda changes in the course of history, the essential mechanisms remain very similar.

The event was also mentioned on the Montenegrin news website Portal Analitika.