# Jadranska straža (journal)

Jadranska straža (lit. 'Adriatic Guard' or 'Adriatic Sentinel') was the official publication of the Jadranska straža organisation. The publication's full title was Jadranska straža – Glasnik udruženja Jadranska straža (lit. 'Adriatic Guard – Gazette of Adriatic Guard Association'), but it was commonly referred to using the abbreviated title. The first issue was published under the title Jadranska straža – Službeno ilustrovano glasilo Jadranske straže – Centrale u Splitu (lit. 'Adriatic Guard – Official Illustrated Gazette of the Adriatic Guard – Split Central Office').
The journal was published from 1923 until 1941 in Split, to promote strategic orientation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia to the Adriatic Sea region. Jadranska straža published news, popular science, and literary texts on a variety of subjects. The journal employed rhetoric resembling the style of Italian fascist publications and promoted the country's official ideology of integral Yugoslavism. In its final years the publisher and the journal gradually shifted their focus from pan-Yugoslav to regional, Dalmatian and Croatian topics.

## Publisher

Jadranska straža journal was published by the Jadranska straža association. It was an association established in Split, then in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later renamed Yugoslavia, present-day Croatia). The organisation's objective was promotion of strategic orientation of the country to the Adriatic Sea area in terms of defence, trade and cultural activities. Jadranska straža intended to form a public opinion on the Adriatic Sea as it was essential to the country and defining the nation's identity—attempting to align the objectves with the country's official ideology of integral Yugoslavism. Since mid-1930s, the central office of the organisation started shifting its orientation pan-Yugoslav one to giving greater emphasis on regional, Dalmatian and Croatian aspects of Adriatic themes.

## Editors and style

Jadranska straža was published from January 1923 until April 1941. Jadranska straža was normally published once a month (except twice as bi-monthly issues in 1925 and 1938) in Split. Until 1929, the journal's sole editor was Silvije Alfirević. He was joined by Niko Bartulović and Otokar Lahman as co-editors in 1929 and 1930. Živko Vekarić and Jakša Ravlić [hr] joined the editing board in 1930 for a year. Both of them and Alfirević quit the role in 1931. Ravlić edited the journal from 1936 until its final issue.
Style and rhetoric of the journal mimicked those of early Italian fascist organisations, but the journal rarely covered political issues in the country. The journal had the format of 24 by 34 centimetres (9.4 in × 13.4 in). Jadranska straža was sold through subscription. Its circulation was up to 20,000. The journal was published predominantly in Croatian, and the remainder was in Serbian or rarely in Slovene language. A part of the journal was printed in Latin and a part in the Cyrillic script. The cover alternated between the two scripts every month. Mimicking the practice of other Yugoslav unitarist journals, it was common to apply the ekavian "pronunciation" to the Latin script texts, and the ijekavian to the Cyrillic script materials.

## Contents

The journal published all maritime-related material, including literary texts and scientific papers. It also covered current events, as well as topics related to fishing and tourism. In the first three years of the publication, a significant portion of the journal consisted of reports on establishment of Jadranska straža branches, listing names of organisation's members and donors. The journal had illustrated sections covering diverse maritime-related topics, including a section dedicated to news on the Royal Yugoslav Navy as well as foreign navies. Jadranska straža published book reviews and, following its fourth issue, a section on aeronautical topics. In 1926–1928, the journal had a section on maritime traditions, life in coastal areas and the historical development of ships. In the same period, reports on coastal towns and regions started to be published, as well as popular science texts on marine biology, meteorology, and navigation instruments. The journal launched a tourism section following a tourism conference held in Split in January 1927. The section was subtitled Glasnik Saveza za unapređenje turizma Sušak-Split-Dubrovnik (lit. 'Gazette of the Alliance for Promotion of Tourism Sušak-Split-Dubrovnik'). The journal published sport news, particularly related to the Gusar Rowing Club and became the official journal of the rowing sport in Yugoslavia.
In 1928, the journal started to give more space to the publishing of maritime-themed literary works and art. The journal still paid considerable attention to the Royal Yugoslav Navy and the merchant navy and articles on history of coastal towns, especially Split, Dubrovnik, Pelješac Peninsula and the Bay of Kotor. In 1929, additional attention was given to tourism, and an entire issue was dedicated to relations with Czechoslovakia. It covered the issues of trade and tourism as well as published several literary works of Czechoslovak authors. Jadranska straža occasionally had a section analysing events in Italy that the editors considered potentially threatening as examples of Italian irredentism. Following the 1930 shipwreck of steamship Daksa, the journal started a section on shipwrecks and maritime accidents. In early 1930s, the journal expanded the scope of articles on coastal towns to foreign ports written by merchant navy captains. In the same period, the literary section was expanded, often publishing works of Viktor Car Emin, while historian Grga Novak contributed works on Croatian rulers of the coastal areas. In the final years of its publication, as World War II started, the journal included reports on sinking of passenger steamships by the Kriegsmarine, on E-boats, and on the Royal Navy.