Irina Lyubomirova Ognyanova-Krivoshieva
Scientific degree and current position:
Doctor of Philosophy, Associated Professor
Areas of academic interest:
Contemporary history and politics in South Eastern Europe; nationalism and religion.
Education and fellowships:
Education
1999 PhD. in History – Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’
1994 MA in History – Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
1992 MA in History – Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’
Fellowships
2013 EHRI Fellowship, The Shoah Memorial – Museum, Center for Contemporary Jewish
Documentation, Paris, France
2011 Mladena and Dianko Sotirov Visiting Fellowship, LSE IDEAS Balkan International Affairs Programme, London, United Kingdom
2002-2003 Jean Monnet Fellowship, the RSCAS-European University Institute, Florence,
Italy
1999-2001 Research Support Scheme, Open Society Support Foundation, Prague, Czech Republic
1998 Junior Visiting Fellow, Institute for Human Sciences (Institut fur die Wissenschaften
vom Menschen), Vienna, Austria
1995-1996 Visiting Scholar, Virtual University Ph.D. research program, Contemporary History Institute, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA
Participation in scholarly projects:
Participation in institutional research projects
2026-2028 'Political Ideologies and Practices in the Balkans in the 20th–21st Century'
2026-2028 'The Balkans and Security in the Black Sea Region after the Cold War'
2025-2027 'Sources on the Balkan Peoples: Publications, Manipulations, Adaptations'
2017-2019 ‘Balkans and the Projects for Regional and European Integration 19th-20th Centuries’
2016-2018 ‘Balkans and the Cold War’
2013-2016 ‘Balkans and the European Idea in the 20th-21st Centuries’
2010-2015 ‘Balkans and Europe - Transformation, Modernization and Integration Processes’
2010-2012 ‘States and Borders: Religion, Ethnos, Nations’
2009-2010 ‘Ethnoreligious and National Problems on the Balkans’
2005-2008 ‘International Relations and the European Integration of the Balkans’
2005-2008 ‘Modernization on the Balkans in the 20th Century’
Participation in international scholarly projects
2019-2026 Scholarly project between the IBSCT-BAS and the Historical Department of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts: 'Religion, State, and Society among Bulgarians and Croats through the Centuries'
2019-2021 Scholarly project between the IBSCT-BAS and the Department of Historical Sciences of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts: 'Religion, State and Society for Bulgarians and Croats through the ages'
2005-2019 Scholarly project between the IBSCT-BAS and the Historical Department of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts: 'Sources and Monographs for Croatian History 7th-20th Centuries'
2007-2019 Scholarly project between the IBSCT-BAS and the Institute of Balkan Studies, Serbian Academy of Sciences, Belgrade: 'The Great Powers and the Balkans'
2011-2016 Scholarly project between the IBSCT-BAS an and the Masaryk Institute and Archive of the Czech Academy of Sciences: 'Nationalism and National Identity in Central and South Eastern Europe (19th -20th centuries)'
2007-2009 Scholarly project of the Croatian Institute for History, Zagreb and the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia: 'Catholic Church Meeting the Ideologies and Political Programs of the 19th and the 20th Centuries'
Teaching:
2002 – Assistant Professor in History of the Balkan nations, Faculty of History and Law, South-West University “Neofit Rilski”, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
Selected publications:
Books
Nationalism and National Policy in Independent State of Croatia, 1941-1945, Sofia, 2001 [in Bulgarian]
Catholic Church and the in Croatia (1941-1945). Paradigma, Sofia, 2014 [in Bulgarian]
Articles
Minority Policy of the Ustasha Regime In Croatia (1941–1945). In: Obscured Balkans, 2 2025, 7–17.
Catholic Church and the Postwar Development of Croatia (1945-1953) – In: „The Churches of the Twentieth Century and the Holy See for Peace. History and Diplomacy in Central-Eastern Europe. Volume in Honor of the Sixty-fifth Birthday of Prof. Jan Mikrut“, VIII vol. of „History of the Church in Central-Eastern Europe“, directed by Prof. Jan Mikrut, 337- 356.Yugoslav Communist Rule and the Catholic Church in Early Post-Second World War Croatia – In: Balkanistichen forum, 3, 2025, 143-168
Croatia and the Russo-Ukrainian War of 2022–2023. Sofia, IBCT, BAS, 2024, 154-167 (e-book)
Catholicism and Secularism in the Ustasha Ideology and State (1941–1945). In: Kovahcev, K. & Zl. Gerdzhikova (eds), The Church and Otherness. Tendril PH, Sofia, 2024, pp. 307-329.e-book - https://tendrilbooks.com/bg/the-church-and-otherness/30-the-church-and-otherness/76-irina-ognyanova.html
Power, Religion and Church in Croatia (1945-1953) - In: Hrvati i Bugari. Diplomacija, politika, kultura i znanost. Zbornik radova sa znanstvenog skupa održanog povodom 30. obljetnice uspostave diplomatskih odnosa između Republike Bugarske i Republike Hrvatske, te 25. Obljetnice uspostave znanstvene suradnje između Bugarske akademije znanosti i Hrvatske akademije znanosti i umjetnosti (Zagreb, 28.-30. rujna 2022.) (Uredili Damir Karbić i Tihana Luetić), Zagreb, 2024, 283-314.
The Clash of Croatian and Serbian Nationalism: The Wars of the 1990s.- In: Drinovski sbornik, v.XVI, Sofia-Harkov, 2023, 246-256.
Archbishop Aloysius Stepinac and the Consolidation of Communist Power in Croatia in the 1940s – In: Istoricheski pregled, 2023, № 4, 44-65.
The Catholic Church during the First Years of Communist Rule in Croatia - In: Religious Institutions and National Identity in the Balkans (XIX-XX Centuries). Collection of Studies Dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate. Zorka Parvanova (ed.), BAS "Prof. Marin Drinov", Sofia, 2021, 284-305.
Croatia's "Long Journey" to the EU – In: Drinovski sbornik, t.XIV, BAS, Prof. Marin Drinov", Sofia - Kharkiv, 2021, 59-68.
Republic of Croatia – from National to European Idea. - Contemporary Balkans: The of the 21st Century. A. Kostov (ed.). Sofia, Tendril, 2021, 49-64.
The Catholic Church and the Idea of an Independent Croatian State in the Interwar and War Periods (1918–1945) - In: Bulgarian-Croatian Scientific, Cultural and Spiritual Relations. Collection of Materials from an International Scientific Conference, dedicated to the 150th Anniversary of the Founding of the National Academy of Sciences, Sofia, June 17–18, 2019 (eds.: Elderov, Svetlozar, Antoaneta Balcheva, Irina Ognyanova, Lyudmila Mindova), Sofia 2021, 350-376.
Jewry-related Discourse in Bulgaria in the Interwar Period – In: The Balkan Jews and the minority issue in South-Eastern Europe, Collognia Balkanica, Warsaw-Bellerive-sur-Allier, vol.7, 2020, 87-106.
Croatia's "Long Journey" to the EU- In: Etudes Balkanique, 4, 2020, 747-763.
The Catholic Church and the Idea of Independent Croatian State. – In: Bulgarian Historical Review, 1-2, 2020, 197-221.
The Trial of Archbishop Stepinac in Zagreb in the autumn of 1946 (in Bulgarian). In: Bugari i Zagreb. Povijest, kultura i politika (eds. Karbic, D., Luetic, T., Mihanovic-Salopek, H.), HAZU, Zagreb, 2019, 269-288.
Republic of Croatia – from National to European Idea (in Bulgarian). In: New Challenges to the Balkans (ed. by Kostov, Alexander), Paradigma, Sofia, 2019, 249-270.
Anti-Serbism - Basis of Ustasha Nationalism. – In: Central Europe and the Balkans, XIX – XX Centuries. Collection in Memory of Prof. Milcho Lalkov (Co-authors Parvev, Iv., N. Kaichev, M. Baramova), Sofia, University "St. Cl. Ohridski", 2019, 289-300.
Tudjman and Croatia's Distancing from Europe - Etudes Balkanique, 4, 2018, 621-639.
Croatia and the Refugee Crisis in the Balkans (in Bulgarian) – In: Refugee Crisis and the Balkans (2015–2016) (ed. by Kostov, Al., I. Ognyanova, B. Banchev), Sofia, Paradigma, 2018, 209-231.
Catholic Church and Anti-Semitism in Croatia during the Second World War (1941-1945) (in Bulgarian) – In: Istoricheski pregled, br.5–6, 2017, 165-193.
Research Work of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rumiana Bozhilova (in Bulgarian) – In: - Bulgarians and Croats during the Centuries. Twenty years of Bulgarian-Croatian Scientific Cooperation: the Results. Collection of Papers in Honor of the 20th Anniversary from the Signature of the Bilateral Agreement for Scientific Cooperation between Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 1997 – 2017. Sofia, 2017, 35-41.
Croatia and the Crisis in Ukraine (in Bulgarian) – In: Ukrainian Crisis and the Balkans (ed. Marinkov, Boyko, Biser Banchev), Sofia, 2017, 119-148.
National Issue in the Croatian-German Relationship (1941-1945) (in Bulgarian) – In: Great Powers, Balkans and Bulgaria during the Second World War. Sofia, 2016, 190-209.
Review of the article of Naum Kajchev. Iliria from Varna to Vilah: the Croatian National Revival, Serbs and Bulgarians /until 1848/. Sofia, 2015, 253 p. (in Bulgarian) - In: Etudes Balkaniques, 2015, br.4, 211-214.
External and Local Influences on the Ustasha Ideological System in the 1930s and the First Half of the 1940s. –In: Arhivele Totalitarismului, br.3-4, 2015, 7-23.
Archbishop Alojzije Stepinac and the Independent State of Croatia (1941-1945) (in Bulgarian) – In: The Bulgarian-Croatian Political and Cultural Relationships during Centuries. Collection of Papers in Honor of the 75th anniversary of Rumyana Bozhilova, Sofia, Paradigma, 2015, 423-444.
Ustasha Nationalism and the Croatian-Italian Relationships during the World War II (in Bulgarian) - In: The Bulgarian-Croatian Political and Cultural Relationships during Centuries. Collection of Papers in Honor of the 75th anniversary of Rumyana Bozhilova, Sofia, Paradigma, 2015, 231-250.
Research Work of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rumiana Bozhilova (in Bulgarian) – In: The Bulgarian-Croatian Political and Cultural Relationships during Centuries. Collection of Papers in Honor of the 75th anniversary of Rumyana Bozhilova, Sofia, Paradigma, 2015, 47-51.
Between the Racial State and the Christian Rampart: Ustasha Ideology, Catholic Values, and National Purification. – In: The Utopia of Terror. Life and Death in Wartime Croatia.(ed. by Rory Yeomans). University of Rochester Press, 2015, 165-187.
Croatia in the European Union: Hopes and Disappointment – In: Diplomacia, Diplomacy Institute, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, br.14, 2015, 154.
Croatia in the EU: Hopes and Disappointments (in Bulgarian) – In: Balkans during the Second Decade of the 21st Century, collection of papers, Sofia, Paradigm, 2015, 336-362.
Croatia after Tudjman (in Bulgarian) - In: Hrvatska rech, br.1, 2014, 20-21.
Croatia Became the 28th Member of the European Union (in Bulgarian) – In: Hrvatska rech, br.1, 2014, 3-6.
External and Local Influences on the Ustasha Ideological System in the 1930s and the First Half of the 1940s. – In: Europe in the Cultural and Political Life of Bulgarians and Croats, Sofia, 2014, 237-264.
Jewry Related Discourse in Bulgaria Between the First and the Second World Wars - In: Radovi Zavoda za hrvatsku povijest, vol.45, 2013, 95-127.
Croatia at the Threshold of the European Union (in Bulgarian) - In: Diplomacia, Diplomacy Institute, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, br.10/2013, 43-47
The Resistance of the Catholic Church in Croatia to the Communist Pressure in Croatia in the First Post-war Years /1945-1947/ (in Bulgarian) – In: collection of proceedings from an international conference: “Croats and Bulgarians through the Centuries. History, Culture, Art and Language”, Zagreb 2013, 377-414.
The Jewish Issue in Bulgaria between the Two World Wars, research report on the site of the Balkan International Affairs Programme, LSE, London - http://www2.lse.ac.uk/IDEAS/programmes/balkanProgramme/Home.aspx
The „Compensatory Decade” - Croatia after Tudjman (2000-2012) – In: Balkans in the First Decade of the 21st Century, collection of papers (ed. by Alexander Kostov, Ekaterina Nikova), Sofia, Paradigm, 2012, 403-430.
Review of the article of the Nassya Kralevska-Owens. Communism versus Democracy. Bulgaria 1944 to 1997. American Research Center in Sofia, 2010, 432 p. - In: Etudes Balkaniques, 2011, br.2-3, 294-296.
Jews in the National and Religious Policy of the War-time Ustasha Regime in Croatia /1941-1945/ – In: Balkanistichen forum, Svoboda i nadzor, br. 1/2011, 233-255.
Bulgarian Society and the Jewry in the Interwar Period (Overview) - In: Etudes Balkaniques, 2010, 4, 68-95.
The Croatian Nationalism and the Collapse of Versailles Yugoslavia in 1941 (in Bulgarian) - – In: Studia Balcanica 28, “Europe: Nations and Boundaries. Versailles Peace and Its Legacy”. Sofia, Institut po balkanistika pri BAN, 2010, 244-266.
The Theme of the Connection between the Catholic Church and Nationalism in Croatia (1941-1953) in the Historical Literature (in Bulgarian) - Minalo 2010, br.4, 48-60.
Nationalism and National Policy in Independent State of Croatia (1941-1945). - In Formování moderních národů ve střední a východní Evropě v 19. a 20. století. Richard Vašek, Jan Rychlík (Eds.), Masarykův ústav a Archiv AV ČR, v. v. i., Praha – Sofie 2010, 119–137.
Religion and Church in the Ustasha Ideology (1941-1945) - In: Croatica Christiana /Zagreb, Croatia/, god. 33, br. 64, 2009, 157-190.
The Catholic Church and the Ustasha Nationalism in the Independent State of Croatia (1941-1945) (in Bulgarian) – In: Darzhava, obshtestvo i kultura na balgari i harvati VІІ-ХХІ vek”, materials from a conference (Sofia, June 5 – 9, 2008), Sofia, 2009, 351-394.
The Catholic Church and the Ustasha Nationalism in Croatia during the Second World War – in: Sprawy Narodowosciowe, Poland, v.33, 2008, 7-26.
The Religious Policy in the Independent State of Croatia (1941-1945) – In: Etudes Balkaniques, br.3, 2008, 81-119.
Catholic Church in Croatia in the Policy of the Yugoslav Communist Regime (1945-1953) – (in Bulgarian) – In: Studia Balcanica 26, Izsledvanija v pamet na Apostolos Hristakudis. Sofia, Institut po balkanistika pri BAN, 2007, 165-190.
The Connections of the Ustasha Organization with IMRO at the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s (in Bulgarian) – In: Balgari i harvati v Jugoiztochna Evropa VII-XXI v., Sofia, 2006, 219-256.
Ustasha Nationalism in Croatia During the Second World War (1941-1945) – In: Sprawy Narodowosciowe (Poland), v.28, 2006, 33-52.
Croation Nationalism and the Breakup of Yugoslavia. - In: Sandu Frunză, Nicu Gavriluţă, Michael S. Jones (eds.), Challenges of Multiculturalism in Central and Eastern Europe, Cluj, ProvoPress, 2005, 165-173.
Croatian Nationalism and the Breakup of Yugoslavia - In: Etudes Balkaniques, 2005, 1, 3-24.
Croatian Nationalism in Communist Yugoslavia – In: Etudes Balkaniques, 2004, 4, 3-18.
National Idea in Ideology and Activity of the Croatian Peasant Party and the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union in the end of 19th and the beginning of 20th Century (in Bulgarian) – in: Balgari i harvati prez vekovete, vol.2, Sofia, 2003, 198-211.
History of the Present: Debates, Approaches, Sources – in: History of the Present. (Workshop on South-east European History, Belgrade, 19-23 November, 2001), Centre for South-East European Studies, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College, London, 2002, 29-31.
Nationalism and National Policy in Independent State of Croatia (1941-1945) – in: Topics in Feminism, History and Philosophy, CD-ROM, IWM Junior Fellows Conference, Vol.VI, Institute for Human Sciences (Institut fur die Wissenschaften vom Menschen), Vienna, 2000
Religion and Church in Ustasha Nationalistic Doctrine (in Bulgarian) - in: Istoricheski pregled, LVI, 1-2, 2000, 151-180.
Bosnia and Herzegovina in Ustashas National Concept during the Second World War (1941-1945) (in Bulgarian) - in: Minalo, 1, 1998, 61-72.
Muslims in Ideology and Policy of the Ustasha Regime during the World War II (in Russian) - in: Bulgarian Historical Review, XXV, 4, 1997, 28-56.
Ustasha Nationalism - Ideology and Activity (in Bulgarian) - in: Epohi (Veliko Trnovo), ІV, 2, 1996, 5-19.
Contacts:
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Mailing address: Moskovska Street No. 45, Sofia 1000