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PRINCIPLES OF THE CROATIAN NOBILITY ASSOCIATION
1.
The aim of the Association is to gather all
what has remained of the Croatian nobility, having
preserved their respect for tradition and love for
their country. The Association does not aim for
privileges, because it considers them to be
incompatible with a democratic society. Therefore it
is necessary to determine clearly and steadily the
aims and directions for the activity of the
Association in order to leave out any vanity and to
keep the wish to serve one's own country in the same
way as our ancestors did in times of danger, from
Krbava Field to Klis, from Sisak to Lepant and Siget,
and following the unique concept of culture and
ethics of social relations as represented by the
Dubrovnik part of the Croatian aristocracy,
according to which aristocracy willingly sacrifices
itself for the benefit of the Republic.
2.
Based on the above, we can determine the
principles on which the activity of the Croatian
Nobility Association rests.
These are:
·
HPZ is a historical, traditional and living
association. Through its genealogies it testifies
authentically to the historical continuity of the
Croatian statehood: Nations not having their own
nobility, as a rule did not have their own state
either.
·
HPZ is a national association of nobility, which
emphasizes the integrity of the Croatian state
territory and its historical and cultural
interconnectedness. Affiliation of Croatia with two
of the most beautiful civilisation circles of the
world, the Mediterranean and Central European, is a
historical fact that is our fortune. Ahead of the
Association is, therefore, the task to contribute to
the integration of the historical, spiritual, and
cultural territory of Croatia also by uniting the
corps of Croatian nobility.
·
HPZ is a class association of the Croatian nobility,
which has, like the Church in Croatia, hardly
survived the Marxist historiography and social
storms of the 20th century. As such, the Association
also stands for its subjective interests, but in the
framework of broader interests and laws of the
society we live in.
·
Membership of the Croatian Nobility Association is
determined by its Statutes. By its very nature it is
selective and restrictive, but it also recognises
the fact that wars and social disturbances have
destroyed many public and family archives.
·
The Croatian Nobility Association is in its activity
open to cooperation with Croatian state, Church, and
cultural institutions. It has to be an open, two-way
cooperation, based upon mutual respect and
acknowledgment of its independence.
·
The Croatian Nobility Association emphasizes the
ethic component: Nobility, obtained through ancient
merit of ancestors, is being transferred by birth,
but strengthened by upbringing and confirmed by way
of life. That is why the Association has adopted the
following motto:
"What you have inherited from your fathers, you must
earn in order to possess."
3.
Immediate tasks of the Association, arising
out of these principles, are:
·
to gather the Croatian nobility around the Croatian
Nobility Association; thus gathered, to serve the
homeland using those comparative advantages which
the nobility has
·
to bear witness to the continuity of statehood and
to connect the civilisation circles in which Croatia
lives
·
to bear witness to the historical role of nobility
in Croatia
·
to emphasize ethics, morality, non-corruption and
the principle of sacrifice for the benefit of
Croatia
Realisation of these tasks is the true purpose of
existence of this Association.
Zagreb, May 20th 1996.
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