Irina Lyubomirova Ognyanova-Krivoshieva (Bulgaria), Assistant Professor, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, “Nationalism and National Policy in Independent State of Croatia (1941-1945)”.

Irina Ognyanova’s scientific interest is in contemporary history and politics of Southeastern Europe. Most of her scientific works are dedicated to the actual problems of the Croatian nationalism. She has special interest in the Holocaust in South Eastern and Central Europe, and its relevance to the strong local nationalism and religion.

Irina Ognyanova is particularly interested in the extreme forms of the Croatian nationalism during the Second World War. Her Ph.D. thesis at Sofia University, Sofia, Bulgaria, "Nationalism and National Policy in Independent State of Croatia (1941-1945)“ was published as a monograph in 2001. At the Shoah Memorial, Paris, France she went deeper into one of its aspects: the nationalism towards the Jews (“The Jews in the National and Religious Policy of the Wartime Ustasha Regime in Croatia (1941-1945)”).

From June 1, 2003 she has been working as an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Balkan Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences at the Balkans after World War II Department. There she participates in two basic projects of the Institute of Balkan Studies: “States and Borders: Religion, Ethnos, Nations”, and “Balkans and Europe - Transformation, Modernization and Integration Processes”. Presently she is finalizing her second monograph “Catholic Church and the Croatian Nationalism (1941-1953)”.