Ivo Mašina
Ivo Mašina, born in 1927 in Preko on the beautiful island of Ugljan, was a young historian, viewed by the academic Jaroslav Šidak as his future successor at the University of Zagreb. Ivo sent the mentioned letter to his mother from the infamous jail in Dorđićeva street in Zagreb, just before Christmas 1954. He was cruelly murdered (strangled) in the prison in Stara Gradiška in 1961, at the age of 34.
Ivo Mašina was a Croatian patriot, a Catholic intellectual and the best history student of his generation at the University of Zagreb, and his professors were predicting him a brilliant career. However, on the day he was due to take the final exam, police arrested him, preventing him from completing his studies. The same thing happened on two more occasions, which shows that the police deliberately prevented him from taking the final exam, and Ivo Mašina never got the opportunity to officially finish his studies. This information was personally shared by Prof. Joja Ricov.
He survived the Bleiburg, but the Partisans killed his brother Melkior somewhere on the Way of the Cross. He was a very talented, smart and responsible young man. He was inspired by the Christian and patriotic ideals. His youth, enthusiasm and a great desire to contribute to the realization of the Croatian freedom led to constant supervision from UDBA.
In the photo on the left is Ivo Mašina’s tomb by the Franciscan monastery, and in the photo on the right is the monument to Ivo Mašina in his native Preko on the island of Ugljan.
Mašina was imprisoned in 1959 under the severe accusation that he formed political alliances with the aim of creating a free nation-state Croatia. While awaiting the verdict, he managed to escape from pre-trial detention. But a few months later he was arrested and imprisoned. The verdict read: 15 years at the infamous Stara Gradiška penitentiary. He was placed in solitary confinement, where he was abused, tortured and poisoned on a daily basis, and on 20 November 1961, he was killed (strangled) in the same solitary confinement. He offered the only just solution for future generations: an independent, sovereign state of Croatia. He was a genius and a visionary, a light in the dark, a Croatian martyr, a symbol of the struggle and suffering of the whole nation. He is just one in a series of victims of the Yugoslav regime authorities. The letter he wrote from prison to his mother before Christmas testifies to his strong faith and courage:
“My dear mother,
I am writing you a joyful letter for Christmas. Don’t cry that I’m not there to decorate the nativity scene and Christmas tree with Davor. Here, in my heart, I made a large, golden Christmas tree and a manger for the Child Jesus. The Righteous One will come into the heart of the righteous, for so He said. All the bells are ringing in my tissues, my soul is a singing nightingale in the bush. Thank You, mother, for this feeling that transcends all feelings. Thank you and thank Grace. Because there is no higher idea than the idea of Love. Behold, Love is born to the world, behold, love is born in me. What can my enemy do to me, if I love him? My cross is sweet and my burden is light, so light, that I do not feel it but as happiness. So how can you be sad for your son? Rejoice with me, for it is written: I will turn your sorrow into joy, your sighs into jubilation, your tears into laughter. There I am, in the dining room, by the Christmas tree and singing. The candles are burning on the Christmas tree and their reflection are burning in Your eyes. The light of Christ burns in us. The darkness was dispelled by the torch of love, for God so loved the world, that he sent his Son to Earth, to suffer and die. Is there a greater example of love, can the human imagination imagine a similar example? The example of Christ shines as the lighthouse before us. Let us love, so that tonight we may be happy in the presence of our Lord by carrying out his full command. And may His grace be upon us. Having these two – Love and Grace – we are rich enough and let us ask for nothing more. Rejoice, mother, at this Christmas and do not cry for me not being there to decorate the manger and the Christmas tree with Davor. Here, in my heart, I have made a large, golden pine and manger, waiting for the Child Jesus. The Righteous One will come into the heart of the righteous, because he said so.
Your Ivo.“
There is a literary monograph dedicated to Ivo Mašina by the author Joja Ricov: Ivo Mašina – pitate me – tko je to? (Ivo Mašina – you ask me – who is he?),Lumin, 1994, Zagreb. Joja Ricov was born in the fishing village of Kali on the island of Ugljan, near Preko – the birthplace of Ivo Mašina. The branch of Matica Hrvatska in Preko published the book Ivo Mašina: Uskrsna zvona (pisma) (Ivo Mašina: Easter bells (letters)).
Another monograph devoted to this little known martyr is: Ivo Mašina, Kršćanski borac za slobodnu i pravednu Hrvatsku (Ivo Mašina, a Christian fighter for the free and just Croatia), Braća hrvatskog zmaja, Zmajski stol in Zadar, ed. Bernardin Škunca OFM, Zadar, 2002.
Another important monograph featuring original testimonies on Ivo Mašina was written by Hrvoje Kačić, Dubrovačke žrtve: jugokomunistički teror na hrvatskom jugu 1944. i poratnim godinama (Victims from Dubrovnik: Yugoslav Communist terror in the Croatian South in 1944 and post-war years). A separate chapter is dedicated to Ivo Mašina: XII. Dike Dubrovnika: Ivo Mašina i Boris Krasovac / protivnici svakog totalitarizma i borci protiv svakog zločina (Chapter XII: Pride of Dubrovnik: Ivo Mašina and Boris Krasovac – opponents of every totalitarianism and fighters against every crime). Lastly, in the journal Zadarska smotra a very extensive and detailed presentation of Ivo Mašina was published.
Sources: Zadarska smotra, journal for culture, science and art, year XLIV, no. 4-6. 2000 (985 pages)
Easter bells (letters), 1945-1961, Preko, 1994
Editorial/komunistickizlocini.net
