Napredak Osijek
Napredak Osijek
After the end of the war in 1945, Tito’s Communist dictatorship banned the work of all former associations, including the Croatian Culture Association Napredak, and confiscated all their property. On the basis of the ruling of the Court of the Federal Unit of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo of July 30, 1945, the Regional People’s Court in Osijek issued a decree on November 12, 1945, ordering the confiscation of all the property of the Union of Napredak Cooperatives, including the confiscation of the property of the branch of the Napredak cooperative in Osijek. Upon the appeal of the Napredak branch in Osijek, the Supreme Court for Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, on November 3, 1945, annulled the verdict of the Honorable People’s Court in Sarajevo on the confiscation of property insofar as it related to other members of the Napredak cooperatives, with the exception of the Napredak cooperative in Sarajevo, the People’s Cooperative “Uzdanica” in Sarajevo and the Union of Napredak Cooperatives in Sarajevo.
Since the above-mentioned ruling did not extend to the seizure of the property of the Napredak cooperative in Osijek, on January 21, 1946, the Municipal Administration for People’s Property in Osijek applied to the District People’s Court in Osijek for the annulment of the seizure of the Napredak cooperative in Osijek. The reason for this was that the Napredak cooperative in Osijek was an independent body registered with the Commercial Court in Osijek on August 22, 1936.
Nevertheless, on January 8, 1948, by decision of the People’s Committee of the City of Osijek and on the proposal of the Main Union of Croatian Cooperatives, the Napredak Savings and Loan Cooperative Osijek was dissolved, because it had not brought its rules in line with the provisions of the Basic Law on Cooperatives (referring to cooperatives of the new, Russian type), and the property of the cooperative was confiscated as early as November 12, 1945.
Since 1941, the Union of Savings and Economic Cooperatives Napredak in Sarajevo owned the building of Julije and Ela Kiš in Osijek, Preradovićevo šetalište 5. This building was nationalized in 1941 and then sold to the Union of Savings and Economic Cooperatives Napredak in Sarajevo. From 1945, the staged so-called “trials” were swiftly held against the members of the Board of Directors of the Napredak cooperative in Osijek. Almost all of them were sentenced to prison terms and loss of people’s honor, and their property was confiscated. For example, on May 17, 1946, the District Court in Osijek sentenced the former member of the board of directors of Napredak cooperative in Osijek, engineer Karl Kehler, for the so-called “criminal act against the people and the state.” From the investigation files against the members of the Board of the Napredak cooperative in Osijek, we have obtained information about the members themselves, as well as some information about the work of the cooperative itself. Thus, there is a list of the members of the Board of the Napredak cooperative in Osijek:
Milan Blažeković, president until July 3, 1943.
Lavoslav Rohregger, vice president.
Engineer Karlo Kehler, member until November 30, 1945 (place of residence unknown at the time of the investigation).
Ivan Rešetar, member from July 3, 1943 to November 30, 1945 (sentenced in August 1945 by the military court in Osijek to 16 years of hard labor in Lepoglava).
Rudolf Merk, member.
Engineer Ivan Boto, member until April 6, 1940. Krunoslav Kajdi, member from 1937 until July 16, 1942 (official of the State Institute for Social Insurance in Osijek).
Vladimir Mrljak, member until November 30, 1945.
Ivo Martinović, member until September 8, 1943 (was seriously ill in Mikanovci at the time of the investigation).
Ladislav Mehler, member until November 11, 1940.
Ljudevit Kotnik, member from 1936 to November 30, 1945 (electrical craftsman). Franjo Mimohodek, member from 1928 to June 24, 1944 (tailor craftsman). Josip Vargović, member until November 30, 1945 (tramway conductor in Osijek). Vladimir Gobec, member until May 29, 1941.
Đuro Sedler, member until May 8, 1943 (whereabouts unknown at the time of investigation), Antun Švarcmajer, member from May 29, 1941 to July 3, 1943 (judge), engineer Blaž Misita Katušić, member from 1932 to November 30, 1945 (engineer at the Osijek Regional Administrative Court).
Zorislav Mach, member since May 8, 1943 – not erased (treasurer of the Napredak cooperative).
Čedomil Baškarad, member since May 8, 1943 – not erased (official of Napredak cooperative since 1928 in Sarajevo and since 1941 in Osijek). Stipo Doljanin, member since 3 July 1943 until November 30, 1945.
Josip Savić, member from July 3, 1943 to November 30, 1945 (merchant).
Franjo Visković, member from June 24, 1944 November 30, 1945 (employee in the sugar factory in Beli Manastir).
The members of the Board of the Napredak cooperative in Osijek since November 30, 1945 were:
Engineer Edo Reder, president Antun Šarić, vice-president Franjo Olrom, member Ivan Pavošević, member Stjepan Vinogradac, member Stjepan Okiević, member Pavao Habuš, member Aleksander Baumgartner, member engineer Slavko Flajsig.
In this way, Tito’s Communist regime in Osijek ended this cultural-educational and economically fruitful institution by confiscating its large assets, thus destroying another institution that worked for the cultural-educational and economic well-being of the Croatian people.
After the collapse of Tito’s totalitarian Communist one-party system in socialist Yugoslavia and the resulting democratic changes in 1990, the former traditional cultural, educational and economic institutions in Croatia are returning and being rebuilt. Due to the aggression against Croatia, the subsequent liberation of the temporarily occupied territories of Croatia and the numerous refugees, and the reconstruction of the economy after the aggression, all this was somewhat slower than we would have liked. However, in February 1997, after the end of the aggression and the defense of Croatian sovereignty, the HKD Napredak in Osijek was renewed. Since then the Napredak of Osijek exists.
Until today, nothing has been returned from the property of the Croatian Cultural Society Napredak in Osijek. The former Napredak building at Europska avenija 2 (550 m2) was sold in 2005 with the consent of the City of Osijek as the founder of the Educational Center “Ivan Štark.” Napredak also owned a property at Vukovarska 30, which is 400 m2 in size and includes 1000 m2 of land. The third property confiscated from Napredak is the one in Zagrebačka 5 (650 m2), which today belongs to the Children’s Home Klasje Osijek founded by the state.
Sources and literature:
Collection of papers Stoljeće HKD “Napredak” Tuzla, Tuzla, 2008.
glas-slavonije.hr, June 24, 2019, accessed on June 27, 2023
hkdnapredak.com, January 23, 2023, accessed on June 27, 2023.
Editorial/komunistickizlocini.net
