Andrija Hebrang (politician, Born 1899)
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Andrija Hebrang (22 October 1899 – 11 June 1949) was a Croatian and Yugoslav
communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...
and politician. A member of the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats a ...
until his dismissal, he served as the 4th
Secretary of the Central Committee The Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was responsible for managing and directing the day-to-day operations of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, while the Politburo was charged with the ...
of the
Communist Party of Croatia League of Communists of Croatia (, SKH) was the Croatian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ). It came into power in 1945. Until 1952, it was known as Communist Party of Croatia (, KPH). The party dissolved in 1990. History ...
.


Early life

Andrija Hebrang was born in Bačevac (part of Gradina) to Andrija Hebrang Sr. and Cela Strasser, a mixed Croatian-Jewish mercantile family. In World War I, he was stationed in
Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...
,
Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
, and finally the battlefields in
Gorizia Gorizia (; ; , ; ; ) is a town and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, Region ...
, Italy where he stayed until the end of the war. Not long afterward, in 1919, he joined the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats a ...
and became heavily involved in socialist political causes.


Political involvement

He became a member of the Socialist Workers' Party of Yugoslavia (communists) in 1919 in Osijek, distinguished himself and was a member of the Local Committee of the CPY for Zagreb. In 1920, the Yugoslav government banned Obzan from the Communist Party. However, the unresolved Croatian issue was far more dangerous for the government than the communist activity. At the beginning of 1923, the communists illegally founded the Independent Workers' Party of Yugoslavia. In the same year, Hebrang settled in Zagreb. 0He was first arrested for street demonstrations in March 1924, after which he spent several days in prison. In the 1925 elections, the Independent Workers' Party won only 1.1% of the vote and was left without a seat in the National Assembly. The following year, Hebrang joined the Board of Directors of a branch of the Union of Private Employees as treasurer, and before their congress in October 1927 he was expelled from the union and administration. In 1928, Pantovčak was presided over by VIII. conference of the Zagreb Communists where, together with Tito, he opposed factional struggles within the Party. The victory of their anti-factional current, with the support of Antun Mavrak, secretary of the CPY Provincial Committee for Croatia and Slavonia, enabled the consolidation of party ranks. Hebrang was appointed an envoy of the Zagreb Local Committee at the April session of the
Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...
in
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, but was arrested on April 13, 1928, while crossing the border. He was detained for three months for "wandering and communism," 2but was soon released for lack of evidence. He was expelled to Bačevac, but returned illegally to Zagreb, where, after the murder of
Pavle Radić Pavle Radić (10 January 1880 – 20 June 1928) was a Croatian politician and member of the Croatian People's Peasant Party (HPSS). Radić was shot and killed in parliament by the Serbian radical politician Puniša Račić. This assassination f ...
and Đuro Basaričko, the wounding of Ivan Pernar and Ivan Granđa, and the fatal wounding of
Stjepan Radić Stjepan Radić (11 June 1871 – 8 August 1928) was a Croat politician and the co-founder of the Croatian People's Peasant Party (HPSS), active in Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. He is credited with galvanizin ...
in the National Assembly on June 20, 1928, the work of the Party intensified. Following the assassinations, the ensuing protests intensified police persecution of opponents of the regime, especially HSS members and communists.


Imprisonment (1928–1941)

In Zagreb, meanwhile, the management of the Workers' Cultural Society, of which Hebrang was a member, was arrested and served a month in prison. At the same time, he was expelled to Bačevac for five years, but as soon as the circumstances allowed, he returned illegally to Zagreb. Hebrang was arrested again on September 7, 1928, together with Mihail Vraneš, in Zagreb, in front of the house in Gundulićeva Street, where the secret Party archives were located. Because he was arrested with compromising letters and documents, he was taken to remand prison. At that time, communism, under the State Protection Act, was characterized as a coup d'état, which made it impossible to punish Hebrang more leniently. At the trial in Belgrade, he did not admit his affiliation with the Communist Party, but declared himself a communist by conviction. As his communist activity was indisputably proven, the State Court for the Protection of the State sentenced him, on November 13, 1928, to 12 years in prison. He was sent to serve his sentence in Lepoglava, but at the end of 1933, together with other political prisoners, communists, he was transferred to Srijemska Mitrovica, because after the strike in Lepoglava the penitentiary administration decided to gather political prisoners in one place. In March 1941, shortly after his release from prison, he became a member of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of Croatia League of Communists of Croatia (, SKH) was the Croatian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ). It came into power in 1945. Until 1952, it was known as Communist Party of Croatia (, KPH). The party dissolved in 1990. History ...
.


World War II

In 1942, he was captured by the
Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionar ...
in house of Ivan Srebrenjak and sent to
Stara Gradiška concentration camp Stara Gradiška was a concentration and extermination camp in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during World War II. The camp was specially constructed for women and children of Serb, Jewish and Romani ethnicity. Victims also included commu ...
, where he was later exchanged along with his future wife, Olga, for several Ustasha officials. Tanner (1997), p. 164 He traveled to
Bihać Bihać is a city and the administrative centre of Una-Sana Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of river Una (Sava), Una in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, in th ...
to attend the
Anti-fascist Council of the National Liberation of Yugoslavia Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...
(AVNOJ). He also helped form the State Antifascist Council of the National Liberation of Croatia (ZAVNOH) and served as the vice-president. On 20 September 1943, ZAVNOH unilaterally issued a declaration that Istria, Rijeka, and Italian-occupied Dalmatia were part of Croatia without the prior approval of the national
AVNOJ The Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia,; ; commonly abbreviated as the AVNOJ, was a deliberative and legislative body that was established in Bihać, Yugoslavia, in November 1942. It was established by Josip Broz ...
. which angered Yugoslav leader
Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 until his death ...
. At the third session of ZAVNOH, held on 8–9 May in
Topusko Topusko is a Municipalities of Croatia, municipality and settlement in Sisak-Moslavina County, Croatia. Topusko is an underdeveloped municipality which is statistically classified as the Areas of Special State Concern (Croatia), First Category Are ...
several resolutions were adopted which further angered Broz. They included an openness to continue religious education in schools and overtures to a free press. In September 1944, the executive board of ZAVNOH established the Telegraphic Agency of Croatia (TAH). Broz immediately sent a telegram to Hebrang on 17 September: :''Immediately stop with the work of this so-called telegraph agency - TAH. What does this even mean? You're sliding with full force into separatism. Don't you realize that even federal states have a single telegraph agency. Let your example be the Soviet Union if no other.'' The following day Broz also sent a telegram to
Edvard Kardelj Edvard Kardelj (; 27 January 1910 – 10 February 1979), also known by the pseudonyms Bevc, Sperans, and Krištof, was a Yugoslav politician and economist. He was one of the leading members of the Communist Party of Slovenia before World War II ...
: :''Urgently travel to Croatia. They're creating some unbelievable idiocy. First, ZAVNOH adopted a resolution according to which religious education is a mandatory subject in schools. Second, they've founded some telegraph agency - TAH. This all demonstrates that separatist tendencies are fairly strong and this is true of our comrades. With this there is no kidding, for we will have to undertake the sharpest measures. For all this I blame Andrija. Make inquiries and if Andrija is not of this opinion, we will have to immediately remove him from the post of secretary of the CC entral Committee''


After World War II


Industrialization


Five-Year Plan

Industrialization was the most significant process in the economic development of the SR Croatia, as communists promoted industrialization as the main factor in fast development. After the process of renewal, the process of industrialization and electrification started based on the Soviet model. The whole economy, the creation of a system and the formulation of the strategy of development in the Five-Year Plan, was in the charge of Andrija Hebrang. As President of the Economy Council and President of the Planning Commission, Hebrang was in charge of all ministries that dealt with the economy. Alongside Tito, Edvard Kardelj and
Aleksandar Ranković Aleksandar Ranković (nom de guerre Marko, nicknamed Leka; sr-Cyrl, Александар Ранковић Лека; 28 November 1909 – 19 August 1983) was a Serbian and Yugoslav communist politician, considered to be the third most powerful ...
, he was the most influential person in Yugoslavia. As a chief of the whole economy, Hebrang finished his Five-Year Plan in winter 1946–47 which was approved by the government in spring 1947. Because of the lack of knowledge, the Plan copied the Soviet model. The factories which were built faster were factories that were in the sector of heavy and military industry, of which the most known in SR Croatia were "Rade Končar" and "Prvomajska". In the Five-Year Plan, Hebrang wanted to increase the industrial production by five times and agricultural production by 1.5 times, increase the GDP per capita by 1.8 times and the national revenues by 1.8 times. The plan also included the increase of qualified workers, from 350,000 to 750,000. For the SR Croatia, it was decided that its industrial production needed to be increased by 452%. The fast development in industry required a high number of workers, so from 461,000 workers in 1945, in 1949 there were 1,990,000 workers. On 17 January 1947, Kardelj stated to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Croatia that Yugoslavia would be industrially stronger than Austria and Czechoslovakia. Both Kardelj and Bakarić advocated development of light industry, instead of Hebrang's idea for industry that would serve agriculture.


Later years and death

Around the beginning of the
Tito–Stalin Split The Tito–Stalin split or the Soviet–Yugoslav split was the culmination of a conflict between the political leaderships of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, under Josip Broz Tito and Joseph Stalin, respectively, in the years following World W ...
in 1948, Hebrang was suspected of being Stalin's prime candidate for replacing Tito. Hebrang was thus blacklisted from the Yugoslav Communist Party and expelled. By March his phones were tapped, and in April he was placed under house arrest, relieved of all official duties. In May, he was accused of collaborating with the Ustashe and the
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
to sabotage
Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...
and spy for the Soviets after Tito broke with
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
. Hebrang was arrested in Belgrade by
UDBA The State Security Service, also known by its original name as the Directorate for State Security, was the secret police organization of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Communist Yugoslavia. It was at all times best known by the acrony ...
agents and accused of numerous treasons, while his wife and small children were put under house arrest. He disappeared under suspicious circumstances. UDBA official Milorad Milatović, who was in charge of the Hebrang case, claimed in 1952 that Hebrang had committed suicide at Glavnjača prison in Belgrade on 11 June 1949, but his body was never recovered and no official death certificate was filed. In the late 1980s, several historians reported that Hebrang had been assassinated in his Belgrade prison cell for political reasons.


Afterwards

Not long after Hebrang's arrest, his wife Olga was sentenced to twelve years in prison, and his children were sent to live with his sister, Ilona, in Zagreb. His family changed their surname as the government blacklisted anyone with the surname Hebrang. In 1992, the
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
of the
Republic of Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Mont ...
rehabilitated Hebrang as a "victim of communism". His sons
Andrija Andrija (; sr-cyr, Андрија) is a South Slavic masculine given name. It is cognate to Greek ''Andreas'', or English Andrew. Notable people with the name include: * Andrija, Prince of Hum (fl. 1203–50), medieval nobleman from the Vukanovi ...
and Branko were active in the efforts to rehabilitate their father and return his remains.Rehabilitiran Andrija Hebrang
, arhiva.net.hr; 13 April 2009; accessed 25 April 2015.


Legacy

A street in central Zagreb, Ulica Andrije Hebranga, is named for Hebrang.


See also

*
Andrija Hebrang (son) Andrija Hebrang (; born 27 January 1946) is a Croatian physician and politician. He is a former member of the Parliament of Croatia. A physician by vocation, Hebrang had served three terms as Croatia's Minister of Health (1990–1992, 1993–19 ...
*
UDBA The State Security Service, also known by its original name as the Directorate for State Security, was the secret police organization of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Communist Yugoslavia. It was at all times best known by the acrony ...


References


Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hebrang, Andrija 1899 births 1949 deaths People from Gradina, Virovitica-Podravina County People from the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia Croatian Austro-Hungarians Croatian communists Yugoslav communists Stalinism Anti-revisionists Croatian people of World War I League of Communists of Croatia politicians Yugoslav Partisans members Yugoslav soldiers Assassinated Croatian politicians Assassinated Yugoslav people People murdered in Serbia Date of death unknown People murdered in 1949 Politicians assassinated in the 1940s