Franjo Gaži (13 February 1900 – 15 November 1964) was a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, 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 Herze ...

n and

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 ...

n politician. In

1935 Yugoslavian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Yugoslavia on 5 May 1935. The result was a victory for the governing Yugoslav National Party (JNS), which won 303 of the 370 seats in Parliament. Rioting among Croats and Slovenes prior to the election resu ...

he was the designated alternate of

Croatian Peasant Party The Croatian Peasant Party (, HSS) is an agrarianism, agrarian List of political parties in Croatia, political party in Croatia founded on 22 December 1904 by Antun Radić, Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party (HPSS). The ...

(''Hrvatska seljačka stranka'', HSS) candidate

Mihovil Pavlek Miškina Mihovil Pavlek – Miškina (1887– 1942) was a Croatian poet, short story writer and politician. He was a member of the Croatian Peasant Party and an opponent of the Ustaša regime. Pavlek was born in Đelekovec, at the time in the Kingdom of ...

and became the party's district president for

Koprivnica Koprivnica () is a city in Northern Croatia, located 70 kilometers northeast of Zagreb. It is the capital and the largest city of Koprivnica-Križevci County. In 2011, the city's administrative area of 90.94 km2 had a total populati ...

. Following the

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

invasion of Yugoslavia The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, was a Nazi Germany, German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was put fo ...

during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and establishment of the

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, ...

(''Nezavisna Država Hrvatska'', NDH) in April 1941, the HSS remains largely passive, following instructions of its president

Vladko Maček Vladimir Maček (20 June 1879 – 15 May 1964) was a politician in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. As a leader of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) following the 1928 assassination of Stjepan Radić, Maček had been a leading Croatian political figure ...

. At the same time, 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 ...

(''Komunistička partija Jugoslavija'', KPJ) and its nominally independent branch, the Communist Party of Croatia (''Komunistička partija Hrvatske'', KPH) launch Partisan resistance. HSS presence in the Partisan movement was established by Božidar Magovac in 1943, and Gaži soon followed him there. Magovac established the HSS executive committee in the Partisans, but after he came into conflict with the KPH secretary Andrija Hebrang, Gaži gradually replaced Magovac with Hebrang's assistance. Thus Gaži became the president of the HSS executive committee, as well as the vice-president of the

State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Croatia The State Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Croatia (''Zemaljsko antifašističko vijeće narodnog oslobođenja Hrvatske''), commonly abbreviated ZAVNOH, was first convened on 13–14 June 1943 in Otočac and Plitvice as the ...

(''Zemaljsko antifašističko vijeće narodnog oslobođenja Hrvatske'', ZAVNOH) established by the KPH as the supreme representative body in Croatia, and vice-president of the

National Committee for the Liberation of Yugoslavia The National Committee for the Liberation of Yugoslavia (, , NKOJ), also known as the Yugoslav Committee of National Liberation, was the World War II provisional executive body of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, established on 29 November 1943 ...

. In the final days of the war, the HSS executive committee was under increasing influence of the KPH. It was formally renamed the Croatian Republican Peasant Party and used to politically weaken Maček-led HSS. The HRSS remained a political ally of the KPH after the war and Gaži was elected a member of the Croatian

Sabor The Croatian Parliament () or the Sabor is the unicameral legislature of Croatia. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sabor is composed of 151 members elected ...

and of the

Yugoslav Parliament The Parliament of Yugoslavia was the legislature of Yugoslavia. Before World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia it was known as the National Assembly (''Narodna skupština''), while in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia the name was c ...

. He was a part of several Vladimir Bakarić-led cabinets of Croatia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaži, Franjo 1900 births 1964 deaths Croatian Peasant Party politicians Croatian people of World War II People from Hlebine