Ignjat Granitz (born Ignatz Granitz; 1845 – 17 December 1908) was a Croatian-Jewish industrialist, philanthropist and publisher.

Early life and family

Granitz was born in Kemenesmagasi,

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, to a poor peasant Jewish family. In 1864, Granitz finished

teacher training college A normal school or normal college is an institution created to Teacher education, train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high s ...

Győr Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia ...

. He attended rabbinical school in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

, but soon quit the education because of his liberal views. Granitz worked as a teacher in

Sárvár Sárvár (german: Kotenburg or ; la, Bassiana; sl, Mala Sela) is a town in Vas County, Hungary. Sárvár lies on the banks of the River Rába at Kemeneshát. The population is nearly 16,000. The town has become a tourist centre of internatio ...

, and later in

Nagykanizsa Nagykanizsa (; hr, Velika Kaniža/Velika Kanjiža, or just ''Kaniža/Kanjiža''; german: Großkirchen, Groß-Kanizsa; it, Canissa; sl, Velika Kaniža; tr, Kanije), known colloquially as Kanizsa, is a medium-sized city in Zala County in southw ...

. In Nagykanizsa he meet his future wife Paula (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Deutsch), with whom he moved to

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, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

in 1869. In 1870, Granitz married Paula, and together they had four daughters, Olga, Zlata, Štefanija and Janka. Olga and Zlata later married two Jewish brothers, Ernest and Rikard Schulz. "Granitz house" was a three-story house which was built for the Granitz family in 1886 by architect

Hermann Bollé Hermann Bollé (18 September 1845 – 17 April 1926) was an Austro-Hungarian architect of Franco-German origin who practiced in Croatia (Zagreb and Slavonia), as well as parts of what is now Vojvodina in northern Serbia. Life He was born in ...

. Granitz and his family were philanthropists as they often aided poor and needy, organizing charity fundraisers. He was an active member of the Israelites Zagreb community. Ha-Kol (Glasilo Židovske zajednice u Hrvatskoj); Snješka Knežević; Ignjat Granitz i (srušena) kuća Granitz; stranica 28; broj 111, listopad / rujan 2009. Granitz died on 17 December 1908 in Zagreb and was buried at the

Mirogoj Cemetery The Mirogoj City Cemetery (, hr, Gradsko groblje Mirogoj), also known as Mirogoj Cemetery ( hr, Groblje Mirogoj), is a cemetery park that is considered to be among the more noteworthy landmarks in the city of Zagreb. The cemetery inters members o ...

. Gradska groblja Zagreb: Ignjat Granitz, Mirogoj Ž-1-I-52 His wife died in 1917. The Granitz family lived in the "Granitz house" until the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

occupation of Zagreb and

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...

establishment in 1941. Independent State of Croatia regime seized all the assets of the Granitz family, including their house. His daughter Olga (

married Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

Schulz) was killed on the street amid Zagreb by unknown Ustaša. Second daughter Zlata (

Schulz) killed herself when

Gestapo The (), 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 Prussia into one organi ...

came for her. Third daughter Štefanija survived the war hiding in

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, and fourth daughter Janka (

Wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

) was arrested by Ustaše and later freed by her son, Pavao Vuk-Pavlović, former students. Granitz's grandchildren, sons-in-law and most family members had been killed during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. After the war, in the newly established

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

, Granitz properties were not returned to the surviving members of his family.

Career

In Zagreb, where he moved from Hungary, Granitz meet his future business partner Lavoslav Hartman. At first, Granitz was employed at Hartman printing office, and in 1878 they established the joint company "Hartman & Granitz". After Hartmans death, Granitz and his new business partner, Vilim Schwartz, paid out the Hartman widow, and in 1882 they formed the new company called "Ignjat Granitz & Comp.". Skillfully using social connections and trading skills, Granitz rapidly expanded his business with new and modern printing machines. In 1883, "Ignjat Granitz & Comp." became the first Croatian printer of school books in the

Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia ( hr, Kraljevina Hrvatska i Slavonija; hu, Horvát-Szlavónország or ; de-AT, Königreich Kroatien und Slawonien) was a nominally autonomous kingdom and constitutionally defined separate political nation with ...

. "Ignjat Granitz & Comp." also published "Agramer Zeitung", newspapers on German published from 1848 to 1912. Granitz was among the founders of the paper factory "Zagrebačka tvornica papira" in 1895, member of the "Croatian-Slavonian commercial bank", member of the "Commercial Chamber" and one of the founding members of the "Industrialists Union" of Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. Later in life, he was named the honorary life Vice President of the "Industrialists Union". He was also the member of the

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

lodge "Ljubav bližnjemu" and the city representative in the Zagreb City Assembly. Granitz was close friend of known Croatian painter and politician,

Izidor Kršnjavi Izidor (Iso) Kršnjavi (; 22 April 1845 – 3 February 1927) was a Croatian painter, art historian, curator and politician. Biography Born in Našice, his first art lessons were obtained in Osijek, where he studied with Hugo Conrad von Hötze ...

. After his death, "Ignjat Granitz & Comp." was merged with the printing house of Ivan Novak, to found the Graphic and Publishing Bureau "Tipografija d.d." which published the papers "Jutarnji list", "Večer", "Obzor" and "Svijet". In 1959, "Tipografija d.d." was merged with "Narodni list", to found the newspaper house "

Vjesnik ''Vjesnik'' () was a Croatian state-owned daily newspaper published in Zagreb which ceased publication in April 2012. Originally established in 1940 as a wartime illegal publication of the Communist Party of Croatia, it later built and maintained ...

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Granitz, Ignjat 1845 births 1908 deaths People from Vas County Croatian Jews Hungarian Jews Jews from Austria-Hungary Croatian Austro-Hungarians Businesspeople from Austria-Hungary Croatian people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Croatian businesspeople Croatian philanthropists Croatian Freemasons Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery 19th-century philanthropists