Ivan Maček, nom de guerre Matija (28 May 1908 – 10 July 1993), was a Yugoslav Communist politician from

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

who served as the

President of the People's Assembly of SR Slovenia The president of Slovenia, officially the president of the Republic of Slovenia ( sl, Predsednik Republike Slovenije), is the head of state of the Republic of Slovenia. The position was established on 23 December 1991 when the National Assembly (S ...

from 1963 to 1967.

Biography

Maček was born in Spodnja Zadobrova near

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the are ...

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(now in

). He became a member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in 1930, and in 1935 was sent to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

where he studied at the International Lenin School,

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

. He returned to Yugoslavia in 1937 and became a member of the Central committee of the newly found

Communist party of Slovenia The League of Communists of Slovenia ( sl, Zveza komunistov Slovenije, ZKS; sh, Savez komunista Slovenije) was the Slovenian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the sole legal party of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1989. It was establis ...

. Yugoslav police detained him in 1938 and he was sentenced to four years in prison in Sremska Mitrovica. After the invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941, he and a group of 32 other communist political prisoners escaped from the prison and joined the Yugoslav partisan resistance. In 1942 he was sent to occupied Slovenia to be one of commanders of the Slovene partisan resistance. There he was appointed commander of the Main Headquarters of the Partisan Units of Slovenia and political commissar of the Main headquarters during 1942. Maček was appointed the rank of general-major and became a member of the

Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation The Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation ( sl, Osvobodilna fronta slovenskega naroda), or simply Liberation Front (''Osvobodilna fronta'', OF), originally called the Anti-Imperialist Front (''Protiimperialistična fronta'', PIF), was a Slovene ...

in 1944. After the war, Maček moved into a mansion that had been confiscated from the pharmacist Leo Bahovec. Maček was minister of the interior and vice-president of the Slovene government (1945–1953), vice-president of the Executive council of PR Slovenia and a member of the Federal Executive Council (1953–1963) and also the

(1963–1967). He was also a deputy in the

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

and Federal Assembly. He died in

, Slovenia on 10 July 1993 due to heart failure. Maček was declared a

People's Hero of Yugoslavia The Order of the People's Hero or the Order of the National Hero ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Orden narodnog heroja, Oрден народног хероја; sl, Red narodnega heroja, mk, Oрден на народен херој, Orden na ...

in 1952.

Post-war extrajudicial killings

According to historian Jože Dežman, chairman of the Commission on Concealed Mass Graves in Slovenia, Ivan Maček is among the most responsible for the post-war extrajudicial killings in Slovenia.

Family

His cousin was

Pepca Kardelj Pepca Kardelj ( née Pepca Maček; February 20, 1914 — April 15, 1990) was a Slovene Partisan and political activist. She fought as a communist partisan during World War II in Yugoslavia. Life and career Kardelj became a member of the League ...

, spouse of the prominent Slovene politician

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 ...

.Strle, Franci. 1980. ''Tomšičeva brigada: Uvodni del''. Ljubljana: Partizanska knjiga, p. 146.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macek, Ivan 1908 births 1993 deaths People from the City Municipality of Ljubljana Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia members League of Communists of Slovenia politicians Yugoslav Partisans members Recipients of the Order of the People's Hero Recipients of the Order of the Hero of Socialist Labour