Josip Kraš (26 March 1900 – 18 October 1941) was a Croatian

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

and

partisan Partisan may refer to: Military * Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line Films * ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film * ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also know ...

who died in World War II and was proclaimed a People's Hero of Yugoslavia. Kraš was born in the village of Vuglovec (near

Ivanec Ivanec is a town in northern Croatia, located southwest of Varaždin and east of Lepoglava, north of the mountain Ivanščica. History In the late 19th and early 20th century, Ivanec was a district capital in the Varaždin County of the Kingdom ...

and Lepoglava) to a poor family of a miner Valent Kraš and his wife Bara (

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 ...

Videc). He joined the workers' movement after World War I and became a trade union activist. In 1920 he was made one of the leaders of the League of Workers with Food and Water (''lixae'' or ''živežari'' - salespeople in markets, workers in food storages, cooks, waiters, water workers). In 1929, after the

January 6 Dictatorship The 6 January Dictatorship ( sr-cyr, Шестојануарска диктатура, Šestojanuarska diktatura; hr, Šestosiječanjska diktatura; sl, Šestojanuarska diktatura) was a royal dictatorship established in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croa ...

was proclaimed in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the State Court for the Protection of the State in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

sentenced him to five years in prison, which he served in the

Sremska Mitrovica prison Sremska Mitrovica Prison (Serbian: Казнено-поправни завод у Сремској Митровици / ''Kazneno-popravni zavod u Sremskoj Mitrovici'') is the biggest prison in Serbia, consisting of two facilities. It is situated in ...

. After he got out of prison, he was forced to live back home in Ivanec, and there he helped organize the miner strikes of 1936 and 1937, which resulted in higher salaries and better working conditions for the miners in the region.on znaci.net
/ref> Because of his political work, he was incarcerated eleven times up to 1940, and after that when Nazi Germany invaded Yugoslavia in 1941, he went underground. He was killed by Ustaše the same year in

Karlovac Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. According to the 2011 census, its population was 55,705. Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located on the Zagreb- Rijeka highway and railway line, south-west of Zagre ...

, age 41, as one of the early organizers of the partisan units in the region. Posthumously he was awarded the title of people's hero, and the municipality of Ivanec made his house in Vuglovec a memorial museum in 1965. The confectionery factory Kraš in Zagreb is named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kras, Josip 1900 births 1941 deaths People from Ivanec Croatian people of World War II Yugoslav military personnel killed in World War II Yugoslav Partisans members Recipients of the Order of the People's Hero League of Communists of Croatia politicians Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery