Lazar Bačić ( sr-cyr, Лазар Бачић; January 1865 – 12 May 1941) was a

Croatian Serb The Serbs of Croatia ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Срби у Хрватској, Srbi u Hrvatskoj) or Croatian Serbs ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", хрватски Срби, hrvatski Srbi) constitute the largest national minority in Croa ...

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

. Ustashas used his property and industrial facilities to open the Ciglana part of the

Jasenovac concentration camp Jasenovac () was a concentration camp, concentration and extermination camps, extermination camp established in the Jasenovac, Sisak-Moslavina County, village of the same name by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in I ...

. He was a prominent benefactor of

Privrednik Srpsko privredno društvo "Privrednik" ( sr-cyr, Српско привредно друштво "Привредник"; en, Serbian Business Association "Privrednik"), commonly referred to as Privrednik, is an organization of the Serb minority ...

Biography

Bačić was engaged in

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...

and owned several stores in

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 ...

and Jasenovac, as well as a brickyard. He was one of the founders of the Serbian Bank in Zagreb, a longtime president of the

Serbian Orthodox Church The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches. The majori ...

Administration in Jasenovac, a member of the Board of Directors of the Pakrac Savings Bank in

Pakrac Pakrac is a town in western Slavonia, Croatia, population 4,842, total municipality population 8,460 (census 2011). Pakrac is located on the road and railroad connecting the regions of Posavina and Podravina. Name In Croatian the town is known a ...

and the Serbian

co-operation Cooperation (written as co-operation in British English) is the process of groups of organisms working or acting together for common, mutual, or some underlying benefit, as opposed to working in competition for selfish benefit. Many animal a ...

for promotion and savings in

Okučani Okučani is a village and municipal centre in western Slavonia, Croatia. It is located 19 km southeast of Novska and 17 km west of Nova Gradiška.Kostajnica and the Serbian Savings Bank as a cooperative in

Nova Gradiška Nova Gradiška is a town located in the Brod-Posavina County of Croatia, population 14,229 (2011). It is located in the historic region of Slavonia, near the border to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first word in the name means ''New'', and there' ...

High treason accusation

As a member of the Central Committee of the

Serb Independent Party Serb Independent Party ( sr-Latn, Srpska samostalna stranka, SSS, german: Serbische selbständige Partei), also known as Serb Autonomous Party or simply Serb Autonomists, was an ethnic Serb political party in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, under ...

, in 1909 Bačić was one of 53 Serbs accused by the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy of high treason – conspiracy to overthrow the state and place

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 ...

under Serbian rule. He spent 16 months in a prison. After that he was tagged as a suspicious person, especially during the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Privrednik

Bačić was a member of the

's Patronage at the time of his establishment in 1911 and one of its greatest philanthropists. Each year, on the

Lazarus Saturday , observedby = Oriental and Eastern Orthodox Christians , date = Variable , date = , date = , date = , relatedto = Raising of Lazarus, Great Lent, Palm Sunday , frequency=Annual Lazarus Saturday in Eastern Christianity (consisting of the East ...

, he donated ten thousand

Yugoslav dinar The dinar (Cyrillic script: динар) was the currency of the three Yugoslav states: the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (formerly the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes), the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the Federal Republic of Yu ...

s to Privrednik. In addition to his regular cash payments, in 1921, he handed over a luxurious two-storey building with a shop at the corner of the Gaj Street and the Berislavić Street in the center of Zagreb, as well as hundred thousand dinars.

Death

Bačić died in his apartment in Zagreb on 12 May 1941 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 ...

on 14 May. His property in Jasenovac was confiscated by Ustasha Militia and used its industrial facilities to open the Ciglana part of the

, which existed there until 23 April 1945.

Sedlar controversy

Croatian filmmaker

Jakov Sedlar Jakov Sedlar (born 6 November 1952) is a Croatian film director and producer. A former cultural attaché during the 1990s in the Franjo Tuđman government, his documentaries promote Croatian nationalist views through propaganda. His 2016 docu ...

in his 2016 documentary film ''

Jasenovac – istina ''Jasenovac – istina'' (English: ''Jasenovac – The Truth'') is a 2016 Holocaust denial documentary film by the Croatian filmmaker Jakov Sedlar. The film contends that the extent of The Holocaust in the Independent State of Croatia, an Axis pu ...

'' accused Bačić for the pre-war murders of

Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, G ...

in Jasenovac and stated that he and his son Ozren had fled to

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

where they supported the

Milan Nedić Milan Nedić ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Недић; 2 September 1878 – 4 February 1946) was a Yugoslav and Serbian army general and politician who served as the chief of the General Staff of the Royal Yugoslav Army and minister of war in the R ...

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

. Ljubica Bačić, a daughter of Ozren Bačić, rejected this accusations and confirmed that Ozren was his nephew and that he died in Zagreb.

Personal life

He had a brother, Jovan, who was a merchant also. He married Dragica Miković, with whom he had no children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bacic, Lazar 1865 births 1941 deaths Serbian Austro-Hungarians Croatian philanthropists Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery Cooperative organizers Serbian merchants Serbian philanthropists Serbs of Croatia People from Jasenovac, Sisak-Moslavina County Businesspeople from Austria-Hungary