Otokar Keršovani (23 February 1902 – 9 July 1941) 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 Yugoslav journalist, literary critic, publicist and communist politician. He was born in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

, which was part of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

at the time. The collapse of the Habsburg Empire caught him in the Istrian town of Pazin, which was soon occupied by Italian forces and its Croatian school closed. Because of that Keršovani emigrated to

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 ...

and began to study forest management at the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

. In 1924, he became a full-time journalist, working for Zagreb Press Bureau and contributing to the Zagreb daily ''Novosti''. At the same time, he also began to associate himself with Communism and he formally became a member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. In 1928, he was arrested and spent a year in prison. Upon his release he went to Serbia where he tried to organise local branches of SKOJ. In 1930, he was arrested once more and sentenced to ten years of prison, after admitting his Party membership to the court. He served his sentence in

Sremska Mitrovica Sremska Mitrovica (; sr-Cyrl, Сремска Митровица, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city in Serbia. It is situated on the left bank of the Sava, Sava river. , the city has a total population of 36,764 inhabitants, while its adminis ...

prison, where he remained politically active. He served as Marxist ideology teacher for other incarcerated Communists. He also tutored other inmates in journalism and founded the prison newspaper ''Udarnik''. He was released in February 1940 and continued to work in various left-wing magazines. In March 1941, at the very eve of the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, he was arrested and put in Kerestinec prison. During his stay in prison he was visited by Božo Cerovski, an Ustaše commissioner for internal affairs and security of Croatia whom he know from prison in Lepoglava where both of them served their sentence. The Ustasha regime had him shot together with Zvonimir Richtmann,

Božidar Adžija Božidar Adžija ( sr-Cyrl, Божидар Аџија; 24 December 1890 – 9 July 1941) was a Croatian communist politician and publicist. Biography A native of Drniš in the Kingdom of Dalmatia (present-day Croatia), of Croat and Serb descent, ...

and Ognjen Prica as retaliation for Partisan activities. After the war, a publishing company in

Opatija Opatija (; ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Croatia, town and a municipality in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in northwestern Croatia. The traditional seaside resort on the Kvarner Gulf is known for its Mediterranean climate and its historic bu ...

, as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Croatian Journalists' Association, were named after him.

Notes and references

* Iveković, Mladen, ''Hrvatska lijeva inteligencija 1918-1945'', Zagreb, Naprijed, 1970.
Keršovani, Otokar
at lzmk.hr 1902 births 1941 deaths Writers from Trieste League of Communists of Croatia politicians Yugoslav civilians killed in World War II People executed by the Independent State of Croatia 20th-century Croatian journalists Politicians from Trieste Italian people of Croatian descent {{Europe-journalist-stub