Rade Bulat (28 August 1920 – 25 January 2013) was a

Yugoslav Partisan The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...

and communist activist. He was one of the last three living recipients of the

Order of the People's Hero 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 Croatia.

Biography

Bulat was born August 28, 1920 in

Vrginmost Gvozd () is a municipality in central Croatia, Sisak-Moslavina County. Its seat is located in Vrginmost, which was renamed to Gvozd from 1996–2012. It is an underdeveloped municipality which is statistically classified as the Areas of Special St ...

within the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

. He attended gymnasium in

Sisak Sisak (; hu, Sziszek ; also known by other alternative names) is a city in central Croatia, spanning the confluence of the Kupa, Sava and Odra rivers, southeast of the Croatian capital Zagreb, and is usually considered to be where the Posavin ...

, Gradiška and Zagreb. In 1936 he joined the

Young Communist League of Yugoslavia , SKOJ mk, Сојуз на комунистичката младина на Југославија, СКМЈ sl, Zveza komunistične mladine Jugoslavije, ZKMJ , colorcode = red , founded = 1919 , dissolved = 1948 , succeeded by = League of S ...

and was accepted into the

Communist Party of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, mk, Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na komunistite na Jugoslavija known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, sl, Komunistična partija Jugoslavije mk ...

in 1939. After the

April War The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, or ''Projekt 25'' was a German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was p ...

he joined the

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...

. In 1942 he joined the Headquarters of the People's Liberation Movement of Croatia. He led the 13th Proletarian Attack Brigade from late 1942 on. Bulat became commander of the 32nd Zagorje Division on June 6, 1944. After the war he was a representative in the Parliament of the

Socialist Republic of Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), or SR Croatia, was a constituent republic and federated state of the Social ...

, and was a member of the Central Committee of the

Communist Party of Croatia League of Communists of Croatia ( sh, Savez komunista Hrvatske or SKH) was the Croatian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ). It came into power in 1945. Until 1952, it was known as Communist Party of Croatia (''Komunistička ...

. He was awarded the

on July 24, 1953, along with his wife Milka Kufrin. During the

Croatian Spring The Croatian Spring ( hr, Hrvatsko proljeće), or Maspok, was a political conflict that took place from 1967 to 1971 in the Socialist Republic of Croatia, at the time part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. As one of six republic ...

in 1971, Bulat publicly called for a Serb autonomous region within SR Croatia. He published a book about the 10th Zagreb Corps in 1985. After vandalism of a memorial grave in Lasinja in 2010, Bulat called for the perpetrators to be beaten by whoever found them. In February 2011 it was revealed that Bulat had been subject of an ongoing investigation for war crimes by the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

since 2007. The police investigation resulted in accusing him of ordering the killings of Croatian Home Guard war prisoners near

Čazma Čazma is a town in Bjelovar-Bilogora County, Croatia. It is part of Moslavina. Geography Čazma is situated 60 kilometers east of Zagreb and only 30 kilometres from the center of the region - Bjelovar. Čazma is situated on the slopes of Mosl ...

on the night of November 28–29, 1943.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulat, Rade 1920 births 2013 deaths People from Gvozd Serbs of Croatia League of Communists of Croatia politicians Yugoslav Partisans members Recipients of the Order of the People's Hero Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery