![Stjepan Horvat](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Stjepan_Horvat.png)
Stjepan Horvat (November 29, 1895 – March 12, 1985) was a
Croat
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, Ge ...
ian
geodesist
Geodesy ( ) is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's figure (geometric shape and size), orientation in space, and gravity. The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equival ...
and professor, dean of the Technical Faculty in Zagreb, head of the
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...
, editor of the journals ''Geodetski list'' and ''Hrvatska državna izmjera'', manager of the Department for State Survey in the Croatian Headquarters for Public Affairs, member of the State Land Consolidation Commission, Air Force officer in the time of the Nazi-puppet state
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. It was established in p ...
, adviser at the Military-Geography Institute in Argentina for 40 years and an honorary member of the Argentine Association of Geophysicists.
Life and career
Horvat was born in
Sremski Karlovci
Sremski Karlovci ( sr-cyrl, Сремски Карловци, ; hu, Karlóca; tr, Karlofça) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is situated on the banks of the Danu ...
,
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
on 29 November 1895, he finished classical
gymnasium in
Vinkovci
Vinkovci () is a city in Slavonia, in the Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. The city's registered population was 28,247 in the 2021 census, the total population of the city was 31,057, making it the largest town of the county. Surround ...
in 1915. In the same year, he enrolled in a
geodetic
Geodesy ( ) is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's figure (geometric shape and size), orientation in space, and gravity. The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equivale ...
course in
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...
, in 1918 he passed the geodetic state examination. In 1936 he graduated from the Department of Geodesy and Engineering at the Technical Faculty in Zagreb. As a
surveyor, he entered the service of the Supervision of
Cadastral Survey
Cadastral surveying is the sub-field of cadastre and surveying that specialises in the establishment and re-establishment of real property boundaries. It involves the physical delineation of property boundaries and determination of dimensions, a ...
in Zagreb in 1919. From 1920 to 1922 he worked at the Military Geographical Institute in
Belgrade in the
Astronomical and Geodetic Department. In 1923, he opened a civil geodetic office in
Zemun
Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; hu, Zimony) is a municipality in the city of Belgrade. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown Belgrade. The developme ...
. In 1926 he transferred to the Zagreb Technical Faculty as an assistant to the Chair for lower geodesy, and in 1930 he became a full-time teacher. In 1937 he became an associate professor and head of the Geodetic Authority and in 1941 a full professor.
Independent State of Croatia
During
World War Two
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, he served as (
lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...
) in a bomber group of the
Croatian Air Force Legion
The Croatian Air Force Legion ( hr, Hrvatska Zrakoplovna Legija), or HZL, was a unit of the Luftwaffe, composed entirely of volunteers drawn from the nazi puppet-state, the Independent State of Croatia. Many of them had previously served in the Ro ...
, a unit of the
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
made of Croatian volunteers serving
Nazi-Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
.
He was decorated with the
Iron cross
The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia es ...
for merits and personal courage,
and received the
Honour Roll Clasp.
The Croatian Air Force Legion was disbanded on 21 July 1944, the same year Stjepan Horvat was appointed rector of the
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...
.
In the final months of the war, as rector of the University, Horvat participated in a mass rally where he gave a speech in support of the Croatian
fascist Ustaše
The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionary Move ...
regime.
Throughout the war, the Ustaše regime carried out government-led
collaboration with the Nazis exterminating hundreds of thousands of
Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
,
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, and
Gypsies
The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...
in the largest
concentration camps
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
, after the
Nazi camps.
Behind Horvat, while he gave his speech, stood members of the government, members of the Croatian National Parliament, representatives of the Ustaše movement and representatives of the
Croatian Armed Forces
The Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Oružane snage Republike Hrvatske – OSRH) is the military service of Croatia.
The President is the Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief, and exercises administrative powers in times of war by giv ...
.
Exile to Argentina
With the end of the war, Horvat fled Croatia. He took the rector's chain with him on his departure from the country. He left the chain at the
Pontifical Croatian College of St. Jerome in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
for safekeeping during his time in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. The chain was originally a gift to the university by
Emperor Franz Joseph I in 1877. Horvat emigrated to
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, alongside
Ante Pavelić
Ante Pavelić (; 14 July 1889 – 28 December 1959) was a Croatian politician who founded and headed the fascist ultranationalist organization known as the Ustaše in 1929 and served as dictator of the Independent State of Croatia ( hr, l ...
,
Dinko Šakić
Dinko Šakić (8 September 1921 – 20 July 2008) was a Croatian Ustaše official who commanded the Jasenovac concentration camp in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) from April to November 1944, during World War II.
Born in the villag ...
and other Ustaše leaders, who beneficiated from the
ratlines
Ratlines () are lengths of thin line tied between the shrouds of a sailing ship to form a ladder. Found on all square-rigged ships, whose crews must go aloft to stow the square sails, they also appear on larger fore-and-aft rigged vessels t ...
.
In Argentina Horvat found a job with the (Military Geographical Institute of Argentina) becoming Esteban Horvat.
After the arrival, more than 50 scientific papers of him were published by the IGM,
Argentine Association of Geophysicists and Geodesists,
Pan-American Institute for Geography and History, and Direction for Geodesy of the Province of Buenos Aires, besides many other papers published in his mother country. Horvat's research interests chiefly deal with the
adjustment computations of
geodetic networks, general as well as geodetic
cartography
Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an i ...
, ellipsoid geometry, and the development of feasible methods for automatic computation. Horvat is noted as the first person to use
hyperbolic function
In mathematics, hyperbolic functions are analogues of the ordinary trigonometric functions, but defined using the hyperbola rather than the circle. Just as the points form a circle with a unit radius, the points form the right half of the u ...
s to ease and simplify problems of numeric calculations in the field of geodetic cartography.
Horvat is also noted as an amateur musician - he wrote ''Ave Maria'', ''Adoration of the Lord'' (Croatian: ''Odanost Gospodinu''), ''Ode to the Death'' (Croatian: ''Oda Smrti'') and numerous other highly complex
Croatian compositions which were performed by the choir ''
Jadran'' he instituted in Argentina. To the honour of Croatian archbishop and martyr
Alojzije Stepinac
Aloysius Viktor Cardinal Stepinac ( hr, Alojzije Viktor Stepinac, 8 May 1898 – 10 February 1960) was a senior-ranking Yugoslav Croat prelate of the Catholic Church. A cardinal, Stepinac served as Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 until his dea ...
he composed a mass ''Beata Mariae Virginis''. Mixed choir ''Jadran'' performed a concert in Rome in 1946 as ''Concerto di Musiche Nationali Croate'', conducted by Horvat who for this occasion harmonised ten folk songs from Bosnia—''Dalla fiera Bosnia'', and six folk songs from his native Srijem—''I souni dell Oriente Croato''. That concert received praise by music critics and was taped to a gramophone record.
Death and legacy
He died in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
on March 12, 1985 and was buried there. Argentine Association of Geophysicists and Geodesists proclaims him honorary member in 1979. During the 22nd Conference of Geophysicists and Geodesists held in Buenos Aires 6–11 September 2004, a memorial plate to Stjepan Horvat was revealed in the entrance space of the Military-Geography institute.
With democratic changes in Croatia in 1991, the Pontifical Croatian College of St. Jerome returned Horvat's chain to the university. The University of Zagreb rehabilitated Horvat from the Communist period and restored his rector's picture on November 3, 1994.
Notes
References
*
*
*
Stjepan Horvat University of Zagreb webpage
*
En Buenos Aires se rindieron honores a Stjepan Horvat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horvat, Stjepan
1895 births
1985 deaths
People from Sremski Karlovci
Croats of Vojvodina
Croatian geodesists
Croatian emigrants to Argentina
University of Zagreb alumni
University of Zagreb faculty
Rectors of the University of Zagreb
Croatian nationalists
Croatian collaborators with Nazi Germany
Croatian fascists
Croatian military personnel of World War II
Croatian people of World War II
People of the Independent State of Croatia