Zvonimir Richtmann (22 November 19019 July 1941) was a Croatian-Jewish physicist, philosopher, politician and publicist who was killed during

World War II 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 opposin ...

Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...

Biography

Richtmann was born on 22 November 1901 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 ...

, where he achieved his education. He studied at the

Vienna University of Technology TU Wien (TUW; german: Technische Universität Wien; still known in English as the Vienna University of Technology from 1975–2014) is one of the major universities in Vienna, Austria. The university finds high international and domestic recogn ...

from where he graduated in 1925, and at the

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences or the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb ( Croatian: ''Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu'') is one of the faculties of the University of Zagreb. History The Faculty of Philosophy is the oldest fac ...

which he finished and graduated from in 1932. After graduation, Richtmann taught as a professor at the engineering high school in Zagreb. Richtmann held many public lectures and has published articles about physics. He is the author of several high school textbooks in physics and has written a book ''

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...

'' in 1937. He published articles about the relationship between modern science and philosophy which brings into question the

Marxist–Leninist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialect ...

dogma. As a left-winger he was one of the key protagonists of the "left conflict" in Croatia. His article "Upheaval in the scientific picture of the world" was published in the first issue of

Miroslav Krleža Miroslav Krleža (; 7 July 1893 – 29 December 1981) was a Yugoslav and Croatian writer who is widely considered to be the greatest Croatian writer of the 20th century. He wrote notable works in all the literary genres, including poetry (''Ba ...

magazine "Seal". Article caused persecution of Richtmann and Krleža, who took him in protection. After that, Richtmann was proclaimed as revisionist and

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

, and was systematically attacked. In 1939,

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...

attacked Richtmann in the magazin "Proletarian" with the article "Trotskyism and it's helpers". As a leftist he was repeatedly imprisoned. In April 1941, after the establishment of the

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 (1922–1943), Fascist It ...

, Richtmann was arrested and imprisoned at Savska cesta prison. He was later moved to

Kerestinec prison Kerestinec camp was a prison that served as a concentration camp in Kerestinec, Croatia. It was located in the castle overlooking the village. Early 20th century Before the outbreak of World War II, the government of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia buil ...

. Communists, with whom he was imprisoned, boycotted Richtmann and at their request he was moved to another cell. On 9 July 1941 Richtmann was killed by Ustaše together with Božidar Adžija, Otokar Keršovani,

Ognjen Prica Ognjen Prica (27 November 1899 – 9 July 1941) was a Yugoslav communist politician and journalist known for his roles in the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia and the League of Communists of Croatia. He was a victim of the Nazi-backed ND ...

and

Viktor Rosenzweig Viktor Rosenzweig (1914–1941) was a Croatian-Jewish communist, poet and writer. Rosenzweig was born in Ruma in 1914. During high school education he became a member of the Young Communist League of Yugoslavia - SKOJ (from Serbo-Croatian: ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Richtmann, Zvonimir 1901 births 1941 deaths Scientists from Zagreb Croatian Jews Austro-Hungarian Jews Croatian Austro-Hungarians Croatian scientists Croatian communists Jewish Croatian politicians Croatian civilians killed in World War II Deaths by firearm in Croatia Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb alumni Jewish socialists People executed by the Independent State of Croatia