Franko Potočnjak (

Novi Vinodolski Novi Vinodolski (, often also called Novi or ''Novi del Vinodol'' o ''Novi in Valdivino'' in Italian) is a town on the Adriatic Sea coast in Croatia, located south of Crikvenica, Selce and Bribir and north of Senj. The population of Novi is 3,9 ...

, 2 August 1862 –

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, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, 18 January 1932) was a lawyer and

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

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 ...

n politician. Potočnjak graduated in law from 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 ...

and worked as a court clerk until 1887 when he opened a law office in the town of

Sveti Ivan Zelina Sveti Ivan Zelina () is a town in Zagreb County, Croatia. Geography Sveti Ivan Zelina is north-east from Zagreb, connected: * by A4 highway (Zagreb - Sv.Helena), then state road Sv.Helena - Sveti Ivan Zelina, Climate Since records began in 198 ...

. He joined the

Party of Rights The Party of Rights () was a Croatian nationalism, Croatian nationalist political party in Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia and later in Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. It was founded in 1861 by Ante Starčević and Eugen Kvaternik, two influ ...

and he was editor of its journal ''Hrvatska domovina'' n 1896–1897. Potočnjak successfully advocated a coalition of the Independent People's Party and the faction of the Party of Rights led by

Fran Folnegović Fran Folnegović (17 February 1848 – 18 July 1903) was a Croatian politician. He was a member of the Sabor of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia elected on the Party of Rights ticket six times. Folnegović became one of the principal members of th ...

. He was elected to the

Croatian Sabor The Croatian Parliament () or the Sabor is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Croatia. Under the terms of the Constitution of Croatia, Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the nation, people and is vested with legislative power. ...

as the Party of Rights candidate in the

1897 Croatian parliamentary election Events January * January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City. * January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a punitive expedit ...

in the district of

Bakar Bakar may refer to: *Bakar, Croatia Bakar is a town in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. The population of the town was 8,279 according to the 2011 Croatian census, including 1,473 in the titular settlement. Ninety percent of th ...

. However, he was excluded from Sabor meetings due to his criticism of the

Ban of Croatia Ban of Croatia () was the title of local rulers or office holders and after 1102, viceroys of Croatia. From the earliest periods of the Croatian state, some provinces were ruled by Ban (title), bans as a ruler's representative (viceroy) and sup ...

Károly Khuen-Héderváry Count Károly Khuen-Héderváry de Hédervár, born as ''Károly Khuen de Belás'' (; ; 23 May 1849 – 16 February 1918) was a Hungarian politician and the ban of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia in the late nineteenth century. Khuen's reign w ...

. He was elected to the Croatian Sabor again (the Party of Rights was a part of the

Croat-Serb Coalition The Croat-Serb Coalition ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hrvatsko-srpska koalicija, separator=/, Хрватско-српска коалиција) was a major political alliance in Austria-Hungary during the early 20th century that governed the Croatian lands, th ...

at the time) in the

1906 Croatian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia on 3, 4 and 5 May 1906. 45,381 people were entitled to vote in the elections. The People's Party won 37 seats, the Croat-Serb Coalition 32 seats, and Starčević's Party of R ...

and delegated as a representative to the

Diet of Hungary The Diet of Hungary or originally: Parlamentum Publicum / Parlamentum Generale () was the most important political assembly in Hungary since the 12th century, which emerged to the position of the supreme legislative institution in the Kingdom ...

in 1906–1907. He left politics in 1908 believing that policies of the Croat-Serb Coalition were too passive and opportunistic, choosing to relocate his law firm to

Crikvenica Crikvenica () is a town in west Croatia, located on the Adriatic in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. Names The names of the town in various languages include: * * * * Geography Crikvenica is located southeast of Rijeka and is the largest s ...

. Potočnjak left

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 ...

following the outbreak of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and, in 1915, joined the

Yugoslav Committee The Yugoslav Committee (, , ) was a World War I-era, unelected, '' ad-hoc'' committee. It largely consisted of émigré Croat, Slovene, and Bosnian Serb politicians and political activists whose aim was the detachment of Austro-Hungarian l ...

—an

ad-hoc ''Ad hoc'' is a Latin phrase meaning literally for this. In English, it typically signifies a solution designed for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a generalized solution adaptable to collateral instances (compare with ''a pr ...

group advocating dissolution of Austria-Hungary and political unification of the

South Slavs South Slavs are Slavic people who speak South Slavic languages and inhabit a contiguous region of Southeast Europe comprising the eastern Alps and the Balkan Peninsula. Geographically separated from the West Slavs and East Slavs by Austria, ...

living in the empire and in the

Kingdom of Serbia The Kingdom of Serbia was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Principality was ruled by the Obrenović dynast ...

. The same year, he submitted a memorandum to the prime minister of Serbia

Nikola Pašić Nikola Pašić ( sr-Cyrl, Никола Пашић, ; 18 December 1845 – 10 December 1926) was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and diplomat. During his political career, which spanned almost five decades, he served five times as prime minis ...

, advocating a highly centralised,

unitary state A unitary state is a (Sovereign state, sovereign) State (polity), state governed as a single entity in which the central government is the supreme authority. The central government may create or abolish administrative divisions (sub-national or ...

of the South Slavs. In 1916, Potočnjak took part in establishment of South Slavic volunteer troops (the

First Serbian Volunteer Division The First Serbian Volunteer Division () or First Serbian Division, was a military formation of the First World War, created by Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pašić, and organised in the city of Odessa in early 1916. This independent volunteer u ...

) in

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

and worked as the editor of ''Slovenski jug'' newspaper there. In 1917, at Pašić's invitation, Potočnjak took part in a conference that produced the

Corfu Declaration The Corfu Declaration ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Krfska deklaracija, Крфска декларација) was an agreement between the prime minister of Serbia, Nikola Pašić, and the president of the Yugoslav Committee, Ante Trumbić, concluded on the G ...

on unification of the South Slavs. After establishment of the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () has been its colloq ...

, he was appointed the deputy Ban of Croatia in 1920 and worked as the state

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

in 1922–1924.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Potocnjak, Franko 1862 births 1932 deaths Croatian lawyers Party of Rights politicians People from Novi Vinodolski University of Zagreb alumni