Dr. Ivan Rikard Ivanović (1880–1949) was a Croatian industrialist, politician and one of the founders of the Croatian National Progressive Party (NNS).
Life and career
Ivan Rikard Mendel Kraus was born in 1880 in
Osijek
Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...
,
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia ( hr, Kraljevina Hrvatska i Slavonija; hu, Horvát-Szlavónország or ; de-AT, Königreich Kroatien und Slawonien) was a nominally autonomous kingdom and constitutionally defined separate political nation with ...
Osijek
Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...
, and was responsible for erecting a number of buildings in his hometown, among which was the first steam-powered flour mill. When Ivan was a young boy his parents changed the family name to Ivanović and converted to Catholicism, along with many other Jews at the time.
After completing his early studies his parents sent him to Vienna where he became a Doctor of Law. In 1905 he became one of the founders of the Croatian National Progressive Party (, NNS). In the
1908 Croatian parliamentary election
Early parliamentary elections were held in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia on 27 and 28 February 1908, after being called by Ban Pavao Rauch.Croatian Parliament for the city of Osijek. In July 1912, he married Milica Popović, the youngest sister of Dr Dušan Popović, a leading Serb in Croatian political life. He was also elected in the
1913 Croatian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia on 16 and 17 December 1913. There were 209,618 eligible male voters. According to the census of December 31, 1910, the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia had a population of 2,621,954.
...
.
In 1918, as a member of the National Assembly of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes he helped to form the state.
In 1929, Ivanović built an oil refinery in Osijek named "IPOIL". In 1936, he started building the first aluminum factory in the Balkans in the town of Lozovac near Šibenik, consulted by Elektrokemisk, now known as "IVANAL" d.d.History of IVANAL /ref>
During the Second World War he was arrested and imprisoned for three years. His first factory, IPOIL, was confiscated by the Independent State of Croatia. His second factory, IVANAL, was confiscated by the Italian occupying forces. In 1946, the Communists accused him of being a " capitalist
bourgeois
The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...
" and in a plotted political process, the Supreme Court of Croatia in Zagreb (case No. K-645/45 of 9 January) condemned both him and his wife and confiscated all the property of the company, including all the immovables and factory buildings. Ivanović was stripped of his civil rights and sent to a forced
labor camp
A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (especi ...
. After being released, he fled to Italy where he died in Genoa in 1949 aged 68.
He and Milica Popović had three children together, Ivan, Daška and Vladimir. He had a third son named Dimitar with his second wife Jelka Muačević. In 1948, his third wife, Štefica Kastelic, gave birth to his fourth son, Marko, who became his legal successor.
His granddaughter is socialite Tessa Kennedy and his great-grandchildren include actor Cary Elwes and producer Cassian Elwes.