Ljudevit Tomašić (2 January 1901 – April 1945) was a Croatian politician and prominent member of the

Croatian Peasant Party The Croatian Peasant Party (, HSS) is an agrarianism, agrarian List of political parties in Croatia, political party in Croatia founded on 22 December 1904 by Antun Radić, Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party (HPSS). The ...

(HSS). He is known for his participation in the failed Lorković-Vokić plot in 1944 which aim was to create a coalition government between the ''

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

'' and the HSS and bring the

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, ...

(NDH) on the side of

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

. Tomašić was arrested in August 1944, and killed in April 1945.

Early life

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

, where he graduated from the gymnasium in 1920, after which he entered the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, where he studied philosophy and natural science. He graduated in 1929, gaining a diploma from philosophy and pedagogy. At the same time, Tomašić was studying at the

Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb The Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb (, , PFZG) is the law school of the University of Zagreb. Founded in 1776 by Empress Maria Theresa as part of her comprehensive reforms in the system of education in the Habsburg monarchy, it is the ...

, but in the 1921 he graduated from teachers' school and worked in Sveti Martin na Muri as a teacher in an elementary school, but in 1923 he was fired due to his political activity.

Activity in the HSS

From 1917, Tomašić was member of the HSS. In 1927, he was sentenced to three years in prison, and at the beginning of 1929, he war released due to general amnesty. Under the police pressure, he left Zagreb and lived for four years in

Samobor Samobor () is a town in Zagreb County, Croatia. It is part of the Zagreb metropolitan area. Administratively it is a part of Zagreb County. Geography Samobor is located west of Zagreb, between the eastern slopes of the Samobor hills (), the eas ...

under constant police surveillance; at the beginning of 1933, he was expelled from Samobor and extradited to the police in Zagreb, but was soon released. In 1935, Tomašić was elected to the

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

as a representative of Samobor and in 1938 as a representative of Klanjec. In 1940, he became Director of the Economy Unity.

World War II

During the existence of the

, from 1941 till 1945, Tomašić belonged to the middle fraction of the HSS, gathered around

Vladko Maček Vladimir Maček (20 June 1879 – 15 May 1964) was a politician in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. As a leader of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) following the 1928 assassination of Stjepan Radić, Maček had been a leading Croatian political figure ...

; he was also a member of the immediate war leadership of the Party. In 1942, he was called to be member of the Croatian State ''Sabor'', but he refused the offer. Tomašić illegally spread the HSS' newspapers. In 1943, Tomašić participated on the session of the immediate HSS leadership where they refused the suggestion of the Prime Minister of the Independent State of Croatia,

Nikola Mandić Nikola Mandić (; 20 January 1869 – 7 June 1945) was a Croatian politician and one of the leading political figures in Bosnia and Herzegovina under Austrian-Hungarian rule. He also served as a Prime Minister of the Independent State of Croati ...

, about the coalition government. While Maček was transferred to his apartment while he was under house arrest, Tomašević delivered him reports on Mladen Lorković's and Ante Vokić's initiative about the coup. He was also one of the immediate negotiators with the

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

. Because of his involvement in the Lorković-Vokić coup, Tomašić was arrested on 31 August 1944 and imprisoned in Lepoglava. He was killed on 24 or 25 April 1945. During the time of communist Yugoslavia he was falsely put on the list of the

Jasenovac concentration camp Jasenovac () was a concentration camp, concentration and extermination camp established in the Jasenovac, Sisak-Moslavina County, village of the same name by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in occupied Yugoslavia durin ...

victims as a part of communist propaganda.

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tomasic, Ljudevit 1901 births 1945 deaths Politicians from Zagreb Croatian Peasant Party politicians Representatives in the Yugoslav National Assembly (1921–1941) Executed Croatian collaborators with Nazi Germany People executed by the Independent State of Croatia Nazis executed by firing squad