Niko Gršković (

Vrbnik Vrbnik is a village and a municipality on the east coast of the island of Krk. The village is perched on a limestone outcropping 50 m above the Adriatic Sea. Vrbnik is naturally separated from mainland Croatia by the Vinodol Channel, where the to ...

, 15 September 1863 – New York, 21 March 1949) was a priest, journalist 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. From 1887, he served as a

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

in a series of towns including

Ogulin Ogulin () is a town in central Croatia, in Karlovac County. It has a population of 7,389 (2021) (it was 8,216 in 2011), and a total municipal population of 12,251 (2021). Ogulin is known for its historic stone castle, known as Kula, and the nearby ...

Kraljevica Kraljevica (known as ''Porto Re'' in Italian and literally translated as "King's cove" in English) is a town in the Kvarner region of western Croatia, located between Rijeka and Crikvenica, approximately thirty kilometers from Opatija and near ...

, Fužine,

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 ...

Delnice Delnice () is a town in western Croatia, the largest settlement in the mountainous region of Gorski Kotar, in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. The town has a population of 3861, and total municipality population is 5135 (2021). Delnice is Gorsk ...

, and

Perušić Perušić is a naselje, settlement and a municipalities of Croatia, municipality in Lika-Senj County, Croatia. In 2011, the municipality had 2,638 inhabitants, while the central settlement had 852. The municipality is within the mountainous Lika re ...

. 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 took up journalism, editing the party newspaper ''Hrvat''. He left the country following a conflict with chrurch and civil authorities and moved to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. In the United States, Gršković established Croatian

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

parishes in Chicago and

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

and initiated building of churches for the two parishes. He left the priesthood in 1918 to concentrate on political activism and journalistic work. Gršković bought the

Croatian diaspora The Croatian diaspora ( or ) consists of communities of ethnic Croats and/or Croatian citizens living outside Croatia. Estimates on its size are only approximate because of incomplete statistical records and naturalization, but (highest) estimat ...

-oriented ''Chicago-Sloboda'' journal originally published by Nikola Polić and published it in Chicago until 1902 and in Cleveland until 1904 as the ''Hrvatska sloboda'' (lit. Croatian Liberty). Gršković started publication of ''Hrvatski svijet'' (lit. Croatian World) daily in New York (renamed the ''Jugoslavenski svijet'' (lit. Yugoslav World) in 1917 and ''Svijet'' in 1921) and served as the newspaper's editor until retirement in 1938. Gršković advocated 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, ...

on Yugoslavist principles and dismantling of

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 ...

. Together with

Mihajlo Pupin Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin (, ; October 4, 1858Although Pupin's birth year is sometimes given as 1854 (and Serbia and Montenegro issued a postage stamp in 2004 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of his birth), peer-reviewed sources list his birth ...

, Gršković organised (and presided over) the First and the Second Yugoslav Congresses in Chicago and Pittsburgh in 1915 and 1916 respectively. As an advocate of republicanism and as a proponent of unification of the South Slavs in a

federal state A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing status of the c ...

, Gršković was suspicious of the intentions of the government of 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 ...

following publication of 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 ...

. 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 ...

in late 1918, Gršković was disappointed in the unification as he saw it as a fulfillment of the

Greater Serbia The term Greater Serbia or Great Serbia () describes the Serbian nationalist and irredentist ideology of the creation of a Serb state which would incorporate all regions of traditional significance to Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group, inclu ...

n agenda.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gršković, Niko 1863 births 1949 deaths Croatian journalists Party of Rights politicians