Ivan Ribar


Ivan Ribar was a Croatian politician who served in several governments of various form of Yugoslavia. Ideologically a Pan-Slavist and communist, Ribar was a prominent member of the Yugoslav partisans, who resisted the Nazi occupation of Yugoslavia.

Biography

Ribar was born in Vukmanić and held a PhD in law. He worked as an attorney in Zagreb, Đakovo and Belgrade.
Ribar lost his entire family during World War II: his two sons, Jurica and Ivo, and his wife, Antonija. Both Jurica and Ivo were killed in action in 1943 fighting for the Partisans, while Ribar's wife was executed by the Germans in 1944. Ivo Lola Ribar, his younger son, was in charge of the Young Communist League of Yugoslavia during the war, and was proclaimed posthumously a People's Hero of Yugoslavia.
, Filip Kljajić, Ivo Lola Ribar, Danilo Lekić and Mijalko Todorović.

Politics

In politics, he was: President of the Parliamentary Assembly of Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes President of Executive Committee, Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia, Chairman of the Presidium of the Provisional People's Assembly, Chairman of the Presidium of the National Assembly
From the proclamation of a republic in 1945 until 1953, Ribar was the de jure head of state of Yugoslavia; his chairman's post was equivalent to that of president. In 1953, Communist Party leader and Prime Minister Josip Broz Tito, the country's de facto leader since 1945, was elected to the new post of President of the Republic.

Death

Ivan Ribar spent his last years in Zagreb, where he died in 1968, aged 87.