Ivan Ribar


Ivan Ribar was a Croatian politician who served in several governments of various forms in Yugoslavia. Ideologically a Yugoslavist and communist, he was a prominent member of the Yugoslav Partisans, the resistance movement to 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, Ivo "Lola" and Jurica, and his wife Antonija. Both Ivo and Jurica were killed in action in 1943 fighting for the Partisans, while Ribar's wife was executed by the Germans in 1944. Ivo, his older son, was in charge of the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia during the war, and was proclaimed posthumously a People's Hero of Yugoslavia.

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, President of the Presidency of the Provisional People's Assembly, President of the Presidency 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 position as parliamentary speaker was constitutionally made 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, while the Presidency of the National Assembly was permanently dissolved.

Second marriage and death

Ribar spent his last years in Zagreb. In 1952, he married painter and poet Cata Dujšin-Ribar and moved into her flat on 3 Demeter Street. He died in 1968, aged 87. In 1976, his widow donated their flat and their art collection to the city of Zagreb. The art collection is exhibited at the Demeter Street flat, which is open to public. As of 2021, the flat is temporarily closed due to damage from the 2020 Zagreb earthquake.