Vinko Nikolić

Vinko Nikolić

Vinko Nikolić holding a speech on a grave of Ante Starčević
Born (1912-03-02)2 March 1912
Šibenik, Dalmatia, Austria-Hungary
Died 12 July 1997(1997-07-12) (aged 85)
Šibenik, Croatia
Occupation Writer, poet, journalist
Language Croatian
Nationality Croat
Alma mater University of Zagreb
Genre Poetry
Subject Patriotism
Notable awards Order of Duke Trpimir

Vinko Nikolić (2 March 1912 – 12 July 1997) was a Croatian emigrant writer, poet and journalist. During much of World War II he was an adjutant at Supreme Ustaša Headquarters, which effectively ruled over the Independent State of Croatia (NDH).

Biography

Vinko Nikolić was born in Šibenik in 1912. He attended elementary school and Catholic gymnasium in his birth town. After that he attended seminary. He joined the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Zagreb and graduated in 1937.

As a professor at the Commercial Academy he saw political changes in Yugoslavia in 1939, of which the most significant was the creation of Banovina Croatia.

For much of World War II he was an adjutant at Supreme Ustaša Headquarters. Supreme Ustaša Headquarters directed the operation of the Independent State of Croatia.

At the end of World War II he retreated to Austria with the rest of the Ustaša army and civilians, after which Yugoslav Partisans executed around 300,000 people, largely in retribution for the crimes of the NDH. During his stay in Austria he gained status as a prisoner of war, and left for another camp in Italy. During his transfer to the other camp, he jumped out of a train and thus become a political migrant.

The situation in Italy was changing; many Croats who escaped the communists were later arrested and extradited. To avoid this, Nikolić went to Buenos Aires, Argentina, arriving there on 8 June 1947. At first he lived in an old house with Ante Pavelić. They did not have much money and lived very cheaply. He worked as a journalist, and along with Franjo Nevistić, he published the magazine Hrvatska which he edited until June 1950. In the same year, along with Antun Bonifačić he published the Croatian emigrant magazine Hrvatska revija, which he edited from the first published issue of magazine in 1951 until his death.

Reporting on the Bleiburg tragedy, he claimed that 200,000 people had been killed.

He edited other Croatian emigrant magazines, including Ave, Hrvatski vitez (Croatian knight), Oganj (Flame), Novi život (New life), Za Boga i Hrvatsku (For God and Croatia), Danica, La Croatie, Osoba i duh (Person and spirit), Islam, Glasnik društva Muslimana Austrije (Herald of Muslims of Austria), Hrvatski radnik (Croatian worker), Hrvatska gruda (Croatian land), Hrvatska sloboda (Croatian freedom) and Rakovica.

After the fall of Yugoslavia, he returned to Croatia and died in his birth town on 12 July 1997.

Yugoslavia saw Croatian émigrés as an enemy of the state, but Nikolić's work made him very respected and influential, even among his enemies. After his death, some Serbian magazines also praised him.

Poetry

His poetic works entered the body of Croatian poetry in the second half of the 20th century. His songs were published as a collection named Skupljena baština (Collected heritage) by Stijepo Mijović Kočan. Some of his works were translated into Polish in Łucja Danielewska's work Zywe zradla (Living sources; 1996).

Works

Posthumously:

Awards

Notes

Bibliography

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