Ogulinac, Franjo

Early years

Born in 1904 in the village of Zhabno near Sisak in a large peasant family. Parents - Imbro and Maria. Franjo was the tenth child in the family. After school, he left to work as a shoe maker in Sisak, but then returned home to help his parents. He was an exemplary householder. Franjo read not only books on farming, but also increased his political literacy: his friends, who were interested in politics, brought various books about Marxism and communism from Sisak. In 1931, Ogulinac founded the organization of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in the countryside and became its first secretary.

At that time, there was an economic crisis in the country after the dictatorship was approved on January 6 . At this time, Franjo became known by the nickname "Celle". He was forced to protect the villagers from the authorities, who arrested property due to unpaid debts. In the 1935 election of May 5, he was the initiator of protests against the falsification of voting results. He also contributed to the development of land reclamation of underwater sections with a length of 7 km.

For his active citizenship, Ogulinac, as a communist, was arrested by the police and was often beaten during interrogations. He refused to cooperate with the police and left for the USSR to study further politics. Franjo left the country on October 9, 1935, entered the Communist University of National Minorities of the West named after Markhlevsky and began to study the theory of revolution. He studied under the name Milan Snagich .

Spanish Civil War

In August 1936, a civil war broke out in Spain, and Ogulinac went to the aid of the Republicans as a group of Yugoslav volunteers . March 15, 1937 he arrived in Spain and became part of the battalion named after Dzhuro Dzhakovich . He fought for two years until he was deported to France. Contained in the camps of Saint-Cyprien, Angel-sur-Mer and Gire. In 1940, he opposed the sending of prisoners to the Maginot Line. In May 1940 he was exiled to Vern Camp, from where he returned to Germany through Germany.

Liberation War

On August 15, 1941, Franjo joined the Sisak partisan detachment, which was formed on June 22. Franjo participated in the attack on Ustash’s fortified positions in Zrina in October 1941, and then in a series of battles on the territory of Banovina. The headquarters of the detachment was in the forest of Shamaritsa, and Franjo chose it in order to create the Main Headquarters of the People's Liberation Movement of Croatia there. He became a political officer at headquarters. From December 28, 1941 to January 12, 1942 Oguliants fought in the Croatian coastal region and Gorsky Kotar as an operational officer of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army and partisan detachments of Croatia. He was later an operational officer in Lika, and then replaced the commander of the General Staff. He defended Petrov Mountain, in June 1942 he stormed Buchko-Kamensko.

In September 1942, Franjo Ogulinac was appointed commander of the 2nd operational zone of Croatia, which included Pokuple, Moslavina and умбumberak. On October 9, 1942, near the village of Visoche, he took the battle against the Ustasha and died.

On July 11, 1945, the Presidium of the Anti-Fascist Council of People's Liberation of Yugoslavia posthumously awarded Franjo Ogulinac the title of People's Hero of Yugoslavia.

• Folk Heroes of Ugoslavia. Beograd: Mladost. 1975.