biography
pronunciation:
[tujman]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1922–99)
|
| biography:
| Croatian president (1990–9), born in Veliko Trgvoisaeem Zagorie, NW Croatia. Educated in Zagreb and, much later, at the Belgrade Higher Military Academy, he came from a political family. His brother was killed during World War 2 while a member of an antifascist group, and his father in 1946 in a communist purge. A member of the military (1945–61), he left to pursue an academic career. He founded and directed the Institute of the Worker's Movement in Zagreb (1961–7) and also served as professor of politics at Zagreb University (1962–7). He wrote extensively in academic forums from the mid-1950s. Because of his views, he was expelled from the ruling Communist Party in 1967 and also lost his university post. He was jailed for two years in 1972 and again for three in 1981 following Tito's death. In 1989 he founded the Croatian Democratic Union and became its president. Under his leadership, Croatia achieved full sovereignty, and he became a major figure in Balkan politics in the mid-1990s following the break-up of Yugoslavia. |
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