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Mladen Lorković (1 March 1909 – 30 April 1945) was a Croatian politician, lawyer and putschist.

Biography

Early life

Lorković was born in Zagreb in 1909. As a high school student he was a supporter of Croatian Party of Rights. He studied law at University of Zagreb. Due to his political activities after January 6th Dictatorship, he was threatened with arrest. He continued to study law at Innsbruck and Berlin, earning his doctorate. He later became a close associate of Ante Pavelić, and represented the Ustasha in Nazi Germany and, later for all European countries except Italy.

Acitivity in Ustasha Movement

He sworn his Ustasha oath in 1934. In 1937 he was arrested. After that, he went to Hungary. In 1939 he returns to Yugoslavia. Along with Mile Budak he was the most prominent returnee. He was associate in journal Hrvatski narod ("Croatian Folk") and editor of illegal journal Hrvatska pošta ("Croatian Post"). In 1940, by order of court of the Banate he was arrested and taken to prison at Lepoglava, and later to a camp near Krušić. In 1941 he escaped and began participating in preparations to declare the Independent State of Croatia in Zagreb. He was one of five people who signed a document dated 30 March 1941, asking the Third Reich for assistance in establishing the Croatian state.

Minister in Croatia

After establishing of Independent State of Croatia Pavelić named Lorković as foreign minister of Croatia. On 28 April 1943 he was released of his duties as foreign minister. After that he was named state minister without Portfolio and he was in charge in activities with German Army. In 1943 he initiated an ultimately unsuccessful negotiation with the vice-president of Croatian Peasant Party August Košutić about a possible coalition. On 11 November 1943 he became minister of interior of Croatia. In August 1944 he married Countess Nada von Ghyczy.

Lorković-Vokić coup and death

In May 1944 along with Ante Vokić, minister of Armed Forces, he attended secret meeting with the Croatian Peasant Party's Košutić and Ivanko Farolifi. At the meeting they allegedly made plans to change sides, and for the Domobranstvo (regular Croatian Army) to attack Germany, to join the "Anglo-American Allies" who would presumably sponsor an independent Croatia. Lorković and Vokić informed head of state Ante Pavelić about their plans, and he supported them.

On 21 August 1944 Pavelić informed Siegfried Kasche, a German ambassador to Croatia, about their activities. On Session of government held on 30 August 1944 Pavelić reveals conspiracy and conspirators. Košutić managed to escape. The rest were jailed in Lepoglava. At the end of April 1945, Lorković, Ante Vokić and Croatian Peasant Party representatives Ivanko Farolfi and Ljudevit Tomašić were shot.

Books

Lorković published two books:

• People and land of Croats (Narod i zemlja Hrvata), published in 1939,
• Croatian in struggle against Bolshevism (Hrvatska u borbi protiv boljševizma), published in 1944.

Sources

• Dizdar, Zdravko Tko je tko u NDH. Zagreb: Minerva, 1997. Print.
• “Mladen Lorković” Hrvatska enciklopedija. Zagreb: LZMK, 2009. Print.
• Pavlowitch, Stevan K. Hitler's new disorder: the Second World War in Yugoslavia. Columbia University Press, 2008. Print. p. 246
• Tomasevich, Jozo War and revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: occupation and collaboration Stanford University Press, 2001. Print. p 37

Template:Persondata

• Ustaše
• 1909 births
• 1945 deaths
• People from Zagreb
• Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
• Executed Croatian people
• Croatian lawyers
• Government ministers of the Independent State of Croatia