Croat of the Day - The Pilar Project

Oktavijan Miletic

Oktavijan Miletic - The Father of Croatian Film. The founder of the Zagreb film club and the winner of an amateur film award in Paris (1933) - the film award is most notable as it was awarded by Louis Lumiere (one of the earliest film makers in history). He entirely created the first full-length Croatian film in 1944 (Lisinski) and was the man behind the Independent State of Croatia's Film Weekly (Slikopisni Tjednik). Because of mentioned affiliations he has been largely forgotten even though he was supported within communist Yugoslavia by Vladimir Nazor (who too produced works for the Croatian state prior to joining the communist party).

Croat of The Day - The Pilar Project

Today's Croat of the Day is Dr. Milan Sufflay:

Dr. Milan Sufflay - PdD in Philosophy, historian, the founder of Albanology - a world-known Academic. A strong supporter of the Croatian right to self-determination and a member of the Croatian Party of Right. The romanticism between Croatian nationalism and the river "Drina" can most likely be attributed to him. Dr. Sufflay believed that the river Drina was not merely a natural border between Croatia and Serbia, but the divide which divided the world between Eastern and Western cultures. He was killed by a radical Yugoslav hitman in broad daylight in 1931. His death was a catalyst to Albert Einstien's appeal to the League of Nations regarding the oppression of Croats within Yugoslavia.

Croat of The Day - The Pilar Project

Every so often when there is nothing spectacular to write about, we will be doing a blast from the past. This segment will be called Croat of The Day - The Pilar Project.  The segment is named after our very first specimen who is most certainly the Father of Croatian geopolitics. As you will see, most of the people who will be presented in this feature are almost completely unknown and I think you'll eventually figure out why.

Dr. Ivo Pilar:

PhD in Law, historian, and the father of Croatian geopolitics. Studied at Ecole de Droit in Paris. A Croatian patriot and a fervent enemy of the Yugoslav experiment. Was jailed many times and wrote under many pseudonyms - the most famous being Lucifer Torchbearer (German: Florian Lichttraeger/ Croatian: Lucifer Luconosa ili Svjetlonosa) - the foundation of later Croatian nationalists referring to their cause as the bearers of the torch/light. Killed by the Yugoslav government in his home in 1933.