Famous citizens

Albert Štriga opera singer. Ilirac, close to Vatroslav Lisinski, whom he encouraged to compose the first Croatian opera ‘Love and Evil’, in the performance of which he himself participates. Deserved for the development of opera life in Croatia, as a singer he performed in many Slavic countries, performing together with Sidonia Rubido Erdödi. Today, the Križevci Music School is named after him.

Antun Nemčić Gostovinski (Edde 1813 – Križevci 1849) spent his childhood in Ludbreg and Koprivnica. He finished high school in Varaždin, and philosophy (today’s 3rd and 4th grade of high school) and law studies in Zagreb. In the circle of Illyrians, he befriended Tom Blažek and Ljudevit Gaj. He started his career as a judge in Križevci. In 1836 he was a bailiff of the County of Križevci and was transferred to Moslavina in Osekovo, where in 1838 he became an honorary judge. At that time, he was already seriously engaged in literary work. His friendship with the writer Mirko Bogović, with whom he remained in the closest relationship until his death, dates from that time. He was transferred to Ludbreg in 1840 and remained there as an independent bailiff until 1846. In June 1846 he was unanimously elected district judge in Novi Marof, and at the end of the same year he became a “temporary regular judge”. In the historical year of 1848, he was elected a member of the Croatian Parliament, and at the beginning of April 1849 he was appointed the proper notary of the County of Križevci. Death caught him on an official trip to Podravina. The name and work of Antun Nemčić are most directly associated with Putositnice by a cultured reader, historian or literary critic. Already the title of the work, unusual, violent, and even bizarre, warns us that he is an artist who by the power of his own talent, and at that time a very high literary culture was able to rise above the very average level of prose creation of his contemporaries. Putositnice is not a kind of substitute for today’s newspaper report, but it is prose that has achieved a kind of authentic narrative expression, independent of the content of reporting. In Putositnice we are not only interested in the events but also in the way they are recorded. The journey, says Nemčić himself, can be compared to the departure of a collection of paintings. Just as a man in it passes coldly many times with uncluttered images, I come to a less debauched creature and inadvertently return, so the traveler often steps past various scenes without these in his mind being established, while perhaps less significant appearances in the participation of various circumstances they take his soul. What others might not even mention, it inadvertently comes to my mind from memories.

Dragutin Karlo Novak (Zagreb, February 16, 1892 – Zagreb, October 31, 1978), finished elementary school in Zagreb, went to a dormitory in Tropava where he finished mechanical mechanics for precision mechanics. He then went to his sister in Budapest where in 1910 he attended an airplane competition. Shortly afterwards, he returned to Zagreb and got a job with Slavoljub Penkala, who at that time was working on the construction of airplanes and became his right hand in making and testing flight characteristics, until the first flight in Croatia, June 22, 1910, and until Penkala finally gave up. further work on the plane. At the invitation, he went to the photographer and entrepreneur Mihajlo Merćep, who in the meantime also built a hangar next to Penkalin and brought the Slovene brothers, Edvard and Joško Rusjan, to Zagreb. At the end of 1914, he joined the army and after a short war in the infantry, he was transferred to the aviation of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. From 1916, after being wounded during a combat flight, he was appointed flying teacher at the most important military-pilot school of the Monarchy in Wiener Neustadt. He has military and civilian pilot licenses. After the end of the War, he returned to the Great Raven family. He stopped flying permanently, so he never soared into the air again, either as a passenger. He moved with his family to Križevci, where he worked briefly in the steam room, then returned to Zagreb to the Anatomical Institute of the Faculty of Medicine, and in 1923 he worked again in Križevci in the city’s Munjara power plant. In 1927, he founded his own trucking company, bus and taxi transport of passengers in Križevci. After 1945, he was left without a car fleet and was employed in 1948 as the director of the City Bus Company in Križevci. Next, in 1948, until his retirement in 1954, he worked at the Agricultural Technical School in Križevci. After 50 years in 1970, he returned to his native Zagreb with his family, where he died on October 31, 1978, at the age of 86. The city of Križevci repaid him by placing a memorial plaque on the house where he lived and worked, naming the neighboring promenade after Dragutin Novak and calling it the Aeroclub.

Dr. Stjepan Kranjčić studied theology at the Catholic Theological Faculty in Zagreb, where he excelled in intellectual ability, diligence and collegiality. Ordained a priest in 1943 Chaplain in Požega (1943-1945), parish of St. Mark on Zagreb’s Upper Town (1945-1947). In 1947 he became the notary of the Archbishop’s spiritual table and secretary to Bishop Franjo Salis-Seewis, and from 1952 he was the pastor and dean in Križevci until his death in 1968. The Association for the Promotion of Famous People of Križevci “Dr. Stjepan Kranjčić ”(www.udruga-drstjepankranjcic.hr) which is especially active in marking the anniversaries of Stjepan Kranjčić (death anniversary – April 10), contents dedicated to St. Marko Križevčanin, and other greats of Križevci. Every year, on the last weekend in January, the association organizes a four-day religious and cultural event “Days of Croatian Saints and Blesseds”, then the Meeting of Croatian Spiritual Literature “Stjepan Kranjčić” and in co-organization with Križevci Elementary School Ljudevita Modeca “Meeting of Croatian Children’s Spiritual Creativity” Kranj literary and artistic creation of primary school students in Croatia (www.djecji-kranjcic.hr). For “Književni Kranjčić”, the association announces a competition for literary works every year from May 15 to August 15, and the final meeting is always the first Saturday in December before Kranjčić’s date of birth (5.12). The competition for “Children’s Kranjčić” is announced from October 15 to December 15, and the closing ceremony is the last Saturday in April, with the Day of the City of Križevci. All three of these events are at the national level.

Franjo Marković (Križevci, 1845 – Zagreb 1914) He finished primary school in Križevci, grammar school from 1854 to 1862 in Zagreb, and classical languages, philosophy and Slavic studies in Vienna. After graduating in Latin and Greek, he was appointed deputy in 1866 at the grammar school in Osijek. In one political demonstration, he signed a proclamation against Ban Rauch, when he was reprimanded for “incorrect political behavior”. In 1868 he was transferred to the grammar school in Zagreb, and in 1870 he was dismissed from the service and in the autumn he went to Vienna to study philosophy. There he especially listened to aesthetics with Professor Robert Zimmermann. He was promoted in March 1872 to Doctor of Philosophy. Already at the age of 27, he became co-editor with Ivan Dežman, and shortly afterwards independent editor of the then most prestigious Croatian literary magazine Vijenac (1872 – 1873). In 1874 he became a full professor at the University of Zagreb and the first dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, and in 1876, at the age of 31, he was elected a member of the Academy. From 1881 to 1890 he was an opposition member of the Križevci constituency in the Croatian Parliament. He retired in 1910, but remained an active lecturer at the University for the rest of his life. His aesthetic conceptions move within the framework of Herbet’s formalist aesthetics founded by R. Zimmermann. He presented his philosophical views in the work “Development and system of general aesthetics”. F. Marković is significant because he was the first to introduce philosophical terminology into the Croatian language.

Fran Gundrum Oriovčanin (Oriovac 1856 – Križevci 1919) encyclopedist of broad culture and knowledge, educated in Croatia and Vienna, was interested in preserving human health and promoting a culture of healthy living and healthy nature. He has published numerous booklets, manuals, and instructions on sexual health, conducting, arguably, one of the first studies on prostitution in general. He wrote about dental care, skin disease control, addictions. Gundrum’s book Tobacco was awarded at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1900. He was a bitter enemy of tobacco, black coffee, especially alcohol, which was not very popular in the city of Križevci statutes, these unique rules of drinking culture in merry societies. Dr. Gundrum believed that human life could be extended by exercise, swimming and cycling, so he invented the “dry swimming machine”. Gundrum studied the rich Croatian history and culture, finding a source of inspiration in old Križevci. He was buried in Zagreb’s Mirogoj. Gundrum’s walks to Križevci were legendary. His fellow citizens adjusted their house hours according to his departures for walks and returns from walks. Gundrum advocates for the early sexual education of children and adolescents: It is necessary for the child to know a lot, for an easier understanding of different relationships, it should start early. Children in the parental home can enjoy the true views of life. I would say that it is not a correct statement that a child should not be introduced to some relationships, that the truth should not always be told to him, but should be led through the dark by some false assumptions, crazy fairy tales and the like, when a child wants to learn from parents.

Ivan Zakmardi Dijankovečki (Križevci around 1600. Banjska Bistrica 1667.) He graduated from the Jesuit grammar school in Zagreb and philosophy in Olomouc in the Czech Republic. As a capable lawyer and humanist, he held the highest positions in the country’s administration. He was the protonotary of the Croatian kingdom and a member of the Požuna Parliament. As the protonotary of the kingdom, Ivan Zakmardi had the Ark of Privileges for the most important state documents made. His initiative was the beginning of the Croatian state archives. On the Chest of Privileges itself, Zakmardi wrote a poem in Latin with program content on Croatian state law. In the final verses, Zakmardi mentions three rivers – the Kupa, the Sava and the Drava, rivers that Croatia managed to preserve through desperate defenses and enormous sacrifices. Zakmardi wanted to help the people of Križevci, his hometown, get out of the crisis after the war with the Turks, and to advance it to the educational and cultural center of the province. He wanted to bring Paulines to Križevci, who gathered educated monks, writers, historians and artists in their home monastery in Lepoglava. The Paulines agreed to come to Križevci and founded a monastery and a school there. For this reason, Zakmardi provided a grant for the monastery, and donated his property in Dijankovac, his father’s house and some other estates. In addition to the primary school in Križevci, the Paulines also founded the Pauline Gymnasium (in 1670) with four classes (parva, principa, grammatica, syntaxis). On April 20, 1667, the Paulines were approved to found a monastery in Križevci, and after that to build a wooden chapel of St. Anne next to the house. bear his name. Another memorial plaque was erected on September 3, 2005 in Dijankovac, where the Zakmardi family owned a manor.

Ljudevit Farkaš Vukotinović was a true nature lover and researcher of natural phenomena, from minerals and fossils to the composition of the flora and fauna of Croatia. He laid the foundations of some modern natural sciences in our country: in biological (botanical) classification he paved the way from physiography to phylogenetic approach, from geognosis to geology, together with his friend J. K. Schlösser he was the first to systematically approach the presentation of the flora of Croatia. Secretary of Count Drašković at the parliament in Požun, notary of Križevci County (1836-1840) where he founded the Illyrian Reading Room in 1839. In the war against the Hungarians in 1848, the commander-in-chief of the company for the defense of the homeland in Križevci County. President of the National Court (1850 – 1854) when he retired because he opposed the use of German as the official language. In the manuscript On the Establishment of the National Museum in 1878, Vukotinović writes: to do his duty, nor did anyone think of any praise or reward. Grand Prefect of Križevci (1861 – 1867). He tried his hand at literature as a poet, narrator and playwright. Along with Stanko Vraz and Dragutin Rakovec, the initiator of Kola in 1842, the editor of Leptira (1859 – 1861). He published Poems and Short Stories 1838-1840, Roses and Thorns 1842, Prošasnost Hungarian-Croatian 1844, Poems 1847, Trnule 1862, etc. Botanist and mineralogist; his significant scientific monograph Images of Croatian Oaks in the Zagreb area. One of the first members of JAZU (1866), also a member of foreign academies of science. Honorary citizen of Križevci. Memorial – a sign erected to him on Kalnik, a street in Križevci named after him.

Nina Vavra (Križevci 1879 – Zagreb 1942), drama artist, since 1899 champion of drama at the Croatian National Theater in Zagreb. One of the greatest dramatic actresses of her time. She graduated from Miletić’s Drama School in Zagreb, and from 1899 she was engaged in the Croatian National Theater. One of the most famous actresses of her time. The gallery of her characters ranged in a wide range from classical tragedy to contemporary drama. She had the best achievements as Aeschylus’ Cassandra, Sophocles’ Electra and Antigone, Euripides’ Andromache and Hecuba, Racine’s Phaedra, etc. She published prose imbued with Illyrian ideas under the pseudonym Ylajali. Translated from Czech and German about 50 plays. She wrote the play The Arrival of the Croats in 1907. The Amateur Theater in Križevci once bore her name. Of the films, she starred in feature films Matija Gubec (1917). and Vragoljanka (1918) At the beginning of the eighties of the twentieth century, there was a chamber theater of Nino Vavr in Križevci. It had about twenty members, amateur actors, who performed plays by Samuel Beckett throughout Croatia and edited their magazine Bulletin, which dealt with theatrical and literary topics. She was educated by nuns in the Zagreb preparatory school, from which she graduated as the best student after three years. Her aunt took her to the theater for the first time at the age of 12 – she didn’t like the play and decided not to go to the theater anymore. But later she went to the entrance exam to the newly opened Zagreb acting school and was accepted as the only girl, thanks to the recitation of the song Oj budi svoj. She attended acting school for two years, until 1896. As a student she performed as a page in Henry IV, and made her debut as an actress in Scribe’s The Fight of the Ladies, where she stood out. As a young actress full of ideals, she soon experienced disappointment at the entrance to the theater, because it was impossible to live from ideals. She was promised a salary of 50 forints per gig, but received only 25 and an additional 5 for toilets, “kakti žena”. At the age of 24, she went on her first tour abroad: in Prague she played in the Czech language, the main female role in Madasy’s Man’s Tragedy. In pre-war Serbia, in Belgrade and Nis, she played Hasanaginica, while for the premiere performance of Nušić’s tragedy Autumn Rain, in which she appeared as a replacement for another actress, she received the decoration of King Peter I Karađorđević. This proud and God-gifted woman climbs the stairs of fame through years of intense artistic activity. The power of her art, the pathos and the wonderful tone of her voice captivate the theater audience. And her good big heart really sovereignly rules the scene. But she also wrote, writing one play. She did not dare to write under her own name, but under a pseudonym. In 1907, in patriotic enthusiasm, she wrote a five-act play The Arrival of the Croats. During the premiere of that work, she was in the corner of a box and pretended that she was not interested in anything, since none of the ensemble knew who the author of the piece was. The play triumphed in Zagreb. In 1908, Nina Vavra married a colleague and artistic friend, director Bach. They have been performing together for many years, he as a drama director and she as an assistant and actress. He also writes: novels, short stories, studies, collaborates with newspapers, translates about fifty plays. In 1921, together with colleagues from Zagreb, Osijek and Belgrade, he founded the theater in Split, whose first season was well attended. Nina Vavra received her first wreath on the open stage in Varaždin. During her acting career, she played over 500 different roles. On November 26-25, 1939, the theater in Zagreb will be in ceremonial attire, the Bukovec curtain will be raised, illuminated by floodlights, and Nina Vavra will reappear on the stage to sovereignly dominate the classic Euripides tragedy of the Trojan. Nina Vavra did not want to talk about her creation. She will write about it herself and present her point of view on this classic Greek tragedy, which is closely connected by looking at her entire work of art and her entire artistic life. It is interesting that in connection with this position, Nina Vavra asked our great artist Meštrović to be the patron of her jubilee creation.

Marcel Kiepach (Križevci 1894 – Ruska Poljana 1915) as the first of four children, along with three sisters, Marcel finished elementary school in his hometown. Then he continued high school in Zagreb. Marcel’s photograph, dating from 1905, has been preserved from that time and was taken in the photographic studio of Mihailo Mercep, who a few years later became famous as the constructor of the aircraft on which the first Croatian aviator Dragutin Novak also flew. Although he was enthusiastic about electrical engineering at an early age, Marcel failed to persuade his parents to send him to study electrical engineering in Graz after graduating from high school in Zagreb, following in the footsteps of Nikola Tesla, whose inventions he read about in professional magazines. It could be said that Tesla was in a way Marcel’s role model that he imitated and followed in his research and inventions, from magnetic induction, dynamo machine, to electric motors, transformers, sound wave transmission. Marcel’s father, Josip Kiepach, intended to direct his successor to the economy, so he first sent him to the Economic Institute of the University of Haale an der Saale in Germany, where he spent a year, and then two more years to the Hochschule für Bodenkultur (Forestry Academy) in Vienna. Only then did Marcel manage to enroll in electrical engineering “for his soul” in Charlottenburg, Germany. By doing so, he definitely confirmed to his parents that he was not interested in running a huge farm, nor in farming or forestry. After all, his parents had already come to terms with meeting him, especially since they had all the financial means to support their son in school away from home. Marcel inherited from his parents a rich cultural Central European heritage, drawing on the rich Croatian, Italian and Austrian traditions. Namely, his father’s lineage was originally from Tyrol, from the noble family Kiepach of Hasselburg. There, through blood marriages, she became blood related to prominent Croatian noble families. Thus, on March 16, 1910, at the Imperial Patent Office in Berlin (Kaiserliches Patentamt), the ship’s gyro compass, which shows the north regardless of the proximity of metal objects or the influence of magnetic forces, reported its invention under number 246656. In the same office under number 265645 of June 9, 1912, its special circuit breaker based on the principle of gas pressure for use in X-ray and other special devices was patented. Kiepach also applied for his ship’s compass to the Patent Office in London, receiving confirmation that his patent had been accepted as early as 1911 under number 28696. Marcel de Kiepach, Theaterplatz (Kazališni trg) No. 8, Zagreb, Croatia, was registered as the owner of the patent. Austria, Landowner (landowner). The patent application provides a more detailed description of the patent: Improvement of the compass reading device. He died in World War I as a volunteer at the age of 21. On October 31, 1915, Zagrebački Jutarnji list published an obituary on the occasion of the heroic death of Marcel Kiepach on the battlefield near Ruska Poljana, in present-day Poland. Two months after his death on August 13, 1915.