Mate Ujević (13 July 1901 – 6 January 1967) was a

Croatian Croatian may refer to: * Croatia *Croatian language *Croatian people *Croatians (demonym) See also * * * Croatan (disambiguation) * Croatia (disambiguation) * Croatoan (disambiguation) * Hrvatski (disambiguation) * Hrvatsko (disambiguation) * S ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wr ...

and

encyclopedist An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

Life

Ujević was born in Krivodol (part of

Podbablje Podbablje is a municipality in Croatia in the Split-Dalmatia County. It has a population of 4,904 (2001 census), 93.6% which are Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, cult ...

near

Imotski Imotski (; it, Imoschi; lat, Emotha, later ''Imota'') is a small town on the northern side of the Biokovo massif in the Dalmatian Hinterland of southern Croatia, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Imotski, like the surrounding inland ...

) in the

Kingdom of Dalmatia The Kingdom of Dalmatia ( hr, Kraljevina Dalmacija; german: Königreich Dalmatien; it, Regno di Dalmazia) was a crown land of the Austrian Empire (1815–1867) and the Cisleithanian half of Austria-Hungary (1867–1918). It encompassed the entir ...

(present-day

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

). He received his secondary education in

Sinj Sinj (; it, Signo; german: Zein) is a town in the continental part of Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia. The town itself has a population of 11,478 and the population of the administrative municipality, which includes surrounding villages, is 24, ...

and

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, entertain ...

and studied literature in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Sl ...

. He bachelored in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the a ...

and finished his doctoral dissertation on poet

Jovan Hranilović Jovan may refer to: * Jovan (given name), a list of people with this given name * Jovan, Mawal, a village on the western coastal region of Maharashtra, India *Jōvan Musk, a cologne * Deli Jovan, a mountain in eastern Serbia * Róbert Jován (born ...

in Zagreb. In 1941 he was named the director of the institute in charge of the

Croatian Encyclopedia The ''Croatian Encyclopedia'' ( hr, Hrvatska enciklopedija) is a Croatian national encyclopedia published by the Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography. Overview The project began in 1999, and it represents a fifth iteration of the encycl ...

, on which he worked until May 1945. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Ujević rescued Manko Berman, a Jewish encyclopedist and close friend, as well as two Jewish sisters from being deported to the

Jasenovac concentration camp Jasenovac () was a concentration and extermination camp established in the Jasenovac, Sisak-Moslavina County, village of the same name by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in Invasion of Yugoslavia, occupied Yugosla ...

. As a result of these actions,

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

later honored him as one of the

Righteous among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to s ...

. In 1950 he began work with the

Yugoslav Lexicographical Institute Yugoslav or Yugoslavian may refer to: * Yugoslavia, or any of the three historic states carrying that name: ** Kingdom of Yugoslavia, a European monarchy which existed 1918–1945 (officially called "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes" 1918� ...

(today's

Miroslav Krleža Lexicographical Institute Miroslav may refer to: * Miroslav (given name), a Slavic masculine given name * ''Young America'' (clipper) or ''Miroslav'', an Austrian clipper ship in the Transatlantic case oil trade * Miroslav (Znojmo District), a town in the Czech Republic S ...

) where he remained until his retirement in 1965. He died in

Works

* ''Mladost Tome Ivića'' (1928) * ''Hrvatska književnost'' (1932) * ''Gradišćanski Hrvati'' (1934) * ''Hrvatska narodna pjesmarica'' (1938) * ''

Hrvatska enciklopedija The ''Croatian Encyclopedia'' ( hr, Hrvatska enciklopedija) is a Croatian national encyclopedia published by the Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography. Overview The project began in 1999, and it represents a fifth iteration of the encyc ...

'' roatian Encyclopedia(1941–1945)

External links

Ujević, Mate
at lzmk.hr

– his activity to save Jews' lives during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

, at

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Ujevic, Mate 1901 births 1967 deaths People from Podbablje People from the Kingdom of Dalmatia Encyclopedists Croatian male poets Croatian Righteous Among the Nations University of Ljubljana alumni University of Zagreb alumni Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery 20th-century Croatian poets 20th-century male writers