Rade Bulat (28 August 1920 – 25 January 2013) was a

Yugoslav Partisan The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

and communist activist. He was one of the last three living recipients of the

Order of the People's Hero The Order of the People's Hero or the Order of the National Hero ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Orden narodnog heroja, Oрден народног хероја; , ), was a Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav gallantry medal, the ...

in Croatia.

Biography

Bulat was born August 28, 1920, in Vrginmost within the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () has been its colloq ...

. He attended gymnasium in

Sisak Sisak (; also known by other alternative names) is a city in central Croatia, spanning the confluence of the Kupa, Sava and Odra rivers, southeast of the Croatian capital Zagreb, and is usually considered to be where the Posavina (Sava basin ...

, Gradiška and Zagreb. In 1936 he joined the Young Communist League of Yugoslavia and was accepted into the

Communist Party of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats a ...

in 1939. After the April War he joined the

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

. In 1942 he joined the Headquarters of the People's Liberation Movement of Croatia. He led the 13th Proletarian Attack Brigade from late 1942 on. Bulat became commander of the 32nd Zagorje Division on June 6, 1944. After the war he was a representative in the Parliament of the

Socialist Republic of Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), commonly abbreviated as SR Croatia and referred to as simply Croatia, was a ...

, and was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Croatia. He was awarded the

on July 24, 1953, along with his wife Milka Kufrin. During the

Croatian Spring The Croatian Spring (), or Maspok, was a political conflict that took place from 1967 to 1971 in the Socialist Republic of Croatia, at the time part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. As one of six republics comprising Yugoslavi ...

in 1971, Bulat publicly called for a Serb autonomous region within SR Croatia. He published a book about the 10th Zagreb Corps in 1985. After vandalism of a memorial grave in Lasinja in 2010, Bulat called for the perpetrators to be beaten by whoever found them. In February 2011 it was revealed that Bulat had been subject of an ongoing investigation for war crimes by the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

since 2007. The police investigation resulted in accusing him of ordering the killings of Croatian Home Guard war prisoners near

Čazma Čazma is a town in Bjelovar-Bilogora County, Croatia. It is part of Moslavina. Geography Čazma is situated 60 kilometers east of Zagreb and only 30 kilometres from the center of the region - Bjelovar. Čazma is situated on the slopes of ...

on the night of November 28–29, 1943.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulat, Rade 1920 births 2013 deaths People from Gvozd Serbs of Croatia League of Communists of Croatia politicians Yugoslav Partisans members Recipients of the Order of the People's Hero Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery