Pribicevic, Svetozar

Pribićević, Svetozar

 

Born Oct. 26, 1875, in Hrvatska-Kostajnica; died Sept. 15, 1936, in Prague. Serbian and Yugoslavian politician.

In 1910, Pribićević emerged as the leader of a Croation-Serbian coalition in the Croatian and Slavonian sabori (assemblies). In 1918 he became vice-president of the Zagreb national veche and participated in the founding of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (renamed Yugoslavia in 1929). He was minister of the interior from 1918 to 1920 and minister of education from 1920 to 1922 and again from 1924 to 1925. One of the organizers of the Democratic Party in 1919, Pribićević withdrew from it in 1924 to found the Independent Democratic Party. He formed a bloc in 1925 with N. Paŝić, but shifted, around 1927, to a bloc with S. Radic. After the military-monarchist coup of 1929, Pribićević opposed the dictatorship of King Alexander and in 1931 was forced to emigrate.