Ivan Burik

Ivan Burik (8 November 1928 – 8 October 1991) was a Croatian Roman Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Đakovo-Osijek killed during the Croatian War of Independence, murdered by Serb rebels, in the aftermath of the Tovarnik massacre. He was declared a Servant of God by Pope Francis in May 2016.

Biography Childhood Burik was born in Neštin near Ilok in 1928. Due to his family's poor financial situation, he started working as a scribe after finishing six grades of the public school. When the Banovina of Croatia was founded, Ivan's father was active in the local Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS) organization. After the outbreak of the Second World War, he was appointed as the local chief. In 1943, he was killed by Yugoslav partisans. For the sake of safety, in 1943, Ivan escaped with his mother and brother to Ilok, and at the end of the war in 1944, because of the fighting at the Syrmian Front, they continued to Strizivojna, then to Vinkovci. On April 12, 1945, his family found themselves in a column of Croatian refugees fleeing from partisan forces. Ivan's family reached Bleiburg, where English soldiers stopped them. They arrived in Maribor and from there they went on their way, not like the other returning groups and thus escaped the fate of those in the Bleiburg massacre. They arrived in Strizivojna, where they stayed to live.

Education Due to poverty and the family's loss of property during the war, he had to be a shepherd until 1948. In 1950, he was called up for military service. Upon his return, he briefly managed to get a job as an official in the local community. He was then sent to further education as a statistician in Zagreb. He briefly worked as a statistician, among others in Đakovo, where he befriended Đakovo priests and theologians, which is why he lost his job. He privately finished high school at Šalata in Zagreb. In his mature years, he enrolled and completed theology studies in Đakovo.(hr) Once, under pressure from the aggressor, he had to temporarily move to Vojvodina, in Sot. He stayed with his friend Rev. Petar Šokčević, but by order of the occupation authorities he had to return to Tovarnik every day and report to their militia. The last time he went from Sot to occupied Tovarnik was on October 7, 1991. He was shot from behind in the basement of the clergy house by a member of the Dušan Silni Serbian paramilitary unit, a murderer from Vršac. The killer later bragged in Lovas that he had "killed the Ustasha priest", parading around for days with Burik's priest's beret on his head. The coroner's report falsified conditions of the murder, because the analysis later showed bullet holes in the chest. Although he was killed like other locals with firearms and/or cold weapons, in official documents she and Dr. Dragan Martinović wrote that Burik and the others "died from the explosion".

He was exhumed from a mass grave and buried in the local cemetery on January 31, 1998, with his parishioners.

Trials Fourteen Serbs were tried for Burik's murder. Three were charged with armed rebellion, four were acquitted due to lack of evidence, and the rest received sentences ranging from five to ten years.

In 2009, the Croatian writer Nevenka Nekić (hr) published a biographical novel Burik. In 2013, Sonja Tomić wrote an illustrated book Zvjezdana vrata ("Stargate") on his life and martyrdom.

Since 2009, the Vukovar - Tovarnik Memorial Race has been held in his memory.

Literature