Tias Mortigjija

Tias Mortigjija (7 April 1913 – 14 September 1947) was a Croatian journalist, publicist, and member of the Croatian Historical Revolution, best known for his activities during the existence of the Independent State of Croatia. During this period he was chief editor of the most important Croatian newspaper and magazine, Spremnost.

Early life Mortigjija was born in Dubrovnik, then part of the Austria-Hungary, on 7 April 1913. He attended elementary school and high school in his native town. As a high school student, he began to publish poems, reviews, articles and debates in several Croatian newspapers and magazines. After completing high school in 1931, he enrolled in University of Zagreb, studying history and geography. He completed study in 1940, just before World War II. During his study at the University of Zagreb he continued publishing and served as the editor of various journals between 1933 and 1936. Mortigjija was appointed as an assistant in the department of economic history at the High Economic and Commercial school in Zagreb, but never worked in the position because he was too busy doing editorial work.

In his autobiography, Mortigjija said that in his youth he was a keen Yugoslavian, but his opinion changed in 1928 after Puniša Račić's attack in the Yugoslav Parliament. The assassinations turned Mortigjija to Croatian nationalism. Mortigjija was inspired by the ideas of Ante Starčević that followed the policy of the Axis powers and in particular the Third Reich. They published anti-Jewish propaganda which quoted text from Deutsche Zeitung—German language newspapers printed by the Nazi Party through Franz Eher Nachfolger. The papers also printed articles about the Serbs, Roma and other "inferior" races. In December 1944 Martigjiga was dismissed from Spremnost, replaced by Franjo Nevistić.

When the collapse of the Independent State of Croatia was imminent, Mortigjija and thirty other journalists fled to Austria on 6 May 1945. While in the refugee camp, Mortigjija accepted a job to organize social activities, events, and lectures on Croatian history. He organized a committee of the Initiative-Croat refugees in Carinthia. He began publishing a newspaper on 1 March 1946 that would become the voice of Croatian refugees in Austria.

Mortigjija's case is seen as a test case. In 1945, over 40 journalists were executed and 47 were banned from public work. Similar retrials for some of these journalists are expected.

The verdict provoked a divided reaction by the public. Croatian daily newspaper Vjesnik published editorials that denounced the work of Nazi sympathizers such as Mortigjija.

The verdict was greeted in some emigrant circles as a rare example of correcting injustice committed by the communist Yugoslavian government. For example, President of the Association of Croatian Emigrants wrote to former Prime Minister of Croatia Ivo Sanader asking that Mortigjija's case be used as an example for other cases.