- Većeslav Holjevac
Većeslav Holjevac (
August 22 1917 –July 11 1970 ) was a Croatian and Yugoslav soldier and politician.A native of
Karlovac , Holjevac joinedCommunist Party of Yugoslavia in 1939. Following Axis invasion ofYugoslavia and establishment ofIndependent State of Croatia , Holjevac was active in resistance movement and in July 1941 he was one of the founders of Partisan units in Kordun and Banovina regions of Croatia. He served as political commisar of Partisan units in that region until the end of war. For his war service he received the title ofPeople's Hero of Yugoslavia .After the war Holjevac served in many important posts in Tito's Yugoslavia.
From 1952 to 1963 he was mayor of
Zagreb . As such, he is credited with many important construction projects that modernised the city, most notably the creation ofNovi Zagreb . He also successfully lobbied for establishment of Zagrebtrade fair . Because of that Holjevac became one of the most popular mayors in Zagreb history and one of the most respected Communist-era politicians.His daughter
Tatjana Holjevac used her father's legacy to successfully launch her own political career during 2005 local elections in Zagreb.A major thoroughfare of Zagreb,
Većeslav Holjevac Avenue is named after Većeslav Holjevac.
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