Cvitan Spužević (c. 1885 – ?žević) was a Yugoslav lawyer, politician and humanitarian. As a Croat from Bosnia-Herzegovina, during World War II he was a member of the ZAVNOBiH and was later appointed as a minister in the first government of People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1945 to 1946.
Biography
Spužević was born into a Bosnian Croat family which had been honored and celebrated with verses by the 19th century Croatian poet S.S. Kranjčević. Spužević graduated from Mostar Realgymnasium in 1901/2. After completing his law studies, he practiced law in Mostar. He was close to the Catholic Church and his practice was also employed as a legal representative for Herzegovina Franciscan friars’ in Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Spužević was active in politics and public life in general between the two world wars. Since 1910, he was a member of the Mostar branch of Croatian cultural society "Napredak", while in 1929 he was elected its vice president. In 1927 elections he opposed the policy of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) and founded Croatian National Union (HNZ) in opposition to it. In 1928 Spužević was also a founding member of the Fishermen society of Bosnia-Herzegovina branch in Mostar. In 1935 he was a board member of the Land bank of Bosnia-Herzegovina (Zemaljska banka za BiH).
Second World War
During the German and Italian invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, Spužević and his friend fra Leo Petrović organised negotiations between the surrendering Yugoslav army and invading Axis forces, still fighting in the Mostar area. After the breakup of Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Axis puppet state Independent State of Croatia under Ustaša regime was formed, encompassing Bosnia and Herzegovina. Soon, ustaša campaign of ethnic cleansing, directed against Serb, Jewish and Roma population (as well as all Croat opponents and dissidents) reached Mostar. In July 1942, according to his diary, Spužević tried to intervene with the ustaša minister of the interior Artuković to save some Mostar families, including Serbs, from the internment or execution. He also asked for an immediate release of the Serbs from ustaša prisons and for a stop and reversal of racist and discriminatory ustaša policies (lay-offs, expulsions etc.), as well as sanctions against those who committed crimes against the Serb population of eastern Herzegovina in the summer of 1941.
Between 1942 and mid-1943, Spužević, vicar fra Leo Petrović, fra Bonicije Rupčić and Mostar Serbs Milivoj Jelačić and Đorđe Obradović formed the Committee for the stricken persons, raising funds and food for the exiled, expelled, and vulnerable population in general. Most of the funds went to poverty-stricken Serbs of the area, which were discriminated and generally unwanted by the ustaša authorities.
In 1943 and 1944, ustaša authorities arrested, imprisoned and executed many of their opponents in Mostar area, especially the communists and anyone connected to Yugoslav partisans. Prominent pre-war members of the ustaša-banned Croatian Peasant Party were also targeted, for instance dr. Ivica Milaković and Blaž Slišković (killed in Jasenovac Concentration camp). Spužević was saved by an intervention of fra Leo Petrović, a prominent Franciscan friar well respected among the population and recognized as such by ustaša authorities. After this crackdown, in August 1944 guerilla Yugoslav partisans managed to evacuate Spužević from ustaša-held Mostar and bring him to the territory they controlled, after Herzegovina Communist Party chairman Vaso Miškin “Crni” organized an action together with fra Petrović, who chose to stay in Mostar and look after Spužević’s family. Usually ustaša would arrest and imprison or intern a family of someone who left to join the partisans, but Spužević’s family – thanks to fra Petrović - was an exception in Mostar. All three Spužević’s sons eventually left to join the partisans, too. Spužević's cousin, judge dr. Đuro Spužević, on the other hand, was a deputy county prefect of Vrhbosna county and later county prefect (Croatian: veliki župan) of Mostar-based Hum county in ustaša regime (1942-5).
Dr. Spužević was elected as a member of State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1944.
