Lovre Reić

Lovre Reić was born in 1920 in Split. He comes from a family in which Croatian identity and the Catholic religion were cherished. At the age of thirteen he witnessed a lewd act by a Catholic priest involving a fifteen year old boy, after which he cut all connections with the Church. Even before the start of the Second World War he regarded Italians as enemies. In 1938 he became a member of SKOJ; he took part in their most fierce actions in Split. Running away from the Italian occupying forces, in 1942 he joined the Partisans and became a member of the First Mid-Dalmatian Detachment and later the First Dalmatian Brigade. He took part in battles all over Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, amongst others, the great battles of the Second World War: the Battle on the Neretva, the Battle on the Sutjeska, as well as being involved in the operations for the liberation of Dalmatia. During his participation in the National Liberation Movement he showed no interest in taking on political functions; his Partisan path is marked with battles. Following the War he went on to study at the Military Academy and in the post war period attained the rank of colonel. Today he is retired, he lives in Split and he remains particularly devoted to antifascist values.