Ljudevit Jurak

Who was Ljudevit Jurak?

Ljudevit Jurak was a Croatian professor of pathology who was executed by the Yugoslav government for his research into the Vinnytsia massacre.

Jurak studied medicine at the University of Innsbruck where he graduated in 1910. In 1914 Jurak came to Zagreb where he led the Department of Pathology at the Sisters of Charity Hospital, a post he held until his death. Jurak collaborated on Mate Ujević's Croatian Encyclopedia.

In 1943, Jurak was among those invited by the International Committee of the Red Cross to take part in an investigation into the massacre of ethnic Ukrainians at Vinnytsia in the 1930s. This investigation concluded that the Soviet Union had been responsible for the massacre. He also commented on the Soviet responsibility for the Katyn massacre. When the communist regime came to power in Yugoslavia, they had Jurak killed by firing squad in June, 1945.

Since the democratic changes in 1990, the Ljudevit Jurak Clinical Department of Pathology in Zagreb has borne his name.