Vjekoslav Spinčić

Who was Vjekoslav Spinčić?

Vjekoslav Spinčić was a Croatian politician from Istria.

After studying theology in Gorica and Trieste, he was ordained a priest in 1872. Afterwards, he continued studies in history and geography in Prague and Vienna. He worked as a teacher in Koper, and later in Gorica, where he was fired in 1892 after saying Istria belongs to Croatia while in Zagreb.

Along with Matko Mandić and Matko Laginja, he was one of the most influential Croatian politicians in Istria at the time, a member of the Party of Rights. He served in the Imperial Council multiple times. At the Unveiling of the Gundulić monument in Dubrovnik, Spinčić arrived as the highest ranking Croatian politician from Istria and laid a wreath as its representative.

In 1908, he refused to recognize the agreement between the Croatian-Slovenian Peoples' Parties with the Italian Liberal Party about the overhaul of politics in Istria. Spinčić was a long-time president of the Society of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Istria. He left politics after the annex of Istria to Italy in 1920. After this, he moved to the Croatian town of Sušak in the then Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, where he died.