Ante Nikšić

Ante Nikšić
Croatian Ambassador to Italy
In office
April 1943  December 1943
Preceded by Stijepo Perić
2nd Minister of Interior of the Independent State of Croatia
In office
10 October 1942  29 April 1943
Leader Ante Pavelić
Preceded by Andrija Artuković
Succeeded by Andrija Artuković
Personal details
Born 8 June 1892
Gospić, Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary
Died 28 January 1962 (aged 69)
Pilar, Argentina
Nationality Croat
Political party Ustaše (until 1945)
Other political
affiliations
Party of Rights (until 1929)
Relations Vittorio Ambrosio (son-in-law)
Alma mater University of Zagreb
University of Vienna
Occupation Politician
Profession Lawyer

Ante Nikšić (8 June 1892 – 28 January 1962) was a Croatian lawyer and politician who served as Minister of Interior of the Independent State of Croatia between 1942 and 1943.

Early life

Nikšić was born in Gospić in Croatian region of Lika. He attended high school in Gospić. Nikšić studied law at the University of Vienna and at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb where he gained the title of doctor of law. As a student, he was member of the Party of Right's youth organization and was the president of "Kvaternik" club and of the students' support society. After he left university he worked as a judge in Gospić and Zagreb, and later worked as a lawyer in Vukovar. In Vukovar, he was an editor of local newspaper of the Croatian Union, and later the newspaper of the Croatian Bloc during the 1925 elections, after which he worked as a judge in such regions as Jastrebarsko, Ivanec and Karlovac, where he become President of the Karlovac Municipal Court and later President of the Judicial Table, a district court.[1]

Independent State of Croatia

As a President of the Judicial Table, Nikšić saw the collapse of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and establishment of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). He was a member of the Ustaše organization even before the war. After the was proclaimed, he helped to organize the new state institutions in Karlovac. Ante Pavelić, while he was on his way to Zagreb from Italy, stayed in his home for two days where he received the German envoy Edmund Veesenmayer and Benito Mussolini's envoy Filippo Anfuso.[1]

In June 1941, Nikšić was named Prefect of Pokuplje District. In mid-March 1942 he started to work for the Ministry of Interior. A month later, he was named envoy to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On 10 October 1942, Nikšić was named Minister of Interior, succeeding Andrija Artuković. He worked as a minister until 29 April 1943. After that, he was an ambassador to the Kingdom of Italy until middle December 1943. From Italy he returned to Zagreb where he again worked in the Ministry of Interior.[1]

Emigration

At the beginning of May 1945, at the end of the war, he was abroad, so after the collapse of the Independent State of Croatia in May 1945, he used the situation and went to Argentina where he lived in Pilar, not far from Buenos Aires. In Argentina, Nikšić wrote for the Croatian émigré magazine the Hrvatska revija. He died in Pilar.[1]

References

Citations
Bibliography