The War Diary of Marijan Grbac, a SKOJ-Member of Buzet

Abstract

It was already on January 2, 1944, after the 1st District Conference of SKOJ (Yugoslav Communist Youth Union) for Istria held in Račiće on December 29, 1943, that the Istrian SKOJ leadership could inform the SKOJ Committee of Croatia about as many as three district SKOJ committees set up in Istria: those for the areas of Buzet, Pula and Pazin. The Buzet SKOJ Committee had five members, including Marijan Grbac, the author of the »Log-book«, in fact a war diary being now published. Marijan Grbac was bom on October 18, 1919, in Prapoće, a village within the Buzet district area. In September 1943 he joined the 2nd Partisan Brigade of Istria after being demobilized from the Italian army. Following the enemy’s offensive in early October of the same year, he went to Kras to join the 4th Partisan Company of Istria formed on November 1, 1943 in Brgudac. After 10-day courses as an activist, he was sent to the Buzet district to help organize the work of SKOJ. He took part in organizing the mentioned 1st District Conference of SKOJ in Račiće and became a member of the Buzet SKOJ Committee set up on the occasion. Due to its insufficient activity the Committee was changed in July 1944 and of its earlier members only Marijan Grbac remained. As member of the Committee he was writing a »log-book«, which covers the period from late December 1943 to September 13, 1944, and describes various meetings, political courses, rallies and other events.