Mika Špiljak


Mika Špiljak was a Croatian politician in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Early years

He was born in Odra Sisačka, in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. His father Dragutin was a railway worker. Špiljak began working at the age of 16. He joined the Communist Party in 1938 and fought with Partisans during World War II.

Career

From 1949 to 1950, he was the mayor of Zagreb.
In 1963, Špiljak was appointed the Chairman of the Executive Council of Croatia and served until his 1967 appointment as the President of the Federal Executive Council, Yugoslavia's Prime Minister. He served in that capacity until 1969.
Špiljak opened the 1984 Winter Olympics.
Špiljak then served as Chairman of the Collective Presidency of Yugoslavia from 1983 until 1984. He was subsequently elected President of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Croatia from 1984 until 1986.

Death

He died in 2007 at the age of 90. He was cremated in Zagreb.
In the 2000s, German courts linked Špiljak to the assassination of Croatian emigrant Stjepan Đureković in 1983. After the hearings in Germany, all the links connecting him to the assassination were dropped.