Ivan Goran Kovačić

He was born in Lukovdol (part of Vrbovsko), a town in Gorski Kotar, to Croatian father Ivan and Transylvanian Jewish mother Ruža (née Klein). His middle name Goran stems from that ("goran" meaning "mountain-man", "man from Gorski kotar", i.e. Mountain District). Kovačić attended the Gymnasium in the city of Karlovac in Croatia. In his honour, the Karlovac city library — the city's oldest cultural institution founded in 1838 — was renamed after him. Many schools in the successor states still bear his name.

During World War II, in the harsh winter of 1942, Kovačić and Vladimir Nazor volunteered for the Partisan forces to set an anti-fascist example for the world. At that time, Goran was already ill with tuberculosis and Nazor was advanced in age, but they were motivated by their consciences. Kovačić was killed by Serbian Chetnik troops in an east-Bosnian village of Vrbica near Foča on July 13, 1943. His death is described as follows: “Like in an ancient tragedy, the one who is most opposed to evil will most cruelly die from evil. The poet who raised his voice against the Ustashan massacre on innocent Serbian people had his throat cut by Chetniks…. A few reliable witnesses confirm that Goran survived the hell of the fifth offensive, but when he returned to help his ill, left-behind, friend, Dr. Simo Milošević, the fascists killed both the Croatian poet and the Serbian scholar without distinction. Fascism did not look on poets or scientists anywhere in the world as being of value.”

Works

Death is a central theme in much of Kovačić’s poetry, however this is not a reflection on his life outlook. His melancholy subjects came from outside events—such as his own and his brother’s affliction with tuberculosis—rather than from an internal disposition toward the morose. Jure Kaštelan, one of Kovačić's contemporaries, expressed that Kovačić was inclined both toward romanticism and realism in his poetry, and that Kovačić had an intense perception of life.

His best known work is "Jama" (The Pit), which ranks among the most celebrated Croatian poems ever written. He penned it during the war, while in service near the city of Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The poem was written out of intellectual and ethical responsibility that condemns fascist atrocities committed by the Ustaše. It has been described as a metaphor about the sufferer, martyr, and victim: “The sufferer is when a person without fault suffers. The martyr is when nonhumans torture a person. The victim is when the whips of injustice extinguish life. That is Goran’s metaphor. And his life.” His work is an example of anti-war poetry with messages against torture, mass murders and war crimes. "Jama" was studied in elementary schools throughout the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

"Jama"

The poem Jama praises Zion as the "place from which light comes". Controversy is that the use of Zion is probably a Biblical metaphor, but the poem was still supported and taught by Communist regime throughout four decades in schools.

The poem starts with a striking metaphor of blood replacing both light and darkness as victim's eyes were plucked out with a knife. That common torture was probably a mere sadism, since the victims were mass-murdered after that anyway: Blood is my daylight and darkness too. Blessing of night has been gouged from my cheeks Bearing with it my more lucky sight. Within those holes, for tears, fierce fire inflamed The bleeding socket as if for brain a balm –While my bright eyes died on my own palm

In culture

• • Paul Éluard wrote a poem called The grave of Goran Kovačić.

  • There is a Yugoslavian film Ivan Goran Kovačić, made in 1979. It was written and directed by Ljubiša Ristić. Rade Šerbedžija portrayed Kovačić.

  • The band Warnament recorded a song titled "Hollow Of The Innocent Victims" inspired by the poem "Jama".

  • Branko Miljković's poem "Goran" is dedicated to Ivan Goran Kovačić.

Paul Éluard - Tombeau de Goran Kovatchitch

Frères nous sommes les meilleurs des hommes 

La vie s'accroit au long de mes poèmes 

La vie s'accroit au long de notre effort 

Et tous ensemble nous défions la mort 

Frères sur terre la douleur régnait 

Nulle bonté ne nous donnait la paix 

Nulle beauté n'excusait les injures 

Nous ignorions la dignité du jour 

Nous nous aimons sans trop savoir pourquoi 

Mais aujourd'hui le sachant vois voici 

Devant mes vers et notre sort passe 

Comme devant un ventre gros de joies 

Je suis venge ma parole respire 

Dans votre voix dans vos prunelles pures 

Je suis vainqueur mon rêve est délivré 

Nos fils auront les profits de l'été 

Sans avoir mis les loques de l'hiver.