Mirko Buić (1894–1967): A Biographical Sketch of a Split Mayor and a ban of the Littoral Banovina

Abstract

On the basis of unpublished material, periodicals, and printed matter as well as reference literature, this paper offers a reconstruction of a part of the biography of Dr Mirko Buić, a prominent personality of public life in Split between the world wars. Buić’s political orientation was unambiguously Yugoslav and pro-royalist, though he never actively participated on the political stage of interwar Split. In the professional sense, Buić left the deepest impression on the Chamber of Trades and Crafts in Split, where he acted as secretary from late 1924 to mid-1938, when he was appointed as the mayor of Split. For a short time, Buić served as the mayor of Split and the Minister of Physical Education of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Mirko Buić was the ban (governor) of the Littoral Banovina from September 1938 until the new administrative division of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the formation of the Banovina of Croatia were implemented following the Cvetković-Maček Agreement in August 1939. In addition to his professional work, Buić made a significant impression on the Sokol Society of Split, where he played a leading role through most of the interwar period.

            His short tenures as ban of the Littoral Banovina and mayor of Split were too brief for Buić to make significant changes, but he was nonetheless responsible for some noted initiatives in the economic field. After achieving the peak of his career in the late interwar period, when he was mayor, minister, and ban, the years of World War II were ones of hardship and uncertainty for Buić and his family. Buić’s active participation in the advisory body of the People’s Liberation Committee in Split in September 1943 helped him and his family reach the liberated territory of Vis. Near the end of the war he moved to Rome, where he lived out his remaining years.