A contribution to the study of the history of the city of Split in the post-war period (1946 – 1947) : unknown details from the Frane Tente dossier

In May 1945, thousands of Croat soldiers and civilians were crossing Slovenia and heading towards Austria in the hope of finding refugee there before the upcoming Yugoslav Army (JA). Among them was a student from Split FraneTente, born in Mravinci near Solin, who was captured at Bleiburg and returned to Croatia where he was imprisoned in the Bjelovar camp. After leaving the camp, Tente returns home to continue his education and begins a new school year 1945/1946. He connected with a group of his classmates who were working on the preparation and distribution of the »anti-peoples« leaflets. He was arrested in July 1946, shortly after painting the figure of Ante Pavelić on the building of the Split gymnasium shortly before Pavelić’s name day. He spent several weeks in prison during which he was questioned on several occasions. In his file kept in the State Archives in Split, three records of his hearings have been preserved, details of which are published in this article. After being released from the prison, UDB (State Security Administration) continued to spy on Tente, and based on the archival findings, it can be concluded that the informer was one of his acquaintances. In the winter of 1947 Tente joined Ivica Bavčević with the organization of the Croatian Liberation Movement in Split, whose members on the 10 April 1947 took off the Yugoslav flag on Marjan and raised the Croatian flag. A large number of members of this group were arrested, including FraneTente, who was sentenced to three years of imprisonment with forced labor which he served in the prison of Lepoglava. According to the preserved letter of KPD Lepoglava, dated 16 January 1949, Tente died on 8 November 1948 in KPD Lepoglava »due to pleuritis and meningitis and pulmonary tuberculosis «. The place of his burial remains unknown