UGLEDNIK ILI SMUTNIK - PRILOZI ZA BIOGRAFIJU PROTE VELJKA GRGUREVIĆA „ZENIČKOG RASPUTINA“
DIGNITARY OR TROUBLEMAKER: A SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF PROTOIEREUS VELJKO GRGUREVIĆ, THE “RASPUTIN OF ZENICA”

Summary/Abstract: The paper presents the biography of the Orthodox priest Velimir Veljko Grgurević from Zenica, focusing on his public and social engagement within the cultural, educational, sports, religious, and other associations and organizations active in Zenica during the interwar period. Particular attention is devoted to his political activity, both in the work of the National Assembly of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes—where he served as a delegate of the People's Radical Party—and as an energetic local activist promoting the party’s ideas and values on the field. The paper also reconstructs the conflict he had with Franjo Markić, a representative of an opposing political faction, which attracted considerable attention in the contemporary press. Following the collapse of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the establishment of the Ustaša regime, Veljko Grgurević became an undesirable figure in Zenica and soon left the city, spending the rest of his life in Serbia. Although the focus of the paper is on the biography of an individual, its primary aim is to shed light on the dynamic social relations in interwar Zenica through the lens of Velimir Veljko Grgurević’s activities—a man whose actions frequently polarized public opinion. Consequently, part of the public regarded him as a distinguished city gentleman, while his political opponents attributed to him a series of negative traits that earned him, at least in some circles, the reputation of being the “Rasputin of Zenica.”

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