Zlatko Latković

Zlatko Latković (born March 18, 1928 in Boskovo near Šid , Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes ; † February 10, 1999 in Zagreb , Croatia ) was a Greek Catholic priest and painter .

Life

Zlatko Latković was the son of a Greek Catholic pastor. He attended the Roman Catholic primary school of St.  Vincent de Paul in the diocese of Banja Luka , as well as the local grammar school. During his school years Zlatko Latković was serving first under the NDH - regime a prison. In 1945 Zlatko Latković was sentenced to imprisonment and forced labor in a labor camp in the communist regime of Yugoslavia . After serving his sentences, Latković returned to Banja Luka. There he was banned from any further schooling in Yugoslavia by the communist “Youth Court of Honor”. In 1950 he was deprived of all civil rights on charges of being an alleged " leader and organizer of a terrorist Ustaše - crusader - divers - organization " . At the same time, Latković was sentenced to seven years in prison. In 1950 Latković was released from prison on condition that he had to work two years in the construction company "Konstruktor" in Zenica . Zlatko Latković was not allowed to leave the city of Zenica during this time.

In 1952 the communist regime allowed him to return to Banja Luka. At first he was only allowed to stay in Banja Luka. In 1952 Latković passed the entrance examination at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb , he was not allowed to study. During his imprisonment, Latković decided to become a Greek Catholic priest . This plan came true. He enrolled in the philosophical - theological faculty in Đakovo and closed the four-year degree in 1956 from. For Greek Catholic priest Latković was the Holy. In the Greek Catholic Church  Cyril and Methodius in Zagreb ordained . His request for further courses at the Catholic Faculty in Zagreb was not granted. Thereupon Latković tried to be able to resume his state-denied art studies by taking the entrance examination at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. He succeeded in doing this and studied art painting for ten semesters . He successfully completed this in 1961. From 1957 to 1962 Zlatko Latković took over the Greek-Catholic parish of St. George in Stojdraga near Samobor. During this time he was seriously injured in a traffic accident.

In order to fully recover, he went to Germany for medical treatment in 1962 , where he decided to stay. At first he lived in Cologne and Bamberg , until it in 1963 as a chaplain for the Greek-Catholic faithful in West Berlin pastoral became active. 1967 Latković was the third parish priest of the Greek Catholic church of St. Nicholas in Berlin . Under his leadership the parish received a church choir. For his work in the Greek Catholic parish, Zlatko Latković was honored by the Holy See on December 6, 1970 and appointed archpriest .

In 1981 he returned to Zagreb and was liturist and preacher in the Greek Catholic Church of St. Cyril and Method in Zagreb until 1990 . In 1984 he established a church choir and published a Greek Catholic hymn book. In addition to the priesthood, Latković remained faithful to art. He designed iconostases for various Greek Catholic parishes in Žumberak, Croatia . In addition, Latković created graphics and pictures in a profane art style. In 1980 Latković was made an honorary member of the Italian art academy Accademia Italia delle Arti e del Lavoro and received a gold medal from the academy for his artistic work. For decades, Zlatko Latković taught Byzantine art in the field of iconography . His works were exhibited in the Croatian Academy of Arts in 1998. Zlatko Latković died on February 10, 1999 in Zagreb. He donated his estate to help build the Greek Catholic parish church and the parish center in Samobor, Croatia . The community center was officially opened in 2003.

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1. ↑ cf. Pastor in the parish of St. Nikolaus in Berlin , accessed on May 8, 2008
2. ^ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Greek-Catholic Community Center in Samobor , accessed on May 8, 2008.

Web links

• Biography (Croatian)