IN MEMORY OF LJUDEVIT JONKE
CHRISTOPHER SPALATIN
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Journal of Croatian Studies, XX, 1979, – Annual Review of the Croatian Academy of America, Inc. New York, N.Y., Electronic edition by Studia Croatica, by permission. All rights reserved by the Croatian Academy of America.
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Professor Ljudevit Jonke, who taught the Croatian language at the University of Zagreb during the whole postwar era until lately, passed away on March 15, 1979. The chair of the Croatian language at the University of Zagreb enjoys a special prestige. During the last ninety years or so (1886-1973) Professor Jonke was the third Croatian linguist to occupy it: Maretić-Ivšić-Jonke. Tomo Maretić (1854-1938) taught Slavic philology from 1886 till 1914 and Stjepan Ivšić (1884-1962) from 1918 till 1962; Ljudevit Jonke 1907-1979) came to the University of Zagreb in 1950 as a Privat-docent and in 1960 became a full professor of the Croatian literary language. From that position he was removed and pensioned off in September 1973.
Ljudevit Jonke was born in Karlovac on July 29, 1907. Having finished the Classical Gymnasium in his native city, he studied Croatian language and South Slavic literatures at the University of Zagreb. After graduation he pursued Slavic studies at the University of Prague from 1930 to 1932. From 1933 to 1940 he taught at the Gymnasium in Sušak and after 1940 at one of Zagreb Gymnasiums.
His scholarly activity covers three areas: Croatian language, Croatian and Czech literatures.[1] Even the long titles of Jonke's articles bring out the main characteristic of his writing, his clarity. All his papers excel in good composition and clear presentation. This is why the general public enjoyed reading his column in the daily press. Most of his articles also give evidence of a pedagogical approach to the subject matter. That may be the reason why some of his peers considered his research not striking but rather ordinary. However, his contribution to Croatian linguistic scholarship is very significant. His treatises on the development of the Croatian literary language in the nineteenth century throw a new light on a period that before him was not sufficiently explored, especially because of a biased trend in Yugoslav scholarship. His special merit consists in examining linguistic data in connection with political and literary changes. Among his other achievements, Jonke, after Petar Skok, helped restore Bogoslav Šulek's reputation as one of the most creative linguists of the last century. Henceforth, any research on the nineteenth century Croatian standard will have to take into account Jonke's accomplishments. As a matter of fact, his student, Zlatko Vince, continued Jonke's work in this field and has just published a volume of more than 600 pages, devoting its main part to the Croatian literary language in the nineteenth century.[2]
Jonke wrote essays about the contemporary Czech authors and translated some twenty Czech novels and short stories by Capek, Drda, Fučik, Hašek, Majerová, Nemcová, Neruda, Olbracht, Šalda, Vančura and Wolker.
As a visiting professor or lecturer on Slavic Conferences, he lectured in different foreign universities: Berlin, Bloomington—Indiana, Bratislava, Cologne, Gissen, Hamburg, Heildelberg, Marburg a/L, Moscow, Munich, Münster, Prague, Sofia, Warsaw. At the end of November 1971 he was slated as the guest speaker at the Convention on Slavic Studies in Cleveland, Ohio, but, on the eve of the December 1st coup d'etat in Karadjordjev, he was prevented from leaving Yugoslavia.
In 1952 Jonke founded the linguistic journal Jezik, and was its editor-in-chief for eighteen years. His successor at the University of Zagreb, Professor Stjepan Babić, continued Jonke's work also as the editor of Jezik. which is regularly published, now in its twenty sixth year.
Similar to his predecessor, Professor Stjepan Ivšić[3] who was harassed by all the regimes under which he lived, Professor Jonke encountered difficulties in postwar Yugoslavia. In 1954 he headed the delegation of Croatian linguists at the Novi Sad meeting. We must remember that Professor Ivšjć was not a persona grata in communist Yugoslavia, and Jonke had to take the burden of new responsibilities. Under the pressure of the Yugoslav unitarists, for the first time in Croatian history, a common Croato-Serbian Orthography was imposed. The publication of a common dictionary of Croatian and Serbian literary languages was decided. Some Croatian linguists were afraid that a common written language for Serbs and Croatians would also be imposed, so that Croatians would have to change their literary standard. Upon his return to Zagreb, Professor Jonke exclaimed: "We saved our Ije'kavian dialect".[4] Professor Ivšić, who also was present at the Novi Sad meeting, in signing the Resolutions added this note: "I am applying my signature with the understanding that article four of Novi Sad Resolutions [which reads "Ekavian and Ijekavian dialects are equal"] will not be used for the propagation of the Ekavian dialect on the territory which until now was Ijekavian. "[5] Yet in the following years the Croatian literary language was steadily pushed into the background. Jonke writes: "The Ekavian dialect was introduced into the federal administration as the official language for the Serbian and Croatian area. On Zagreb Radio Station, as early as 1957-58, daily news at 10 pm. was given from Belgrade in Ekavian. Some teachers in Croatia started teaching in Ekavian dialect with eastern [Serbian] terminology citing the article four. Croatian linguists have been protesting since 1955, yet the other signatories [i.e. Serbian] of the Novi Sad Agreement defend that reproachable practice."[6] What a coincidence! In the fifties of the nineteenth century Viennese Government imposed the so called "Bach system" in Croatia as "a reward" for Jelačić's defense of Habsburg dynasty. In the fifties of the twentieth century Belgrade Government chastised the Croatian nation for casting off in 1941 the twenty-three year old Serbian domination.
In 1960 the first Novi Sad Agreement Resolution became a reality: simultaneously in Novi Sad an Orthography in Cyrillic script, and in Zagreb an Orthography in Roman script were published. That same year Jezik was not published. When it reappeared the following year (1961), its subtitle was changed from "a journal for the cultivation of the Croatian language" into "a journal for the cultivation of the Croato-Serbian language." In 1970 when Stjepan Babić took over the editorship of Jezik, he wrote about his former teacher: "There were difficulties even sad moments, especially with the subtitle of our journal. The editorial board accepted the change with a heavy heart when there was no other choice, when it was unavoidable. 'I feel as if we are burying a dear old friend', said a member of the Croatian Philological Society expressing the mood of many. At that time more than 500 subscribers refused Jezik. But that death was illusory. While Professor Jonke was still the editor-in-chief and through his efforts, the former subtitle was re-instated, more brilliant and dearer than before. For us it is more than just a subtitle; it is the main characteristic and the very directive of our work. It was a directive for Professor Ljudevit Janke, and it will also be for the new editorial board".[7]
Professor Jonke felt thwarted in his national and scholarly rights when in 1964 the title of his first book The Literary Language in Theory and Pratice could not contain the adjective "Croatian". The following year, the second enlarged edition was published without the national name. Only in 1971 his two books on the same subject matter (see note 1) contained the adjective "Croatian". But not for a long time, because the book Hrvatski književni jezik danas (The Croatian Literary Language Today) was banned shortly after its publication.
In 1967 Jonke was much involved in the "Declaration Concerning the Name and the Position of the Croatian Literary Language". He was immediately expelled from the Communist Party. A few years later he publicly retracted his signature to the Novi Sad Agreement with these words: "Herewith I revoke my signature under Novi Sad Resolutions of 1954 and do not consider them binding. These are my reasons: 1) Novi Sad Resolutions are scientifically unfounded and unjustifiable; 2) in the name of these resolutions pressures were exerted over the Croatian language; 3) unprecedented attacks were launched against Croatian authors and linguists who defended the rights of the Croatian literary language. Zagreb, April 1971".[8]
In 1960 Professor Jonke became vice-president of Matica Hrvatska. In the late 60's that old and venerable cultural institution assumed a prominent position in the Croatian national revival, that became known as "Croatian Spring". At that time Jonke was elected president of Matica, and the coup d'etat of December 1st, 1971, put him in a very precarious position. President Tito suddenly repressed the whole movement and changed the power structure in the Repub-lic of Croatia. The courts were busy indicting and condemning the notable Croatian intellectuals and the students leaders. Matica Hrvatska was immediately closed. Professor Jonke persisted in saying that the doors of Matica were officially sealed but that the institution itself was not legally abolished. In their repression the authorities found the way to remove Professor Jonke from his most important position. As a full professor of the University of Zagreb he was forced into voluntary retirement. He resented it bitterly and asked Miroslav Krleža, the patriarch of the Croatian communist writers and President Tito's personal friend, to intervene on his behalf. Krleža, who had previously urged Jonke to accept Matica's presidency, chided him ironically: "Isn't it pleasant to go into retirement?" The only position he was allowed to keep was his membership and section chairmanship in the South Slavic Academy of Arts and Sciences of Zagreb. An incident that he later related to one of his old friends illustrates his freedom of action in the Academy at that time, as well as the spirit of the Yugoslav system of self-management. One of his former students at the University of Zagreb emigrated to Western Europe, continued there his studies and received his doctorate with a dissertation on a sixteenth century Croatian writer. Professor Jonke was notified privately that this same dissertation, prepared for print, was sent to the Academy for publication. As chairman of the Academy's section which was to examine the merits of this scholarly work, he waited for the manuscript. It was never delivered to Professor Jonke, because the "political authority" in the Academy decided that the author of the scholarly work was nepodoban, i.e. politically unsuitable, and the manuscript dealing with such non-political subject matter was returned to the sender.
Among his many activities, always connected with the Croatian language, the best known in Zagreb and in Croatia in general, were his contributions to the daily press. For four years he first had his column in Zagreb literary weekly magazine Telegram, and then every Tuesday in Vjesnik, the main Zagreb daily, from March 1970 to April 1971. He was fully aware that his sacred mission was to preserve the singularity of the Croatian language for future generations. He defended it strenuously from the encroachments of the central Yugoslav authorities who persistently promoted the Serbian standard. In the preface of his last book he wrote to this effect: "I hope that these articles [published in Vjesnik] ...have greatly contributed the decision of the School Council of the Republic of Croatia that the language used in the Croatian schools will be referred to as Croatian language".[9]
He dedicated his last book to the Croatian and Serbian youth with the following motto: "Language is the soul of each nation, and those who stir up its world with any kind of 'integration', are not only the enemies of the equality and brotherhood of our peoples but also the adversaries of the socialistic humanism.[10] Present Yugoslav rulers continue stressing the unity and the brotherhood among the nationalities included in Yugoslavia. They also have always insisted on their special brand of "socialism with a human face." In that context one can measure Jonke's bitterness when he was writing this last book of his. His last article appeared in Jezik in the fall of 1978, a few months before his death. Writing on strengths and weaknesses of Croatian followers of Vuk Karadžić, he dwelled more on the latter than the former. But to sugarcoat the pill to a certain extent he ended the article: "It is clear that their merits are considerably greater than their weaknesses. One can hardly compare them, yet the time has come to examine them with criticism".[11]
In spite of the fact that Professor Jonke was for decades a national figure in Croatia, at the moment of his death the Croatian press, including Zagreb Vjesnik where he collaborated, transmitted only a terse note of the official Yugoslav press agency Tanjug: "The South Slavic Academy of Arts and Sciences announces that Professor Ljudevit Jonke died in Zagreb at the age of 72. He was a regular member of the Academy and a retired professor of the University of Zagreb". What would Professor Jonke say of this manifestation of socialist humanism and human gratitude? The only public place where Professor Jonke's friends and admirers could express their appreciation and sympathy was Zagreb's cemetery Mirogoj. More than 4000 persons gathered at his funeral. The police fearing political disturbances were present in great number, armed and unarmed, in civilian dress and in uniform. Professor Jonke's funeral was also a public protest against the existing regime in Zagreb and Croatia.
Professor Jonke died fighting the regime that he helped build in his young days. In the summer of 1977, during my last visit in his study in Zagreb, sitting in his comfortable chair, he lifted a small travelling case telling me that he was always on standby for jail. Two years ago he told a friend with some satisfaction that the he contributed his share to the preservation of the Croatian linguistic heritage. Yet the Serbian political, economic and demographic westward push over the traditional Croatian lands could not leave him untouched. Professor Jonke died disenchanted.
[1] These are his main publications in a chronological order. "Mažuranićev ep i narodne pjesme o smrti Smail-aginoj." Rad JAZU 264, 1938. "Vrazova korespondencija u 'Muzeju kraljevine Češke'", Gradja JAZU, 1938. "Jezikoslovni rad Blaža Tadijanovića", Zagreb, 1945. "Dikcionar Adama Patačića", Rad JAZU 275. 1949. "Životnost Nerudina djela", Zbornik radova Filozofskog fakulteta, I Zagreb. 1951. "Šulekova briga o hrvatskoj naučnoj terminologiji", Zbornik radova Filozofskog fakulteta, II, Zagreb, 1954. "Slavenske pozajmljenice u Šulekovu 'Rječniku znanstvenoga nazivlja", Zbornik radova Filozofskog fakulteta, III, Zagreb, 1955. "Veberove zasluge za naš književni jezik", Rad JAZU 309, 1956. "Bogoslav Šulek kao puristički savjetnik", Pitanja književnosti i jezika, III, Sarajevo, 1956. "Ideološki osnovi Zagrebačke filološke škole 19. stoljeća", Filologija, I, Zagreb, 1957. "Borbe oko književnog oblika imeničkog genitiva množine u 19. stoljeću", Zbornik za filologiju i lingvistiku. Novi Sad, 1957. "Tri profesora zagrebačke klasične gimnazije na braniku hrvatskoga književnoga jezika", Zbornik Klasične gimnazije, Zagreb, 1957. "Osnovni problemi jezika hrvatske književnosti u 19. stoljeću", Radovi Slavenskog instituta Filozofskog fakulteta, II, Zagreb, 1958. "Sporovi pri odabiranju govora za zajednički književni jezik u Hrvata u 19. Stoljeću" Radovi Slavenskog instituta Filozofskog fakulteta, III, Zagreb. 1959. "Prva dva hrvatska prijevoda 'Bakice' Božene Němcove", Slavia, Prag, 1961. "Samoglasno r u književnom jeziku 19. stoljeća," Rad JAZU 327, 1962. "Češki jezični elementi u hrvatskosrpskom književnom jeziku," Radovi Zavoda za slavensku filologiju, Zagreb, 1963. "O redu riječi sa sintaktičkog i stilističkog gledišta". Zbornik u čast prof. Stjepana Ivlića, Zagreb, 1963, "Gajevo pismo Palackomu g. 1834. s pravopisnog gledišta", Radovi Zavoda za slavensku filologiju, Zagreb, 1964. Književni jezik u teoriji i praksi, Zagreb: Znanje, 1. izd. 1964, 2. izd. 1965. "Jezična problematika u vrijeme hrvatskog narodnog preporoda", Kolo, VIII-X, Zagreb, 1966. Prilog Slavonije hrvatskoj nauci o jeziku, Vinkovci-Zagreb, 1968. Hrvatski književni jezik 19. i 20. stoljeća, Zagreb: Matica hrvatska, 1971. Hrvatski knjiženi jezik danas, Zagreb, Školska knjiga, 1971.
[2] Putovima hrvatskog književnog jezika, Zagreb: Liber, 1978.
[3] See our article, "Stjepan Ivšić," in Journal of Croatian Studies, III-IV, (New York, 1963). 114-20.
[4] Jezik, XV, 6.
[5] Ljudevit Jonke, Hrvatski književni jezik danas (Zagreb: Školska knjiga, 1971), 116.
[6] Ibidem.
[7] Jezik, XVIII, 33.
[8] Nova Hrvatska (London), April 8, 1979, 15.
[9] Hrvatski književni jezik danas (Zagreb: Školska knjiga, 1971), 7.
[10] Ibidem, p. 9.
[11] "Zasluge i slabosti hrvatskih vukovaca", Jezik XXVI, 5-12