HKD Napredak is a cultural society of Croats

Croats

Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...

 in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

. It was formed as the "Croatian aid society for the needs of students in middle and higher schools from Bosnia and Herzegovina" in Mostar

Mostar

Mostar is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the largest and one of the most important cities in the Herzegovina region and the center of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation. Mostar is situated on the Neretva river and is the fifth-largest city in the country...

 and the "Croatian society for the placement of children in trades and business" in Sarajevo

Sarajevo

Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....

, both in 1902. In 1907 the two groups united, taking on the current name. In 1922 all founding members received the certificates of the Society showing relevant symbols and images of the main buildings in different towns and cities.

Napredak's headquarters are in Sarajevo where the organization built the impressive Napredak Palace in 1913. The Napredak Palace Construction Board was formed in 1911. Its primary role was to facilitate construction, and to ensure further funding. The board members were as follows: Ante Tandarić, Anto Alaupović, Mijo Vučak, Ivan Renđec, Ljudevit Dvorniković, Nikola Krešić, Albert Draganić, Jozo Udovčić, Matej Kakarigi, Ivan Budimir, Dane Cvitković, Petar Maričić i Nikola Palandžić.

The society continued its work until 1949 when it was disbanded by Yugoslav

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

 authorities. It was reformed in 1990 with about 20,000 members under the leadership of its president Franjo Topić.

The society's original purpose was to help educate youths by offering scholarships. The society broadened its aim to include preserving the Croatian culture of all of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Napredak has dozens of branches all over the country as well as in Croatia itself.

Famous people given scholarships by Napredak

• Ivo Andrić
  Ivo Andric
  Ivan "Ivo" Andrić was a Yugoslav novelist, short story writer, and the 1961 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. His writings dealt mainly with life in his native Bosnia under the Ottoman Empire...
  
  , Nobel Prize
  Nobel Prize
  The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
  
   winner in literature
• Vladimir Prelog
  Vladimir Prelog
  Vladimir Prelog FRS was a Croatian chemist and Nobel Prize winner in chemistry. Prelog lived and worked in Prague, Zagreb and Zürich during his lifetime.-Biography:...
  
  , Nobel Prize winner in chemistry

Presidents

• Anto Palandžić (1907)
• Tugomir Alaupović (1907 - 1909)
• Antun Tandarić (1909 - 1921)
• Aleksa Đebić (1921 - 1923)
• Anto Alaupović (1923 - 1945)
• Vlado Čaldarević (1945 - 1949)
• Franjo Topić (1990-)