Mate Ujević was a Croatian

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...

 poet and encyclopedist.

Ujević finished gymnasium in Sinj

Sinj

Sinj is a town in the continental part of Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia. The town itself has a population of 11,448, while the population of the administrative municipality which includes surrounding villages is 24,832 ....

 and Split

Split (city)

Split is a Mediterranean city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, centered around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian and its wide port bay. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatian city and...

 and studied literature in Zagreb

Zagreb

Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...

. He bachelored in Ljubljana

Ljubljana

Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...

 and finished his doctoral dissertation on poet Jovan Hranilović in Zagreb. In 1941 he was named the director of the institute in charge of the Croatian Encyclopedia

Croatian Encyclopedia

The Croatian Encyclopedia is a Croatian encyclopedia which is currently published by the Miroslav Krleža Lexicographical Institute.The first Croatian Encyclopedia was begun in the 1930s in Zagreb by the publisher Mate Ujević. After the formation of the Banovina of Croatia the project received the...

, on which he worked until May 1945. In 1950 he began work with the Yugoslav Lexicographical Institute

Yugoslav Lexicographical Institute

The Miroslav Krleža Lexicographical Institute is Croatia's national lexicographical institution. Based in Zagreb, it was originally established in 1950 as the national lexicographical institute of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...

 (today's Miroslav Krleža Lexicographical Institute

Miroslav Krleža Lexicographical Institute

The Miroslav Krleža Lexicographical Institute is Croatia's national lexicographical institution. Based in Zagreb, it was originally established in 1950 as the national lexicographical institute of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...

) where he remained until his retirement in 1965.

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Ujević rescued Manko Berman, a Jewish encyclopedist and close friend, as well as two Jewish sisters from being deported to Jasenovac concentration camp

Jasenovac concentration camp

Jasenovac concentration camp was the largest extermination camp in the Independent State of Croatia and occupied Yugoslavia during World War II...

. As a result of these actions, Yad Vashem

Yad Vashem

Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....

 honored him as one of the Righteous among the Nations

Righteous Among the Nations

Righteous among the Nations of the world's nations"), also translated as Righteous Gentiles is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis....

.

Works

• Mladost Tome Ivića (1928)
• Hrvatska književnost (1932)
• Gradišćanski Hrvati (1934)
• Hrvatska narodna pjesmarica (1938)
• Hrvatska enciklopedija
  Croatian Encyclopedia
  The Croatian Encyclopedia is a Croatian encyclopedia which is currently published by the Miroslav Krleža Lexicographical Institute.The first Croatian Encyclopedia was begun in the 1930s in Zagreb by the publisher Mate Ujević. After the formation of the Banovina of Croatia the project received the...
  
  (1941–1945)