Vladko Maček (July 20th, 1879 Jastrebarsko - May 15th, 1964 Washington, USA) even as a young man he decided to join HSS (the Croatian Peasants Party) - the political party founded by the Radic brothers promoting the interests of Croatian peasants and the rural regions and through peaceful policy desired the unity of the Croatian nation and its sovereign status in a free Croatian state.
These efforts and views took Macek to Serbian prisons on more than one occasion after Yugoslavia was formed in 1918. After the death of Radic he became the leader of HSS, but only became the real leader of the Croatian people in 1935 when he received almost all Croatian votes at the election.
Macek could not follow the rapid flow of events, and the winds of war took him away from the political scene, because he could not and would not play a crucial role in creating the new Croatian state. The Ustasha regime imprisoned him in Jasenovac, and later in Kupinac, after which he fled abroad, where he was one of the founders of the International Peasant Union and its vice president.