Even during the rule of the Turks, a handful of Osijek residents emigrated to what is now Germany. They returned with knowledge of brewing this golden liquid, so according to historical sources, Mr. Bauer had a brewery in 1664 where he produced the first Croatian beer. This is how the Osijek Brewery emphasizes its roots, according to which three companies associated with Ivan Komak and the Osijek brewery put that year in the spotlight – First Croatian Beer 1664, First Beer 1664, and Osječko 1664. However, the Osijek brewery does not celebrate its 360th anniversary this year (which would make it the oldest active company in Croatia). Namely, the first Slavonian steam brewery and ice factory was built in 1856, two years after the Karlovac Brewery, which we have established is the oldest jubilarian this year (among companies celebrating round anniversaries). However, this story about beer also shows how difficult it can sometimes be to determine the tradition associated with a particular business. After all, all three companies ‘from 1664’ were founded in this century. In the meantime, Osijek breweries have gone bankrupt and changed owners, but the tradition of production is indisputable for 168 years – since 1858. Systematic Amnesia of the Court Register Determining the start of business for each company is all the more complicated because the Court Register suffers from amnesia – there are no public records from before the Commercial Companies Act came into force in 1995, so everything starts from the moment of compliance with that regulation. However, digging through historical documents is demanding enough without that. For example, one of the largest companies, INA, is celebrating 60 years since its founding this year. It was established in 1964 by integrating the Boris Kidrič Rijeka Oil Refinery, the Sisak Oil Refinery, and the Zagreb Naftaplin, first as a Oil and Gas Combine but the name was changed to the current one – INA – Oil Industry in the same year. Although the refining business in Rijeka started as early as 1882, we respect the company’s decision that was actually founded on the last day of 1963, but as a system similar to today, it has been operating for a round 60 years. Paradoxically, INA’s peer is the youngest Croatian daily newspaper 24sata. Although the first issue was published in 2005, the company of the same name that is the publisher was founded in 1964. However, this company actually inherited the OIB of the former marketing agency EP-64, which operated within the large publishing house Vjesnik. When Večernji list separated, this agency was assigned to it in the division of common services, which primarily worked for Večernji (collecting ads for the then largest small ad in the country). When Styria was establishing a new daily newspaper, it launched it through the company it renamed from EP-64 to Media Ideja, and then to 24sata. Therefore, we will count the tradition of 24sata from 2005. Karlovac Daughter Older than Amsterdam Mother In the process of foreign multinationals taking over domestic companies, strange situations occur. Thus, the Karlovac Brewery (Heineken Croatia) is a full ten years older than its parent company founded by Gerard Adriaan Heineken in Amsterdam in 1864. Some acquirers immediately hide the longevity of the acquired targets, but most foreign acquirers respect local tradition, as does Heineken. A similar case is that of the hotelier Liburnia Riviera Hotels in Opatija, which was founded in 1947 under the name Hotel Company for Istria and had 11 hotels in Opatija and Lovran. Later, another 13 hotels in Opatija, Lovran, and Mošćenička Draga were added to it, and with the addition of the Opatija hotel Ambassador in 1964, the hotel company Kvarner was created, which changed its name to Liburnia in 1968, has been operating under its current name as a holding company since 1993, and since 2019 has been majority-owned by Gitone, or the Lürssen family from Bremen, best known for building luxury megayachts, which has recently been one of the largest investors in the Rijeka area – from hospitality to nautical tourism and shipbuilding. In LRH, they boast a tradition of 140 years, which began in 1884 with the opening of the first tourist facility in the group and on the Adriatic – the Kvarner hotel. This was preceded by the construction of the railway from Pivka to Rijeka, which connected Kvarner with Vienna, from where the first tourists came. After all, the investor in Opatija tourism was the Imperial Royal Privileged Society of Southern Railways from Vienna, the largest private railway company in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. In addition to Opatija tourism, foreigners also initiated production in Čateks, Belišće, Saponija, the Textile Factory Trgovišće (formerly the Cotton Industry Factory Zagreb)… They did not only bring know-how, but often transported used equipment and machines from their existing factories to Croatia. According to this model, Felix Pollack from Vienna began operations in Croatia, who founded the Cotton Industry Factory in Zagreb a hundred years ago. The facilities were located on Gradišćanska Street in Črnomerec, and production included the manufacture of bed linen, damask, fine fabrics for underwear and clothing, flannel, and bookbinding cloth. As early as 1929, the company employed more than 600 workers and produced about 15,000 meters of fabric per day. After a series of status and ownership changes, the plant was relocated to Veliko Trgovišće in 2008, and today operates as the Textile Factory Trgovišće. Belišće – Still ‘on Gutmann’s Drive’ Among the group of foreign investors, it is particularly worth mentioning Salamon Heinrich Gutmann, who took over the oak forest complex of Koškansko-Harkanovačko-Lacić from the Valpovo nobleman for his family business from Nagykanizsa, Hungary. He chose a meadow along the right bank of the Drava in Belistje (in the cadastral municipality of Bistrinci) as the most suitable place for building a sawmill, later Belište, after which the settlement was named. Under the company name S.H. Gutmann, along with the sawmill, one of the most modern of its time and probably the largest in Europe for cutting oak, the first residential houses of the former factory’s so-called Gutmann colony also emerged. At the same time, a fire department was established, then a school classroom and post office were opened, the first building of the public school and a chapel at the cemetery were erected, and an electrical network and water supply with sewage were built. The first kilometers of narrow-gauge forest-industrial tracks were also created, which soon grew into a local Slavonian railway with public transport, a network of industrial tracks, a station, a boiler room, and a repair workshop in Belišće with a total length of 335 kilometers. The wealth of Slavonian forests, cheap labor, and excellent demand for wood processing products ensured the company large profits and the opportunity to build factories for the production of tannins, barrels, wood distillation products, and parquet at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.
Jubilarians: The Croatian Industrial Revolution on the Side and Domestic Drive
The complex around which the entire town emerged has since undergone a series of changes, ups and downs, but the successor of Gutmann’s Belišće, DS Smith Belišće Croatia in British ownership, is still the largest company in the town, followed by the manufacturer of machines for tire production Harburg-Freudenberger Belišće, which was established in 1998 by separating the Machine Factory from the Kombinat business system. The fourth strongest company in Belišće, Fochista Belišće in Italian ownership, took over the wood dry distillation plants from the parent company in 2013, so it can be said that the town of Belišće, and the entire Valpovština, is still developing ‘on Gutmann’s drive’.
Domestic Insurance Against Foreign Domination
Alongside foreign investors, modern industry also developed as a result of the Illyrian movement and Croatian national awakening. The Croatian Graphic Institute developed from the Narodne Novine Printing House, founded in 1874 with the support of the first ban of the people Ivan Mažuranić and the Zemaljska government, and is a kind of successor to the tradition of the printing house founded by Ljudevit Gaj in 1838. Another story unfolded in parallel, illustrating that the domination of global capital is not a recent invention. In 1874, Ivan Vončina, Gjuro Deželić, and August Šenoa began establishing the first domestic insurance company to counter the monopoly of Austrian and Hungarian insurers. Mažuranić was also trying to modernize Croatia in this way despite the tension between the interests of Vienna and Pest. Due to the obstacles set by the central authority, it took a full ten years from Croatia’s decision to establish the Croatia Insurance Cooperative to the start of operations, and in 1884, Mažuranić was no longer a ban, Vončina was no longer the mayor, and Šenoa died three years before the start of Croatia Insurance’s operations.
At the beginning, the City of Zagreb invested 100,000 forints in the cooperative’s capital, which the company soon returned as it proved to be more than successful. After Croatia began operating and earning, two-thirds of the net profit was used for public purposes of the City of Zagreb, which was a sign of gratitude to the founder.
The first to be insured by the domestic insurance company was the Leather Factory, which had previously been insured by a French company. To set an example for others and clearly support the work of the first domestic insurance cooperative, the municipality of the city of Zagreb was among the first to insure all its movable and immovable property exclusively with Croatia.
Bešte People, Here Comes the Robotaxi!
140 years ago, the first Croatian transport company was also founded. The Osijek City Passenger Transport (GPP) is the successor of the horse tram, which began operating in 1884, even seven years before such public transport was launched in Zagreb. Incidentally, the first electric tram was introduced by Rijeka – in 1899. It was owned by the Commercial Bank in Pest, but was later taken over by the Rijeka municipality, so Autotrolej still operates as a municipal company today. Interestingly, Rijeka abolished tram traffic in 1952, and a year earlier introduced trolleybuses, which were abolished 18 years later due to – low oil prices.
Today, we are witnessing the beginnings of (new) electrification of the vehicle fleet, with the project of autonomous vehicles, or robotaxis, which are currently being prepared for driving in Zagreb. The project is accompanied by a great deal of distrust – from technological to economic and security concerns. But this is not the first time. When Ferdinand Budicki brought the first car to Zagreb at the beginning of the 20th century, the new wonder was met with shouts: ‘Bešte people, here comes the car!’ Perhaps in a few years we will hear a remake: ‘Bešte people, here comes the robotaxi!’
