Alfons Dalma
 Alfons Dalma     ( propagandist, journalist) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Stjepan "Stipe" Tomičić 26 May 1919 Otočac, Kingdom of Serbia Croatia and Slovenia |
| Died | 28 July 1999 (Age 80) Vienna, Austria |
| Nationality | • Croatian • Austrian |
| Alma mater | University of Zagreb |
| Religion | Catholic |
| Party | Ustaša |
Alfons Dalma (before 1945 Stjepan Tomičić) was a Croatian-Austrian journalist, propagandist and diplomat. Born in Yugoslavia, he was an important journalist in the World War 2 Croat Ustaša puppet government. After the war, he resettled in Austria and with astonishing ease became a prominent journalist and editor. The US occupation government presumably turned a blind eye to his past because of the Cold War. His career has hints of close contacts with German and later US intelligence agencies.
Background
Tomičić was raised Catholic by the Dominicans and studied politics in Zagreb and Paris.
From 1941 to 1943 he was the editor of Hrvatski Narod, the main organ of the fascist Ustaša government in Zagreb. He also wrote for the Ustaša nmagazine Pokret. In 1944 he went to Berlin and Vienna as a press and cultural attaché for the Ustaša state. The fascist regime awarded him two medals; one of them he received personally from Ante Pavelić.
Despite (or because) of his fascist career, Gustav Canaval hired him in 1945 as deputy editor-in-chief of the newly founded daily newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten (SN). The density of journalists with a Nazi past was particularly high in that paper; between 1945 and 1947 this was the case for at least six of the thirteen members of the editorial team.[1] In the Salzburger Nachrichten, Tomičić started using the pseudonym Alfons Dalma, under which he appeared from then on, presumably to avoid attention to his past. In 1946 Dalma became an Austrian citizen.
After 1945, Dalma kept in close contact with other former Ustaša officials living in Salzburg. Since the late 1940s, allegations against Dalma were not pursued by the US occupation government under the premise of common anti-communism.
In the spring of 1950 he was responsible for the publication of Mussolini's notes, the Pontine and Sardinian Thoughts, under the title "Mussolini's Diary", which appeared in eight successive parts. Dalma stayed with the SN until 1952.
From 1953 to 1962 he worked for Münchner Merkur. He had a teaching position at the University of Politics in Munich and also published in the Vienna daily Die Presse, the Bayernkurier and the magazine Wehrkunde.
In 1967 the new general director of the state TV and radio corporation ORF, Gerd Bacher, brought him to the state Austrian broadcaster as editor-in-chief. In 1974, as new allegations against Dalma became public, he was moved to Italy as a Rome correspondent for ORF until 1986. He also translated some of Giovanni Guareschi's Don Camillo books into German.
Dalma's early journalistic career for propaganda papers of the fascist Ustaša regime (such as its central organ Hrvatski Narod ) was repeatedly the subject of criticism. This is said to have led to his dismissal as ORF editor-in-chief in 1974.
In 1988/89 Dalma received the René Marcic Prize, named after the former publisher of Salzburger Nachrichten and legal philosopher, who was born in the same year as Dalma and also grew up in Yugoslavia.
Event Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilderberg/1975 | 25 April 1975 | 27 April 1975 | Turkey Golden Dolphin Hotel Cesme | The 24th Bilderberg Meeting, 98 guests |
