Education
University of Belgrade.
University of Belgrade.
During the later stages of World World War II he served as a cultural attaché to the Independent State of Croatia embassy in Budapest. After the war he spent the rest of his life in Zagreb, where he published a number of literary translations from Hungarian and German. Born in Budapest in 1913 to a Hungarian mother and a Bosniak father, Čolaković spent his childhood traveling around the region, and after World War I he settled in Sarajevo.
He was a student of physics and mathematics in Budapest and history in Zagreb.
Between 1931 and 1939, Čolaković wrote in the Hungarian and German languages. Čolaković also wrote a series of essays and reviews in which he advocated rights for Bosniaks.
His comedy Moja žena krpi čarape was performed at the Sarajevo National Theatre in 1943 and later at the Banja Luka Theatre in 1944. In 1944 he was appointed cultural attaché at the embassy of the Axis-allied Independent State of Croatia in Budapest.
In a 1971 interview with Enes Čengić of Svijet magazine, Čolaković stated: "I began writing The Legend of Ali Pasha with a specific purpose - to preserve our Bosnian language.
Not the language of denominations or peoples of Bosnia, but the language of Bosnia. I also wanted to re-create a historical period of Bosnia."
After World World War II he was arrested in Sarajevo, detained in Zagreb, and eventually released. He later worked as an editor at the Publishing Institute of Croatia until 1946.
Between 1952 and 1954, he was an editor at the Croatian Lexicographical Institute.
Since he was not allowed to publish original works, he translated literary works from other languages. He translated Hungarian, Austrian and Hebrew poetry.
He translated the novels of Ervin Šinko and Gyula Illyés, Zoltán Kodály"s oratorio Psalmus Hungaricus and Richard Wagner"s opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Enver Čolaković died in Zagreb on 18 August 1976 of a heart attack.
A street in Sarajevo and several schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina are named after him.
Čolaković was member of Matica hrvatska, Croatian Writers" Association, the Association of Literary Translators and the Yugoslav branch of the International Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists association.