Tragic end
WW1 put a stop to Penkala's research activities. Living conditions were very hard and he devoted most of his time to the practical production and sale of his inventions.
Although he rarely fell ill, in 1919 he caught malaria – and it was puzzling where he could have been bitten by an Anopheles mosquito. The disease took hold and for ten days high fevers and shivers caused a great deal of concern and uncertainty among his family and friends. But he recovered and was soon well again.
Not for long, however. His efforts to develop industry in the Zagreb area and in the whole of Croatia took him on many travels. From one of those journeys he was to return with pneumonia, and suddenly and unexpectedly died on February 5, 1922, in the 51st year of his life.
Fate would have it that he was to die at the very peak of his intellectual and creative powers.
The funeral of this patriot and truly noble man was something not previously seen. Huge numbers of the citizens of Zagreb followed Slavoljub Penkala on his final journey, deeply saddened by the passing of a man who had given so much to Zagreb and to Croatia.
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