[2] He was killed by a German bomb in 1943 near Glamoč while boarding an airplane for Cairo, where he was to become the first representative of Communist Yugoslavia to the Middle East Command.

During his studies, he often traveled around Europe, visiting communist conferences and informal gatherings in Brussels (1935), Geneva (1936) and Paris (1937).

When the Second World War in Yugoslavia started, he was a member of the Central Committee of the Party and soon joined the Supreme Command of the Partisans, where he worked with Josip Broz Tito and Edvard Kardelj on the resistance plans.

In October 1943, Lola Ribar was named the chief of the first Partisan military mission to the Middle East Command.

Two members of the British Military Mission to Yugoslavia, William Deakin and Fitzroy Maclean, wrote about the circumstances of the death of Ribar and two British officers from an attack by a small German aircraft,[5] and Maclean said that he was an outstanding younger leader who "seemed destined to play a great part in building the new Yugoslavia".

[2] Ivo Lola Ribar became an iconic figure in post-World War II Communist Yugoslavia.

Rock band Korni Grupa released a single "Ivo Lola" in 1973 which tells a story about the last letter Ribar sent to his fiancé Sloboda Trajković.