Rodoljub Čolaković

Rodoljub Čolaković
Родољуб Чолаковић
Čolaković in 1966
1st Prime Minister of PR Bosnia and Herzegovina
In office
27 April 1945 – September 1948
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byĐuro Pucar
Minister for PR Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Provisional Government of DF Yugoslavia
In office
7 March 1945 – 11 November 1945
Prime MinisterJosip Broz Tito
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Personal details
Born
Rodoljub Čolaković

(1900-06-07)7 June 1900
Bijeljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary
Died30 March 1983(1983-03-30) (aged 82)
Belgrade, SR Serbia, Yugoslavia
CitizenshipYugoslav
Political partySKJ (1919–1983)
SpouseMilica Zorić-Čolaković
OccupationSoldier, politician
Awards10 Yugoslav and 2 international decorations, including
Order of the People's Hero
Order of the Hero of Socialist Labour
Order of National Liberation
Partisan 1941 Commemorative Medal
Order of Polonia Restituta
Order of Kutuzov
(full list below)
Military service
Allegiance Yugoslavia (1941–1945)
Branch/serviceYugoslav People's Army
National Liberation Army
Years of service1941–1945
RankMajor general
Battles/warsSpanish Civil War
World War II

Rodoljub "Roćko" Čolaković (Serbian Cyrillic: Родољуб Чолаковић; 7 June 1900 – 30 March 1983)[1] was a Yugoslav politician and writer who served as the 1st Prime Minister of PR Bosnia and Herzegovina and as the Minister for PR Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Provisional Government of DF Yugoslavia led by Josip Broz Tito.[2][3] He was a major general in the Yugoslav People's Army and in the National Liberation Army during World War II.

Biography

Born in Bijeljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary on 7 June 1900, Čolaković joined the League of Communists of Yugoslavia in April 1919 as a student. Later, he joined Crvena Pravda ("Red Justice"), a left-wing terrorist organisation which assassinated Yugoslav interior minister Milorad Drašković on 21 July 1921. For his role in the assassination, Čolaković was sentenced to 12 years in prison.[2] While serving his sentence, he made friends with many notable Yugoslav communists, including Moša Pijade with whom he translated Das Kapital and other seminal Marxist texts into Serbo-Croatian.

After his release, Čolaković emigrated to the Soviet Union[2] and in 1937 travelled to Spain to take part in the Spanish Civil War on the Republican side.[3] He later came back to Yugoslavia, participating in World War II. Between 1946 and 1955, Čolaković published five volumes of Zapisa iz oslobodilačkog rata ("Memoir of the liberation war") from his war diaries.[1][3] In addition to writing newspaper articles, propaganda leaflets and books on World War II, he also published two autobiographies Kuća oplakana ("House of Mourning") and Kazivanje o jednom pokolenju ("Stories of One Generation).[1] Čolaković died on 30 March 1983 at the age of 82 in Belgrade.[4][ISBN missing]

Awards and decorations

Domestic awards

After World War II, Čolaković was awarded many high profile Yugoslav orders, the biggest one of them being the Order of the People's Hero,[5] which he was awarded on 27 November 1953.

1st Row Order of the People's Hero
2nd Row Order of the Hero of Socialist Labour Order of National Liberation Order of the Yugoslav Flag
3rd Row Order of Merits for the People Order of Brotherhood and Unity —
4th Row Order of Bravery Commemorative Medal of the Partisans of 1941 —
Note: All Yugoslav decorations are now defunct.

Foreign awards

Čolaković was also awarded two foreign orders; the Polish Order of Polonia Restituta and the Soviet Order of Kutuzov.

Award or decoration Country Place Note
Order of Polonia Restituta  Poland Warsaw One of Poland's highest orders.
Order of Kutuzov  Soviet Union Moscow Soviet military order.

References

  1. ^ a b c Miloš Stojsavljević (28 August 2020). "Ko je bio Rodoljub Čolaković Roćko?" [Who was Rodoljub Colaković Roćko?]. bijeljina.org. Bijeljina Danas.
  2. ^ a b c "Na današnji dan rođen je Rodoljub Čolaković" [Rodoljub Colaković was born on this day]. masina.rs. Mašina. 7 June 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Carmichael, Cathie (2015). A Concise History of Bosnia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 95–96. ISBN 978-1-10701-615-6.
  4. ^ Smoljan, Ivo (1984). Tito and the emigrants. Croatian Heritage Foundation. p. 323. OCLC 477112519.
  5. ^ Draško Ređep (1971). Živan Milisavac (ed.). Jugoslovenski književni leksikon [Yugoslav Literary Lexicon] (in Serbo-Croatian). Novi Sad (SAP Vojvodina, SR Serbia): Matica srpska. p. 71.
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Political offices
Preceded by
Office established
 Prime Minister of PR Bosnia and Herzegovina
1945–1948 		Succeeded by