Akif Šeremet (19 September 1895 – 19 April 1939) was a

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

activist, known as the "Red Professor". A member of the

Communist Party of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, mk, Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na komunistite na Jugoslavija known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, sl, Komunistična partija Jugoslavije mk ...

since its inception in 1919, Šeremet remained active in various communist groups throughout the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...

before being arrested in Moscow during the

Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Nikolay Yezhov, Yezhov'), was General ...

and executed after nearly a year of imprisonment.

Early life

Although the Šeremet family hailed from the village Suhača near

Livno Livno ( sr-cyrl, Ливно, ) is a city and the administrative center of Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the river Bistrica in the southeastern edge of the Livno Field ...

in southern

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

, Akif Šeremet was born in the central Bosnian town

Kladanj Kladanj ( sr-cyrl, Кладањ) is a town and municipality located in Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Kladanj is located on road from Tuzla to Sarajevo along the river Drinjača, at t ...

on 19 September 1895. His father Ahmed Šeremet, was a teacher in Livno.

Education and teaching

After graduating teaching school, Šeremet received his doctorate in 1919 at the

Faculty of Philosophy A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

. From 1920 to 1921 he was a leading member of the

League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia , SKOJ mk, Сојуз на комунистичката младина на Југославија, СКМЈ sl, Zveza komunistične mladine Jugoslavije, ZKMJ , colorcode = red , founded = 1919 , dissolved = 1948 , succeeded by = League of S ...

at the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...

. For a short time he taught at secondary schools in

Prahovo Prahovo is a village on the river Danube in the municipality of Negotin, Serbia with a population of 1506 people at the 2002 census. The battle of Prahovo took place in 1810 near the village during the First Serbian Uprising (1804-1813). Nearby s ...

and

Čačak Čačak ( sr-Cyrl, Чачак, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Moravica District in central Serbia. It is located in the West Morava Valley within the geographical region of Šumadija. , the city proper has 73,331 inhabitants, wh ...

. In 1924 he was appointed a professor of history and geography at a high school in

Banja Luka Banja Luka ( sr-Cyrl, Бања Лука, ) or Banjaluka ( sr-Cyrl, Бањалука, ) is the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the largest city of Republika Srpska. Banja Luka is also the ''de facto'' capital of this entity. I ...

. He socialized with fellow activist and writer

Veselin Masleša Veselin Masleša ( sr-cyr, Веселин Маслеша; 20 April 1906 – 14 June 1943) was a Yugoslav writer, activist and Partisan. Veselin Masleša was born to a Bosnian Serb family in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, then occupied by ...

. Due to the addition of his personal communist stance into his teaching, he gained the nickname the "Red Professor".

Arrest and death

Šeremet was arrested 19 July 1938 during the

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. In March 1939,

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...

excluded Šeremet from the

Communist party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

and declared him a "vermin" that was "cheating

Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...

". Šeremet was executed along with other prominent Yugoslav communists, such as Kosta Novaković, Sima Marković and Sima Miljuš on 19 April 1939. They were cremated after the execution at the crematorium of the Donski cemetery in Moscow, where their remains were buried in a collective grave.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seremet, Akif 1895 births 1939 deaths People from Kladanj Bosniaks of Bosnia and Herzegovina Yugoslav expatriates in the Soviet Union Yugoslav communists Great Purge victims from Yugoslavia Executed Bosnia and Herzegovina people Bosnia and Herzegovina communists Executed communists