Božin Simić (1881–1966) was a veteran of the

struggle for Macedonia The Macedonian Struggle ( bg, Македонска борба; el, Μακεδονικός Αγώνας; mk, Борба за Македонија; sr, Борба за Македонију; tr, Makedonya Mücadelesi) was a series of social, po ...

and

Old Serbia Old Serbia ( sr, Стара Србија, Stara Srbija) is a Serbian historiographical term that is used to describe the territory that according to the dominant school of Serbian historiography in the late 19th century formed the core of the ...

, member of the

Black Hand Black Hand or The Black Hand may refer to: Extortionists and underground groups * Black Hand (anarchism) (''La Mano Negra''), a presumed secret, anarchist organization based in the Andalusian region of Spain during the early 1880s * Black Hand (e ...

, a volunteer in the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...

and

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and prior to World War II became a Communist spy, a traitor to the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...

Biography

Born on 20 October 1881, in the village of Veliki Siljegovac near

Kruševac Kruševac ( sr-cyr, Крушевац, , tr, Alacahisar or Kruşevca) is a city and the administrative center of the Rasina District in central Serbia. It is located in the valley of West Morava, on Rasina river. According to the 2011 census, t ...

. His parents were teachers. Simić graduated from the

Military Academy A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned. ...

in Belgrade and took an active part in the May Coup in 1903. From 1911 he was the supervising officer of the

Vranje Vranje ( sr-Cyrl, Врање, ) is a city in Southern Serbia and the administrative center of the Pčinja District. The municipality of Vranje has a population of 83,524 and its urban area has 60,485 inhabitants. Vranje is the economical, polit ...

border region and the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. He was a liaison officer in touch with Chetnik Voivode

Vojislav Tankosić Vojislav Tankosić ( sr-cyr, Војислав Танкосић, 20 September 1880 – 2 November 1915) was a Serbian military officer, ''vojvoda'' of the Serbian Chetnik Organization, major of the Serbian Army, and member of the Black Hand, who p ...

in Macedonia with the task of transferring arms and men across the border to Turkish-occupied territory. In August 1912, he joined a secret society called the

. During the First World War, he was a company commander. In 1916 he travelled to

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

, wherein

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

he was in charge of recruiting soldiers for the Serbian army from the Austro-Hungarian prisoners and taking part in the establishment of the

First Serbian Volunteer Division The First Serbian Volunteer Division ( sr, Srpski dobrovoljački korpus, italics=yes) or First Serbian Division, was a military formation of the First World War, created by Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pašić, and organised in the city of Ode ...

. In the Salonika trial of Black Hand participants in the May Coup, Simić was sentenced to 18 years in prison in absentia, which is why he remained in Russia and after the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

where he became a Colonel in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

. He remained in Russia until 1936 when he returned to the

. There he was arrested at the border, questioned, but managed to convince the authorities that he was not a spy, he was released from detention after two days. He was given back the rank of colonel which was taken away from him at the Salonika trial in 1917. Simić was in touch with General

Dušan Simović Dušan Simović (; 28 October 1882 – 26 August 1962) was a Yugoslav Serb army general who served as Chief of the General Staff of the Royal Yugoslav Army and as the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia in 1940–1941. Biography Simović, born on 28 ...

, with whom he met on 26 March, the day before the

Yugoslav coup d'état The Yugoslav coup d'état took place on 27 March 1941 in Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, when the regency led by Prince Paul of Yugoslavia was overthrown and King Peter II fully assumed monarchical powers. The coup was planned and conducted ...

took place, and informed him about the Soviet Union's mood to conclude an agreement with Yugoslavia. In the Government of Dušan Simović, he was appointed minister without portfolio. As a minister without portfolio, he and Dušan Simović participated in negotiations with

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

, and immediately after the military ''coup d'état'' on 27 March 1941,

Mustafa Golubić Mustafa Golubić ( sr-Cyrl, Мустафа Голубић, ; 24 October 1889/24 January 1891 – July 1941) was a Serbian, and later Yugoslav, guerrilla fighter, revolutionary and intelligence agent. Following the outbreak of the Balkan Wa ...

, the senior

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

officer and Božin Simić travelled together from Belgrade to

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 ...

to attend the signing of the Yugoslav-Soviet Union Friendship Agreement. German forces invaded the country ten days later. During the Second World War, Božin Simić, as Minister of the Government-in-exile in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, opposed the bombing of Belgrade by the Allies, because in

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

a movement of resistance to the occupying forces was afoot from the start, for example, not bombing

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, which has openly shifted to the side of the axis force. After that,

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

was bombed for several days. Because of this stance in 1946, on his way to

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

to take over the position of

Tito Tito may refer to: People Mononyms * Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980), commonly known mononymously as Tito, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman * Roberto Arias (1918–1989), aka Tito, Panamanian international lawyer, diplomat, and journ ...

's first ambassador there, an attempted assassination was made by a Bulgarian agent, but he survived. He died on 24 February 1966, in Belgrade. He was 85.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simić, Bozin 1881 births 1966 deaths