Džemal Bijedić ( cyrl, Џемал Биједић, ; 12 April 1917 – 18 January 1977) was a Bosnian and Yugoslav politician. He served as the

Prime Minister of Yugoslavia The prime minister of Yugoslavia ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Премијер Југославије, Premijer Jugoslavije) was the head of government of the Yugoslavia, Yugoslav state, from the Creation of Yugoslavia, creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croa ...

from 30 July 1971 until his death in a plane crash on 18 January 1977.

Biography

Džemal Bijedić was born on 12 April 1917 in

Mostar Mostar (, ; sr-Cyrl, Мостар, ) is a city and the administrative center of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the historical capital of Herzegovina. Mostar is sit ...

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 ...

(then part of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

) to Adem and Zarifa from the prominent

Bosniak The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry, cu ...

merchant family of Bajramaga Bijedic, who had moved from

Gacko Gacko ( sr-cyrl, Гацко) is a town and municipality located in Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the region of East Herzegovina. As of 2013, the town has a population of 5,784 inhabitants, while the m ...

to Mostar in 1915. Džemal was barely one year old when his father Adem died of

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

in 1919; his mother Zafira and uncle Becir took care of the family in the 1920s. Džemal Bijedić finished his elementary and secondary education in Mostar, and graduated from the

University of Belgrade Faculty of Law The Faculty of Law of the University in Belgrade ( sr, Правни факултет Универзитета у Београду/''Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu''), also known as the Belgrade Law School, is one of the first-tier educatio ...

, where he joined the

League of Communists 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 ...

in 1939. He became a member of

SKOJ League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia, commonly known in English as the Young Communist League of Yugoslavia, or simply Communist Youth, was the youth wing of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia from 1919 to 1948. Although it was banned just two y ...

in October 1939 and a member of the Mostar branch of the League of Communists just two months later. Due to his political sympathies, he was three times detained when in Mostar.Sarajevo Times
/ref> In a documentary produced by Face TV, Mišo Marić claims that Bijedić joined the ''Domobranci'' (anti-communist militia) in April 1941, following the directives of

, as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

with the alias of Ante Jukić. Another documentary about Džemal Bijedić produced by

Federalna televizija Federalna televizija ("Federal television"; locally known as Federalna TV ("Federal TV") or FTV) is a public mainstream TV channel operated by RTVFBiH. The program is broadcast on a daily basis, 24 hours from RTVFBiH headquarters located in S ...

shows (at 15:34) a photo of Bijedić dressed in a military uniform with Domobranci collar insignia. The same photo was shown at the beginning of the first documentary (01:27), but the Domobranci insignia was painted over with Partisans' red star in colour. It is also mentioned that Bijedić joined the

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...

in February 1943. Ford A3723 NLGRF photo contact sheet (1975-03-19)(Gerald Ford Library) (cropped)

After the liberation, Bijedić had many political roles, including as Assistant Minister of Internal Affairs in the government of the socialist republic of

. Bijedić played a key role in the affirmation of the

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...

as a Yugoslav constitutive nation. Significant progress in the economy of

Herzegovina Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia. It has never had strictly defined geogra ...

was made under Bijedić's leadership, with the establishment of heavy industry such as the Aluminijum Kombinat, and the modernization of the

Sarajevo–Ploče railway The Sarajevo–Ploče railway is a long railway in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. The line connects Sarajevo with Konjic, Mostar and Ploče. The route operates through the regions of Sarajevo Canton, Herzegovina-Neretva Canton and Dubrovnik ...

. Bijedić served as Chairman of the People's Assembly of the

Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Bosna i Hercegovina, Социјалистичка Pепублика Босна и Херцеговина), commonly referred to as Socia ...

from 1967 to 1971 and as President of the Federal Executive Council of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia from 1971 to his death in 1977 - i.e. Prime Minister of Yugoslavia. On 18 January 1977, Džemal Bijedić, his wife Razija (born Ferhatbegović), and six others were killed when their

Learjet 25 The Learjet 25 is an American ten-seat (two crew and eight passengers), twin-engine, high-speed business jet aircraft manufactured by Learjet. It is a stretched version of the Learjet 24. Development The first Model 25 flew on August 12, 196 ...

crashed on the Inač mountain near

Kreševo Kreševo ( sr-cyrl, Крешево, ) is a town and municipality located in Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Kreševo is a mountainous town, located in a narrow valley of the ...

, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The plane took off from

Batajnica Air Base The Colonel-pilot Milenko Pavlović Air Base ( sr, Војни аеродром пуковник-пилот Миленко Павловић, Vojni aerodrom pukovnik-pilot Milenko Pavlović), commonly known as Batajnica Air Base ( sr, Војни ае ...

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

and was en route to

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

when it crashed, ostensibly due to poor weather conditions. Conspiracy theorists have suggested that the crash was not an accident but rather the result of foul play at the hands of his rivals, as he was considered as a potential successor to old and ailing

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 ...

. Bijedić and his wife were survived by their two sons and one daughter. The university in Mostar was renamed Džemal Bijedić University in his honour. His birthplace was also turned into a museum. An exhibition about Džemal Bijedić was held in Mostar in 2016.

References

;Citations ;Bibliography *

External links