Dragoslav "Draža" Marković ( Serbian: Драгослав Дража Марковић; 28 June 1920 – 20 April 2005) was a Serbian communist politician, serving as President and Prime Minister of Serbia.

Biography

He was born on 28 June 1920 in the village of Popović near

Sopot Sopot is a seaside resort city in Pomerelia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, and has the status of the county, being the smallest city ...

. His parents and Anka, were teachers, and besides him, they had three more children. He finished elementary school in his native village, and then attended the Third Belgrade Gymnasium. Under the influence of his left-wing father and brother

Moma Moma may refer to: People * Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist * Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician * Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher Places ; Ang ...

, who was already one of the leaders of the party organization at the Faculty of Medicine, he joined the youth revolutionary movement. In 1937, as a pupil of the eighth grade of the gymnasium, he was arrested for communist activity and after three weeks in custody he was thrown out of school. Then he moved to

Pančevo Pančevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Панчево, ; german: Pantschowa; hu, Pancsova; ro, Panciova; sk, Pánčevo) is a city and the administrative center of the South Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is located on ...

, where he finished his eighth grade and graduated. After finishing high school, he enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade. Kika Damnjanovic i Draza Markovic u partizanima

Kika Damnjanovic i Draza Markovic u partizanima

He fought in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as a member of the Partisans. In 1958, he became Education Secretary in the Executive Council of Serbia, and in 1960 he was elected a member of the Executive Committee of the Central Committee of the SR of Serbia. From 1963 to 1967 he was the Ambassador of the SFRY in the Republic of Bulgaria. From 1967 to 1969 he held the functions of the President of the Republic Council of the Assembly of Serbia and the President of the Constitutional Commission of Serbia. From 1969 to 1974 he was president of the Assembly of the SR of Serbia, and from 1971 to 1974 he was a member of the first Presidency of the SFRY. When in 1974, in accordance with the new Constitution, the function of the President of the Presidency of the Republic of Serbia was introduced, he was the first to perform this duty from 1974 to 1978. He was then President of the Federal Assembly of the SFRY, from 1978 to 1982 and President of the Presidency of the Central Committee of the SKJ from 1983 to 1984. At the time of the rise of

Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević (, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the president of Serbia within Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997 (originally the Socialist Republic of Serbia, a constituent republic of ...

to power, he clashed with his politics and soon retired, in 1986. After retirement, he was a member of the Federation Council until his abolition in 1990. In the later years he was one of the sharper critics of Slobodan Milošević's regime and

Mirjana Marković Mirjana "Mira" Marković ( sr-cyr, Мирјана "Мира" Марковић, ; 10 July 1942 – 14 April 2019) was a Serbian politician, academic and the wife of Yugoslav and Serbian president Slobodan Milošević. She was the leader of the ...

, whose uncle he was. He died on 20 April 2005 in Belgrade, where he was cremated and later interred in the

Belgrade New Cemetery The New Cemetery ( sr, Ново гробље, ''Novo groblje'') is a cemetery complex in Belgrade, Serbia, with a distinct history. It is located in Ruzveltova street in Zvezdara municipality. The cemetery was built in 1886 as the third Christia ...

. Marković was awarded a number of Yugoslav and foreign awards and decorations, including the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

and

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Markovic, Dragoslav 1920 births 2005 deaths Politicians from Belgrade Slobodan Milošević Yugoslav politicians League of Communists of Serbia politicians Burials at Belgrade New Cemetery