Petar Živković ( sr-cyr, Петар Живковић; 1 January 1879 – 3 February 1947) was a

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 ...

n military officer and political figure in

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. He was

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

of 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 ...

from 7 January 1929 until 4 April 1932.

Aleksandar Obrenović Alexander I ( sr-cyr, Александар Обреновић, Aleksandar Obrenović; 14 August 187611 June 1903) reigned as the king of Serbia from 1889 to 1903 when he and his wife, Draga Mašin, were assassinated by a group of Royal Serbian ...

and

Queen Draga Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

. He was known as the Pera the Gate because he opened the

palace A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

gate during the 1903 coup and enabled the

rebels Rebels may refer to: * Participants in a rebellion * Rebel groups, people who refuse obedience or order * Rebels (American Revolution), patriots who rejected British rule in 1776 Film and television * ''Rebels'' (film) or ''Rebelles'', a 2019 ...

to kill King

and his wife Draga.

Life

Petar Živković was born in

Negotin Negotin ( sr-cyrl, Неготин, ; ro, Negotin) is a town and municipality located in the Bor District of the eastern Serbia. It is situated near the borders between Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria. It is the judicial center of the Bor District. ...

Principality of Serbia The Principality of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, Књажество Србија, Knjažestvo Srbija) was an autonomous state in the Balkans that came into existence as a result of the Serbian Revolution, which lasted between 1804 and 1817. Its creation was ...

(present-day

Bor District The Bor District ( sr, Борски округ, Borski okrug, ) is one of nine administrative districts of Southern and Eastern Serbia. It has a population of 123,848 inhabitants, according to the 2011 census results. The administrative center ...

) in 1879. He finished secondary school in Zajecar and 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. A soldier at the Serbian court, he helped overthrow the

Obrenović dynasty The House of Obrenović ( sr-Cyrl, Обрeновић, Obrenovići / Обреновићи, ) was a Serbian dynasty that ruled Serbia from 1815 to 1842, and again from 1858 to 1903. They came to power through the leadership of their progenitor M ...

with the assassination of King

Alexander I of Serbia Alexander I ( sr-cyr, Александар Обреновић, Aleksandar Obrenović; 14 August 187611 June 1903) reigned as the king of Serbia from 1889 to 1903 when he and his wife, Draga Mašin, were assassinated by a group of Royal Serbia ...

(11 June), which was orchestrated by Colonel

Dragutin Dimitrijević Dragutin Dimitrijević ( sr-Cyrl, Драгутин Димитријевић; 17 August 1876 – 24 June 1917), better known by his nickname Apis, was a Serbian army officer and chief of the military intelligence section of the general staff in ...

, the founder and leading member of the secret nationalist organization

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 ...

. Živković later founded the secret organization White Hand in 1912, which served to counter the power of the Black Hand. In 1921, King

Alexander I of Yugoslavia Alexander I ( sr-Cyrl, Александар I Карађорђевић, Aleksandar I Karađorđević, ) ( – 9 October 1934), also known as Alexander the Unifier, was the prince regent of the Kingdom of Serbia from 1914 and later the King of Yug ...

appointed Živković commander of the

Royal Guard A royal guard is a group of military bodyguards, soldiers or armed retainers responsible for the protection of a royal person, such as the emperor or empress, king or queen, or prince or princess. They often are an elite unit of the regular arm ...

, but he was briefly demoted due to accusations by a young guardsman that he tried to seduce him. In 1929 he was appointed Prime Minister as part of the

6 January Dictatorship The 6 January Dictatorship ( sr-cyr, Шестојануарска диктатура, Šestojanuarska diktatura; hr, Šestosiječanjska diktatura; sl, Šestojanuarska diktatura) was a royal dictatorship established in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croa ...

. General Živković was

Bogoljub Jevtić Bogoljub Jevtić (Serbian Cyrillic: Богољуб Јевтић; 24 December 1886 – 7 June 1960) was a Serbian diplomat and politician in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He was plenipotentiary minister of Yugoslavia in Albania, Austria and Hungary. ...

's brother-in-law, the closest adviser to the head of State. Živković held the office as a member of the Yugoslav Radical Peasants' Democracy (JRSD), which became the only legal party in Yugoslavia, following electoral reforms. He resigned as prime minister in 1932, and shortly thereafter founded the

Yugoslav National Party The Yugoslav National Party ( sh, Jugoslavenska nacionalna stranka, Југославенска национална странка, JNS; sl, Jugoslovanska nacionalna stranka), established as Yugoslav Radical Peasants' Democracy ( sh, Jugoslavensk ...

(JNS), becoming its president in 1936. Following

Alexander I Alexander I may refer to: * Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC * Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus * Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome * Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

in 1934, His cousin Pavle Karađorđević took office as regent for the 11-year-old Petar II. Upon Pavle's 1941 signing of the

Tripartite Pact The Tripartite Pact, also known as the Berlin Pact, was an agreement between Germany, Italy, and Japan signed in Berlin on 27 September 1940 by, respectively, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Galeazzo Ciano and Saburō Kurusu. It was a defensive military ...

, Živković left Yugoslavia ahead of the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

invasion An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

. He became part of the Yugoslav government in exile. In 1946 he was tried

in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in absen ...

in the

Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yugo ...

at the

Trial of Mihailović et al. The Trial of Draža Mihailović ''et al.'', or the Belgrade Process (Serbo-Croatian: ''Beogradski proces'' / Београдски процес), was the 1946 trial of Draža Mihailović and a number of other prominent convicted Collaboration with ...

and sentenced to death by the communist authorities. He was forced into exile, leaving for Italy and eventually settling in France, dying in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in February 1947, aged 68.

In popular culture

Živković is portrayed by

Nebojša Dugalić Nebojša Dugalić ( sr-cyr, Небојша Дугалић; , born 17 May 1970) is Serbian actor, theater director and drama professor. Career Dugalić completed the elementary and high school in his hometown Kraljevo, and graduated to the Facult ...

in the Serbian television series ''

Balkan Shadows ''Shadows over Balkan'' ( sr, Сенке над Балканом, Senke nad Balkanom), also known as ''Balkan Shadows'', is a Serbian period crime television series created by Dragan Bjelogrlić. In addition to Bjelogrlić, contributors to the scr ...

''.

References

External links

Biography
at

VOA Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

1879 births 1947 deaths People from Negotin Prime Ministers of Yugoslavia Serbian politicians Serbian soldiers Marshals of the Court (Serbia, Yugoslavia) Yugoslav National Party politicians People sentenced to death in absentia Burials at Belgrade New Cemetery {{Yugoslavia-bio-stub