Veselin Đuretić (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, th ...

: Веселин Ђуретић; 17 May 1933 – 18 February 2020) was a Yugoslav and Serbian historian.

Early life

Đuretić was born on 17 May 1933 in the village of Mojanovići near Podgorica, Zeta Banovina,

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 ...

(modern-day Montenegro). He was associate of Balkan Institute of the

Serbian Academy of Science and Arts The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Serbica, sr-Cyr, Српска академија наука и уметности, САНУ, Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti, SANU) is a national academy and the ...

and one of founders of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of the Republika Srpska (SANU). During 1990's Đuretić was close to Serbian Radical Party and member of the International Committee for the Truth About Radovan Karadžić. In 2012 he was a candidate for member of the Serbian academy.

Allies and War Drama

The book authored by Đuretić in 1985 titled "Saveznici i ratna drama"( en, Allies and War Drama) was first book which rehabilitate Chetniks published in post-war Socialistic Yugoslavia. The effect of this book was compared to the earthquake while rehabilitation of Chetniks it contained was received with big attention among Serbs. Because this work opened taboo topic from the

World War II 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 ...

, it was perceived by Yugoslav Peoples Army as an attack to the basic foundations of the communist revolution and its Admiral

Branko Mamula Branko "Đuro" Mamula ( sr-Cyrl, Бранко "Ђурo" Мамула; 30 May 1921 – 19 October 2021) was a Serbian politician and Yugoslav officer who participated in World War II in Yugoslavia. He was later the Minister of Defence of Yugoslav ...

publicly condemned Đuretić and its publisher

In this book Đuretić consistently emphasized that Chetniks of

Draža Mihailović Dragoljub "Draža" Mihailović ( sr-Cyrl, Драгољуб Дража Михаиловић; 27 April 1893 – 17 July 1946) was a Yugoslavs, Yugoslav Serb general during World War II. He was the leader of the Chetniks, Chetnik Detachments ...

were antifascists, persistently rejecting any existence of Greater-Serbian hegemony or ethnicity based exploitation insuring the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Reactions

Egbert Jahn emphasized that before Đuretić published this work the Yugoslav communist influenced historiography promoted a misrepresented image of Chetniks depicted only as "collaborators and traitors". Jahn further underlined that Đuretić's work was a long overdue change of this misrepresented image of Chetniks and also a complete reinterpretation of the recent history of Serbs. According to some sources, Đuretić invested his substantial capabilities to try to fulfill Greater Serbian political ideology. The Serbian Supreme Court confirmed the first level court decision to ban the distribution of all three editions of Đuretić's work.

Death

Đuretić died on 18 February 2020 in

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 ...

. He is interred at the New Bežanija Cemetery.

Bibliography

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References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Djuretic, Veselin 1933 births 2020 deaths Writers from Podgorica Serbs of Montenegro Yugoslav historians 20th-century Serbian historians