Bogdan Raditsa (in Croatian: ''Bogdan Radica'') (26 August 1904 – 5 December 1993) was a Croatian-American historian, journalist, diplomat, writer, and translator.The New York Times
Bogdan Raditsa, Writer and Diplomat, 89
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Biography

Bogdan Raditsa was born in 1904 in

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, entertai ...

Austro-Hungarian Empire 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 ...

. After his initial studies in his home town, he went to

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

to study between 1923 and 1924. In 1924 he moved to

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

to continue his studies. In 1928 he went to

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. Si ...

to work as a correspondent, and in the next year he moved to

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

where he lived until 1933, working as the Press representative for the Yugoslavian embassy. From 1933 to 1939 he worked as diplomat, member of the Yugoslavian delegation in the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference th ...

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

. In 1935 he married Nina Ferrero, daughter of Guglielmo Ferrero. Following the Cvetković–Maček Agreement of 1939 he went to work in the office for external printing in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...

. In 1940 he was transferred to Washington, D.C. and, with the fall of Yugoslavia to the Germans in 1941 he began working in the press office in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. From 1943 on, he worked with Louis Adamič, an American writer of Slovene origin, in the campaign against the

Yugoslav government-in-exile The Government of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in Exile ( sh, Vlada Kraljevine Jugoslavije u egzilu / Влада Краљевине Југославије у егзилу) was an official government of Yugoslavia, headed by King Peter II. It evacu ...

in London and the recognition 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 journal ...

and his movement. In October 1944 Raditsa went to London where Ivan Šubašić was working on the creation of a new Yugoslavian government. In 1945 Raditsa briefly worked in the Ministry of Information in Belgrade. After his return to Belgrade he managed to obtain a visa to go abroad and around Christmas 1945 he travelled to

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Ital ...

, from where he sent a telegram to his wife Nina: "Left Tito's paradise forever". After returning to the U.S., in 1946 he wrote in New York his famous

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...

article, ''Yugoslavia's Tragic Lesson to the World''. In it he enumerated all the reasons for his disappointment with Tito's Yugoslavia and urged Americans not to fall for false slogans. From 1950 to 1974 he was professor of History at the

Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university with its main campuses in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University currently offers more than 100 degree programs to its students. In addition to its tw ...

. He died in

in 1993 at the

St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center Mount Sinai Morningside, formerly known as Mount Sinai St. Luke's, is a teaching hospital located in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is affiliated with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the M ...

. His remains were transferred from New York to Strada in Chianti, a small community near Florence. His library and archives are stored in the

Croatian State Archives The Croatian State Archives ( hr, Hrvatski državni arhiv) are the national archives of Croatia located in its capital, Zagreb. The history of the state archives can be traced back to the 17th century. There are also regional state archives loca ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

References

External links

Bogdan Radica Papers (MS 1588).
Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Raditsa, Bogdan 1904 births 1993 deaths Journalists from Split, Croatia People from the Kingdom of Dalmatia 20th-century Croatian historians Croatian diplomats Croatian writers Yugoslav historians Yugoslav diplomats Yugoslav writers 20th-century male writers Fairleigh Dickinson University faculty Yugoslav emigrants to the United States