Josif Kostić (13 August 1877 – 1960) was a Serbian politician and army

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

and one of the most prominent officers of the secret military organization, the White Hand prior to and during

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 ...

. He also served as the 21st Dean of the Academic Board of the Military Academy in Serbia and its chief in 1927–1930. In 1912 Kostić joined the White Hand, fought in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and in 1930 he was promoted to Army General. He was a staunch monarchist, and in

collaborated Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Most ...

with the

Nazis 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 Na ...

and was appointed as Minister of Postal and Telegraph Affairs of the Reich controlled Government of National Salvation. In 1944, when the government fell to the communist Yugoslav and

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

forces, Kostić and several other ministers and collaborators fled to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and he eventually settled in Switzerland, where he died in 1960.http://www.maticasrpska.org.rs/stariSajt/biografije/tom05.pdf

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kostić, Josif 1877 births 1960 deaths Serbian politicians Serbian generals Serbian collaborators with Nazi Germany Serbian people of World War I Serbian people of World War II