Nikola Kalabić ( sr-Cyrl, Никола Калабић; 20 December 1906 – 19 January 1946) was a Serbian Chetnik commander 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 opposing ...

Early life

He was born to father

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and mother Joka in Podnovlje (municipality of

Doboj Doboj ( sr-cyrl, Добој, ) is a city located in Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of Bosna river, in the northern region of the Republika Srpska. As of 2013, it has a population of 71,441 ...

) in present-day

Republika Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, lit=Serb Republic, also known as Republic of Srpska, ) is one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is locat ...

. He had a sister named Angelina (1912–1999). Nikola's father separated from Joka after

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 proceeded to get married three times. Nikola lived with his father at first so he attended school in places where his father served with the Serbian army. He eventually finished six grades of gymnasium before becoming a student of geodesy in Belgrade. During his studies, he met Borka (a year younger than him) who was born in Rajkovići near

Valjevo Valjevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Ваљево, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Kolubara District in western Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the administrative area of Valjevo had 90,312 inhabitants, 59,073 of whom were urban dwell ...

in present-day

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

into a family of old supporters of the

People's Radical Party The People's Radical Party ( sr, Народна радикална странка, Narodna radikalna stranka, abbr. НРС or NRS) was the dominant ruling party of Kingdom of Serbia and later Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from the l ...

and

Nikola Pašić Nikola Pašić ( sr-Cyrl, Никола Пашић, ; 18 December 1845 – 10 December 1926) was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and diplomat who was a leading political figure for almost 40 years. He was the leader of the People's Radical ...

. Borka and Nikola married in 1929 and on 3 August 1930 they had twins Mirjana and Milan. Their first service was in Belgrade. They then moved to

Aranđelovac Aranđelovac ( sr-cyr, Аранђеловац, ) is a town and a municipality located in the Šumadija District of central Serbia. , the municipality has a population of 46,225 inhabitants, while the town has 24,797 inhabitants. It is situated be ...

and finally back to Valjevo (where there are Kalabićs today). Nikola Kalabić (until the start of

) worked in Land-registry management in Valjevo.

World War II

During World War II, Nikola Kalabić was commander of Draža Mihailović's formation named the Mountain Guard Corps ( sr-cyr, Корпус горске гарде). On 26 November 1943, together with the General Inspector of Chetnik Troops Colonel Simić, he concluded a formal collaboration agreement (german: Waffenruhe-Verträge) with the representative of the German Military Commander in Southeast Europe, ''

General der Infanterie General of the Infantry is a military rank of a General officer in the infantry and refers to: * General of the Infantry (Austria) * General of the Infantry (Bulgaria) * General of the Infantry (Germany) ('), a rank of a general in the German Imp ...

'' (Lieutenant General)

Hans Felber __NOTOC__ Hans-Gustav Felber (July 8, 1889 – March 8, 1962) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. Biography From 15 October 1939 Felber was the chief of staff of the 2nd Army, becoming chief of staff of the Army ...

. In the night of 25th of December 1943, Chetniks under command of Nikola Kalabić killed a large number of civilians in village of Kopljare, near

. Out of 22 killed, 19 were Romani. In a letter to Draža Mihailović, Kalabić wrote: ''In Kopljere we caught while sleeping and slayed 24 active

communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

, out of which 20 were Gypsies, who admitted to be so-called jarugaši, at day they do their housework, but at night in action. I killed them all.'' There is no proof that any of victims were involved with

KPJ Bryan Kevin Porter Jr. (born May 4, 2000), also known by his initials KPJ, is an American professional basketball player for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played high school basketball for Rainier Beach Hi ...

or involved in any armed fights. Source of Ministry of Interior of quisling government has a more precise description of the massacre, as they mention murder of 22 civilians, 19 Romani, of which 15 male and 4 female. It also mentions that Chetniks burnt all Romani houses, as well as houses of two peasants whose family members were members of partisans. Mountain Guard Corps under Kalabić committed similar acts of terror against pro-partizan population in central Serbia, including massacre in Drugovac, single largest Chetnik massacre in any

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

village.

Capture and alleged collaboration with the OZNA

Near the very end of the war, Kalabić and many other Chetniks tried to hide in rural areas of the country, awaiting an attempt to overthrow the new government. The OZNA had a plan to capture former members of the Chetnik movement and other military organizations outside of Yugoslavia. There, OZNA agents infiltrated the support network of Kalabić and arrested him in a covert operation on 5 December 1945. After a few days, Kalabić agreed to collaborate with the OZNA in their efforts of locating and arresting Draža Mihailović, in return for immunity from prosecution. This claim however has been brought into question by family members of Kalabić claiming that he did not betray Mihailović. Kalabić was then executed by

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод� ...

although this claim has also been questioned.

Rehabilitation attempts

Kalabić was rehabilitated by the High Court in Valjevo in May 2017. This decision however was overturned by an

appellate court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

in Belgrade in May 2018. On 7 August 2022, he was officially rehabilitated by the High Court in Valjevo.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalabic, Nikola 1906 births 1946 deaths People from Doboj Military personnel from Valjevo Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina People from the Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina Recipients of the Order of the Yugoslav Crown Geodesists Royal Yugoslav Army personnel of World War II Chetnik personnel of World War II Serbian people of World War II Serbian collaborators with Nazi Germany Serbian anti-communists Executed Serbian people Executed Yugoslav collaborators with Nazi Germany People executed by Yugoslavia Chetnik war crimes in World War II Executed mass murderers