Pantelija "Panta" Draškić (

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, t ...

: Пантелија Панта Драшкић; 30 November 1881 – 22 August 1957) was a Serbian army general and politician whose career spanned four decades.

Biography

Draškić was born in

Užice Užice ( sr-cyr, Ужице, ) is a city and the administrative centre of the Zlatibor District in western Serbia. It is located on the banks of the river Đetinja. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 59,747. The C ...

in 1881, and served in the Balkan Wars and

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 ...

. By the 1930s he was Adjutant to 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 Yu ...

. 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 ...

he sided with

Milan Nedić Milan Nedić ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Недић; 2 September 1878 – 4 February 1946) was a Yugoslav and Serbian army general and politician who served as the chief of the General Staff of the Royal Yugoslav Army and minister of war in the R ...

Government of National Salvation The Government of National Salvation ( sr, Влада народног спаса, Vlada narodnog spasa, (VNS); german: Regierung der nationalen Rettung), also referred to as Nedić's government (, ) and Nedić's regime (, ), was the colloquial na ...

, which collaborated with

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. He encouraged anti-partisan activities and recruited soldiers to fight the communists. In August 1941 he was appointed Minister of Labor for the regime, a post he soon left. In 1943, Draškić joined the Chetniks, and returned to his rank of Brigadier General. During the occupation, he was the only member of Nedić's regime that is known to have aided in the rescue of

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. He saved a Jewish Colonel, Abraham Beraha, and his wife from persecution by obtaining papers making them exempt from the laws and keeping them safe. After the collapse of the government and the communist takeover, many Chetniks and former members of the Nedić regime fled with the Germans to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, though Draškić did not. He remained in Yugoslavia, and received a prison sentence from the communist authorities. He was the only member of the regime who remained in the country that did not get executed.Панта Драшкић – цена части („РТС“, 2. новембар 2015)
Приступљено 2. 11. 2015.

References

External links

RTS documentary about Panta Draškić
Serbian politicians Serbian collaborators with Nazi Germany Serbian people of World War II 1881 births 1957 deaths {{Serbia-politician-stub