Dimitrije "Mita" Đorđević (; 27 February 1922 – 5 March 2009) was a Serbian

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

of modern European history, especially of the Balkans.

Biography

Đorđević was born in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

to a prominent Serbian family. When he was a law student, the Germans invaded

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and he joined the resistance movement of

Dragoljub Mihailović Dragoljub ( sr-cyr, Драгољуб) is a Serbian masculine given name, derived from Slavic ''-drag, drag-'' ("dear, beloved") and ''ljub'' ("love, to like"), both very common in Slavic dithematic names. It roughly means "dear love". It may refer ...

(

Chetniks The Chetniks,, ; formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland; and informally colloquially the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationalist m ...

). Đorđević was captured by the Germans and was imprisoned, ultimately in

Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp Mauthausen was a German Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 f ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. He survived the war, but was in turn imprisoned by the communist regime in post World War II Yugoslavia. After he was pardoned and released, Đorđević was eventually allowed to commence study at the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

, where he was a student of

Vaso Čubrilović Vaso Čubrilović ( sr-Cyrl, Васо Чубриловић; 14 January 1897 – 11 June 1990) was a YugoslavВладимир Дедијер, ''Сарајево 1914'', Просвета, Београд 1966, стр. 568 and Bosnian Serb scholar an ...

(one of the members of the Young Bosnia who conspired to assassinate Franz Ferdinand which led to the outbreak of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

). Đorđević was awarded his doctorate in 1962. In 1970, Đorđević took up a position as a Full Professor of History at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

, joining a strong faculty in European History including Joachim Remak, Frank J. Frost, Leonard Marsak, Alfred Gollin, and C. Warren Hollister. He was elected a member of the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts in 1985. A popular undergraduate lecturer and graduate mentor at the

, in 1992 many of his former students contributed to his ''Festschrift'' entitled ''Scholar, Patriot, Mentor: Historical Essays in Honor of Dimitrije Djordjevic''. In retirement, Đorđević published his autobiography, ''Scars and Memory: Four Lives in One Lifetime'', describing his World War II and post World War II experiences. Professor Đorđević died in Santa Barbara on March 5, 2009.

Publications

*Dimitrije Đorđević, ''The Growth of Serbia to the Adriatic Sea and the Conference of Ambassadors, 1912'' (Belgrade, 1956). n Serbian*Dimitrije Đorđević, ''Austro-Serbian Conflict over the Novibazar Railway Project'' (Belgrade, 1957). n Serbian*Dimitrije Đorđević (with Jopjo Tadić), ''The Customs War Between Austria-Hungary and Serbia'' (Belgrade, 1962). n Serbian*Dimitrije Đorđević, ''Milovan Milovanović'' (Belgrade, 1962). n Serbian*Dimitrije Đorđević, ''The National Revolutions of the Balkan Peoples'' (Belgrade, 1965). n French*Dimitrije Đorđević, ''History of Serbia, 1900-1918'' (Thessalonika, 1970). n Modern Greek*Dimitrije Đorđević, ''The Creation of Yugoslavia'' (Santa Barbara, 1980). *Dimitrije Đorđević, (with Stephen Fischer-Galati), ''The Balkan Revolutionary Tradition'' (NY, 1981). *Dimitrije Đorđević, (co-edited with Bela K. Kiraly), ''East Central European Society and the Balkan Wars'' (NY, 1987). *Dimitrije Đorđević, ''Scars and Memory: Four Lives in One Lifetime'' (NY, 1994).

References

External links

Biography on the website of SANU
1922 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Serbian historians Members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Yugoslav emigrants to the United States American people of Serbian descent University of California, Santa Barbara faculty 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers Yugoslav historians {{Serbia-academic-bio-stub