Drago Marušič (10 December 1884 – 30 September 1964) was a

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

n and Yugoslav politician and jurist. Born in Opatje Selo in present-day western Slovenia, Marušič studied law at Universities of

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

and

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, where he graduated in 1911. During World War I he escaped to the Russian side and joined a volunteer legion in Serbia. Then, as a member of the

Yugoslav Committee The Yugoslav Committee (, , ) was a World War I-era, unelected, '' ad-hoc'' committee. It largely consisted of émigré Croat, Slovene, and Bosnian Serb politicians and political activists whose aim was the detachment of Austro-Hungarian l ...

he worked in Rome, in the United States, and finally in Paris, where he attended the 1919 Peace Conference along with

Ante Trumbić Ante Trumbić (17 May 1864 – 17 November 1938) was a Yugoslav and Croatian lawyer and politician in the early 20th century. Biography Trumbić was born in Split in the Austrian crownland of Dalmatia and studied law at Zagreb, Vienna and G ...

. He was a member of the Independent Agrarian Party (SKS), and later a member of the

Yugoslav National Party The Yugoslav National Party (, Југославенска национална странка, JNS; ), established as Yugoslav Radical Peasants' Democracy (; ), was the sole-ruling party of Yugoslavia during the period of royal authoritarian di ...

(JNS). After the

January 6th Dictatorship The 6 January Dictatorship ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Шестојануарска диктатура, Šestojanuarska diktatura; ; ) was a royal dictatorship established in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Kingdom of Yugoslavia after 1929) by K ...

was established by King Alexander in 1929, first he was appointed to the Supreme Legislative Council, and in December 1930 Marušič was made Ban of the

Drava Banovina The Drava Banovina or Drava Banate (Slovene language, Slovene and Serbo-Croatian: ''Dravska banovina''), was a province (Ban (title), banovina) of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941. This province consisted of most of present-day Slove ...

province. In December 1934 he became a minister in the government cabinet of

Bogoljub Jevtić Bogoljub Jevtić (Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, Serbian Cyrillic: Богољуб Јевтић; 24 December 1886 – 7 June 1960) was a Serbian diplomat and politician in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He was plenipotentiary minister of Yugoslavia in Al ...

. In the 1935 general election he was elected to the post of Senator, after which he became a member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

. Following the April 1941

Invasion of Yugoslavia The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, was a Nazi Germany, German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was put fo ...

he became a high-ranking member of the

Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation The Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation (), or simply Liberation Front (''Osvobodilna fronta'', OF), originally called the Anti-Imperialist Front (''Protiimperialistična fronta'', PIF), was a Slovene anti-fascist political party. The Anti-Imp ...

(OF), and from 1942 he was interred in Italy. After the

capitulation of Italy The Armistice of Cassibile ( Italian: ''Armistizio di Cassibile'') was an armistice that was signed on 3 September 1943 by Italy and the Allies, marking the end of hostilities between Italy and the Allies during World War II. It was made public ...

in 1943, he was released and became a member of the regional branches of OF and the

Slovene National Liberation Committee The Slovene National Liberation Committee (SNOS) (; , Словеначко народноослободилачко веће) was formed as the highest governing organ of anti-fascist movement of Slovenes during World War II. The president of its p ...

(SNOS) in the

Slovenian Littoral The Slovene Littoral, or simply Littoral (, ; ; ), is one of the traditional regions of Slovenia. The littoral in its name – for a coastal-adjacent area – recalls the former Austrian Littoral (''Avstrijsko Primorje''), the Habsburg poss ...

region. From 1944 to 1945 he was justice minister in the

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

Ivan Šubašić Ivan Šubašić (7 May 1892 – 22 March 1955) was a Croat politician, best known as the last Ban of Croatia and Prime Minister of the royalist Yugoslav Government in exile during the Second World War. Early life Ivan Šubašić was born in ...

, and later served in the unified government of the

Democratic Federal Yugoslavia Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, also known as Democratic Federative Yugoslavia (DF Yugoslavia or DFY), was a provisional state established during World War II on 29 November 1943 through the Second Session of the Anti-Fascist Council for the Natio ...

led by

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...

until January 1948. After the Second World War, he held the post of president of the Slovenian Red Cross.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marusic, Drago 1884 births 1964 deaths People from the Municipality of Miren-Kostanjevica People from Austrian Littoral Independent Agrarian Party politicians Government ministers of Yugoslavia Representatives in the Yugoslav National Assembly (1921–1941) Members of the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia Members of the Assembly of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Bans of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia Yugoslav lawyers Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I Serbian military personnel of World War I Yugoslav Partisans members