Dragoslav "Draža" Marković ( Serbian: Драгослав Дража Марковић; 28 June 1920 – 20 April 2005) was a Serbian communist politician, serving as President and Prime Minister of Serbia.

Biography

He was born on 28 June 1920 in the village of Popović near

Sopot Sopot (; or ) is a seaside resort city in Pomerelia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomerania Province and has the City with powiat ri ...

. His parents and Anka, were teachers, and besides him, they had three more children. He finished elementary school in his native village, and then attended the Third Belgrade Gymnasium. Under the influence of his left-wing father and brother

Moma The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, who was already one of the leaders of the party organization at the Faculty of Medicine, he joined the youth revolutionary movement. In 1937, as a pupil of the eighth grade of the gymnasium, he was arrested for communist activity and after three weeks in custody he was thrown out of school. Then he moved to

Pančevo Pančevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Панчево, ; ; ; ; ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the South Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is located on the shores of rivers Timiș (ri ...

, where he finished his eighth grade and graduated. After finishing high school, he enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade. He fought in the

Second World War 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 ...

as a member of the Partisans. In 1958, he became Education Secretary in the Executive Council of Serbia, and in 1960 he was elected a member of the Executive Committee of the Central Committee of the SR of Serbia. From 1963 to 1967 he was the Ambassador of the SFRY in the Republic of Bulgaria. From 1967 to 1969 he held the functions of the President of the Republic Council of the Assembly of Serbia and the President of the Constitutional Commission of Serbia. From 1969 to 1974 he was president of the Assembly of the SR of Serbia, and from 1971 to 1974 he was a member of the first Presidency of the SFRY. When in 1974, in accordance with the new Constitution, the function of the President of the Presidency of the Republic of Serbia was introduced, he was the first to perform this duty from 1974 to 1978. He was then President of the Federal Assembly of the SFRY, from 1978 to 1982 and President of the Presidency of the Central Committee of the SKJ from 1983 to 1984. At the time of the rise of

Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Милошевић, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the President of Serbia between 1989 and 1997 and President of the Federal Republic of Yugos ...

to power, he clashed with his politics and soon retired, in 1986. After retirement, he was a member of the Federation Council until his abolition in 1990. In the later years he was one of the sharper critics of Slobodan Milošević's regime and

Mirjana Marković Mirjana "Mira" Marković ( sr-cyr, Мирјана "Мира" Марковић, ; 10 July 1942 – 14 April 2019) was a Serbian politician, academic and the wife of Yugoslav and Serbian president Slobodan Milošević. She was the leader of th ...

, whose uncle he was. He died on 20 April 2005 in Belgrade, where he was cremated and later interred in the

Belgrade New Cemetery The New Cemetery ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Ново гробље, Novo groblje) is a cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, ...

. Marković was awarded a number of Yugoslav and foreign awards and decorations, including the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

and

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Markovic, Dragoslav 1920 births 2005 deaths Politicians from Belgrade Slobodan Milošević Yugoslav politicians League of Communists of Serbia politicians Burials at Belgrade New Cemetery Members of the Presidency of the 11th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia Members of the Presidency of the 12th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia Members of the Central Committee of the 11th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia Members of the Central Committee of the 12th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia 20th-century presidents in Europe