Milka Mesić (; September 1939 – 22 October 2024) was a Croatian socialite who was the wife of

Stjepan Mesić Stjepan "Stipe" Mesić (; born 24 December 1934) is a Croatia, Croatian lawyer and politician who served as the president of Croatia from 2000 to 2010. Before serving two five-year terms as president, he was Prime Minister of Croatia, prime minis ...

, the former

president of Croatia The president of Croatia, officially the president of the Republic of Croatia (), is the head of state, commander-in-chief of the military and chief representative of the Republic of Croatia both within the country and abroad. The president ...

(2000–2010),

Speaker of the Croatian Parliament The speaker of the Croatian Parliament (, literally the president of the Croatian Parliament) is the Speaker (politics), presiding officer in the Croatian Parliament, Croatia's legislative body. Under Article 97 of the constitution of Croatia, ...

(1992–1994),

President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia The office of the president of the Presidency of Yugoslavia, Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, , existed from the Death and state funeral of Josip Broz Tito, death of the President of the Republic Josip Broz Tito on 4 M ...

(1991), President of the Executive Council of SR Croatia (1990) and Mayor of

Orahovica Orahovica is a town in Slavonia, Croatia. It is situated on the slopes of the mountain Papuk and positioned on the state road D2 Varaždin- Koprivnica- Našice-Osijek. History The name Orahovica is derived from the word ''orah'', meaning a ...

Biography

Milka Dudunić was born in September 1939 in Slabinja,

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...

(now Croatia), near the modern-day border of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. She met her future husband,

, after he had seen her in the

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence, make Question of fact, findings of fact, and render an impartiality, impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty or Judgmen ...

of a dance competition in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

and had asked his friend to introduce him to her because his friend's girlfriend was Milka's college roommate. The couple married in 1961 after Stjepan had earned a

college degree An academic degree is a qualification awarded to a student upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions often offer degrees at various levels, usually divided into und ...

and their first daughter, Saša, was born soon afterwards. Milka had been studying

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

at the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

, but abandoned her studies after the birth of her first daughter and her husband's

graduation A graduation is the awarding of a diploma by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it, which can also be called Commencement speech, commencement, Congregation (university), congregation, Convocat ...

. The couple moved from Zagreb to Stjepan's native town of

and Milka gave birth to their second daughter Dunja in 1963. In 1965, Stjepan Mesić became the first popularly elected Member of the

Croatian Parliament The Croatian Parliament () or the Sabor is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Croatia. Under the terms of the Constitution of Croatia, Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the nation, people and is vested with legislative power. ...

and thereafter proceeded to become the chairman of the Municipal Assembly of Orahovica and later the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

's president. Stjepan also gained employment as an assistant to the director of the local

community health center A healthcare center, health center, or community health center is one of a network of clinics staffed by a group of general practitioners and nurses providing healthcare services to people in a certain area. Typical services covered are family pr ...

in order to provide an income for his wife and daughters. However, following the outbreak of the

Croatian Spring The Croatian Spring (), or Maspok, was a political conflict that took place from 1967 to 1971 in the Socialist Republic of Croatia, at the time part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. As one of six republics comprising Yugoslavi ...

and the resulting crackdown by the regime of Yugoslav president

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 ...

on political opponents, Stjepan Mesić was stripped of his political functions and his job. He refused to

immigrate Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short-t ...

abroad, as many other

supporters at the time had done to avoid further misfortune at the hands of the Yugoslav regime, and instead chose to agree to a trial and was sentenced to a two-year jail term. The Mesić family sued the

in Orahovica and the monetary compensation awarded to the family was used to send Milka and her two daughters to Zagreb, where they resided with Stjepan's stopmother Mileva. Milka was able to gain employment at a

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

at the ''mjesna zajednica'' (a form of local self-government in the former

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 ...

) of Studentski dom, but she almost lost her job when it was found out that her husband was in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

for activities relating to the

and ultimately retained her job due to the efforts of her colleagues, who shielded her from being branded as holding responsibility for her husband's activities. She later worked at a kindergarten in the Pantovčak neighborhood of Zagreb until she went into

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

. After her husband's election as

President of Croatia The president of Croatia, officially the president of the Republic of Croatia (), is the head of state, commander-in-chief of the military and chief representative of the Republic of Croatia both within the country and abroad. The president ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

she kept a low profile and seldom accompanied him on official trips and state visits abroad. However, she came to public attention in 2010, when it was revealed that she had acquired two apartments in Zagreb (along with the one already owned by the Mesić family) which were together valued at approximately 1.9 million kuna, having purchased them from a company owned by Stjepan Mesić's former presidential

campaign manager A campaign manager, campaign chairperson, or campaign director is an individual whose role is to coordinate a political campaign's spending, broad tactics, and hiring. They lead operations such as Campaign finance, fundraising, advertising, Opi ...

Štefanija Balog. President Mesić proceeded to explain that the money used to purchase the two apartments was

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

ed from a friend of theirs, whom he refused to name, and that the money would be paid back when the Mesić family sold its valuable apartment on Ilica street. Several affairs also surfaced later on involving the couple's daughters, Saša and Dunja, as well as their grandchildren Sara Šimunović and Tomo Mesić Obranović. She died on 22 October 2024 at the age of 85.

Personal life and death

In 1961, she married future Croatian president

, who also held a number of other high-ranking political offices in Yugoslavia and Croatia, as well as local-level political offices and a judgeship in his home town of

. They had two daughters: Saša (born 1961) and Dunja (born 1963). On 22 October 2024, it was announced that Mesić had died at the age of 85.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mesic, Milka 1939 births 2024 deaths 20th-century Croatian women 21st-century Croatian women People from Slabinja, Croatia Spouses of presidents of Croatia Spouses of prime ministers of Croatia First ladies of Yugoslavia