Savić Marković Štedimlija ( sr-cyrl, Савић Марковић Штедимлија; 12 January 1906 – 25 January 1971) was a Montenegrin writer. He studied the

history of Croatia At the time of the Roman Empire, the area of modern Croatia comprised two Roman provinces, Pannonia and Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. After the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, the ...

and was an associate of the Lexicographic Institute 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 ...

. During his life, he authored more than 20 books and a number of articles, and also worked as a

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

. Štedimlija is also known as

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of publications promoting the Croatian Orthodox Church of the

Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionar ...

regime.

Biography

Štedimlija was born in Stijena Piperska, a small village of the Piperi Highland near

Podgorica Podgorica ( cnr-Cyrl, Подгорица; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Montenegro, largest city of Montenegro. The city is just north of Lake Skadar and close to coastal destinations on the Adriatic Sea. Histor ...

in the

Principality of Montenegro The Principality of Montenegro () was a principality in Southeastern Europe that existed from 13 March 1852 to 28 August 1910. It was then proclaimed a Kingdom of Montenegro, kingdom by Nikola I of Montenegro, Nikola I, who then became King of M ...

. He attended the Gymnasium in

Leskovac Leskovac ( sr-Cyrl, Лесковац, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Jablanica District in Southern Serbia (Geographical Region), southern Serbia. According to the 2022 census, the city itself has a p ...

and moved to

in 1930. There he worked as a journalist and writer who published numerous articles and reviews on

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

and

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

in newspapers and

periodicals Periodical literature (singularly called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) consists of Publication, published works that appear in new releases on a regular schedule (''issues'' or ''numbers'', often numerically divided into annu ...

. Štedimlija's articles on Montenegrin history complained about lost independence of the

Kingdom of Montenegro The Kingdom of Montenegro was a monarchy in southeastern Europe, present-day Montenegro, during the tumultuous period of time on the Balkan Peninsula leading up to and during World War I. Officially it was a constitutional monarchy, but absolu ...

after the

Podgorica Assembly The Great People's Assembly of the Serb People in Montenegro (), commonly known as the Podgorica Assembly (, ), was an ''ad hoc'' popular assembly convened in November 1918, after the end of World War I in the Kingdom of Montenegro. The commit ...

in 1918, and his articles on domestic policy of the

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 ...

were influenced by Croatian nationalism of that time. In 1941, after political changes in the Balkans, he founded the Montenegrin National Committee of the Independent State of Croatia and a year later, he became

of publications promoting the Croatian Orthodox Church of

regime. At the end of 1944 he escaped to the Ostmark of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, in 1945 he was arrested in the Soviet zone of Austria and deported to a

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

in the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. After ten years of detention, he came back to

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

in 1955, was prosecuted for fascist collaboration and sentenced to 8 years in prison for his political activities during the war. In 1959, he was already released on condition that he accepted the prohibition of publishing works under his name. In the 1960s he was a member of the

Yugoslav Lexicographical Institute Yugoslav or Yugoslavian may refer to: * Yugoslavia, or any of the three historic states carrying that name: ** Kingdom of Yugoslavia, a European monarchy which existed 1918–1945 (officially called "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes" 1918–1 ...

until he retired into private life. Savić Marković Štedimlija died in 1971 and was buried in Zagreb's

Mirogoj Cemetery The Mirogoj City Cemetery (, ), also known as Mirogoj Cemetery (), is a cemetery park that is considered to be among the more noteworthy landmarks in the city of Zagreb. The cemetery inters members of all religious groups: Catholic, Orthodox, M ...

Historiographical publications

He published his central theory on the origin of the

Montenegrins Montenegrins (, or ) are a South Slavic ethnic group that share a common ancestry, culture, history, and language, identified with the country of Montenegro. Montenegrins are mostly Orthodox Christians; however, the population also includes ...

for the first time in his books ''Red Croatia'' and ''Basics of Montenegrin Nationalism'' from 1937. He explained in his

fringe Fringe may refer to: Arts and music * "The Fringe", or Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival * Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival * Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre * Purple fri ...

theory that Montenegrins were descendants of the "

Croatian people The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They also f ...

", who would then have settled the old Montenegrin territory of

Red Croatia Red Croatia (; ) is a pseudohistorical term used for the southeastern parts of Roman Dalmatia and some other territories, including parts of present-day Montenegro, Albania, the Herzegovina region of Bosnia and Herzegovina and southeastern Croat ...

. In his view,

Montenegrin language , pronunciation = , states = Montenegro , ethnicity = Montenegrins , speakers = 232,600 ( see text) , date = , ref = , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Balto- ...

would therefore have been "but a

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

of Croatian". The final point of that theory resulted in his assertion that the population had gradually been Serbianized over the following centuries. This theory was not Štedimlija's original idea, but its ideological roots go back to the late 19th century in the

intellectual history Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualization, conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of ...

of Croatian irredentism.

Selected bibliography

*''Gorštačka krv: Crna Gora 1918-1928'' ( Highlander's Blood: Montenegro 1918–1928), Belgrade 1928. *''Školovanje crnogorske omladine'' (Education of Montenegrin Youth), Zagreb 1936. *
Crna Gora u Jugoslaviji
' (Montenegro in Yugoslavia), Zagreb 1936. *''Crvena Hrvatska'' (

), Zagreb 1937. *
Osnovi crnogorskog nacionalizma
' (The Basics of

Montenegrin Nationalism Montenegrin nationalism is the nationalism that asserts that Montenegrins are a nation and promotes the cultural unity of Montenegrins. From the beginning of the 18th century, the population of Montenegro was torn between variants of Montenegrin ...

), Zagreb 1937. *''Rusija i Balkan'' (Russia and the Balkans), Zagreb 1937. *''Crnogorsko pitanje'' (The Montenegrin Question), Zagreb 1941 *''Auf dem Balkan'' (German; In the Balkans), Zagreb 1943. *''Verschwörungen gegen den Frieden'' (German; Conspiracies Against Peace), Zagreb 1944. *''Partizani o sebi: izvorni dokumenti o političkom podrijetlu partizana i o njihovom prebacivanju iz inozemstva na području Nezavisne Države Hrvatske'' ( Partisans About Themselves: Original Documents on the Political Origins of the Partisans and Their Transfer to the Territory of the Independent State of Croatia from Abroad), Zagreb 1944. *''Deset godina u gulagu'' (Ten Years in the Gulag),

Matica crnogorska Matica crnogorska (, ) is a Montenegrin cultural institution. It was founded in 1993 as a non-governmental organization which promotes Montenegrin national and cultural identity and the Montenegrin language. In 2008, the Parliament of Montenegr ...

, Podgorica 2004.Bibliography
at National Library of Croatia

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Markovic Stedimlija, Savic 1906 births 1971 deaths Writers from Podgorica 20th-century Montenegrin writers Montenegrin male writers Montenegrin nationalists Montenegrin people of World War II Montenegrin fascists Montenegrin politicians Montenegrin collaborators with Fascist Italy Montenegrin collaborators with Nazi Germany Montenegrin independence activists Foreign Gulag detainees Pseudohistorians People of the Independent State of Croatia People convicted of treason against Yugoslavia Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery