Stana Tomašević (married name Stana Tomašević-Arnesen, 1920–1983) was a

Yugoslav Partisan The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

officer during World War II, a teacher, model, politician and diplomat. She was Yugoslavia's first woman ambassador, serving as the country's representative in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

and

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. She served as president (that is,

speaker Speaker most commonly refers to: * Speaker, a person who produces speech * Loudspeaker, a device that produces sound ** Computer speakers Speaker, Speakers, or The Speaker may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Speaker" (song), by David ...

) of the Federal Chamber from 1979 to 82.

Biography

She was born in

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

in 1920, and studied to become a teacher. She was working as a teacher in

Vrulja A karst spring or karstic spring is a spring (exsurgence, outflow of groundwater) that is part of a karst hydrological system. Description Because of their often conical or inverted bowl shape, karst springs are also known in German-speaking l ...

, near Pljevja when the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...

occupied Montenegro in 1941. As an idealistic young patriot, she immediately joined the Partisans and became the first woman commissar in Yugoslavia. She was part of the “Jovan Tomašević” battalion and then in the Fourth Montenegrin Proletarian Brigade. She was wounded twice and ended the war highly decorated with the rank of colonel. In May 1944, the Germans attempted to capture

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 ...

in the Bosnian town of

Drvar Drvar (, ) is a town and the seat of the Municipality of Drvar in Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in western Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the road between Bosansko Grahovo an ...

; Stana's battalion played an important role in defending Tito. While she was in Drvar, the British military photographer John Talbot took inspiring pictures of her that were dropped as leaflets over Europe to encourage resistance to the occupiers. The photos became widely known to European resistance fighters. Her brother Duško was killed by

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 ...

while fighting in Bosnia. After the war, she graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade in 1954, and then served as a federal minister in the Yugoslav government and was the country's first woman ambassador - to

and

(1963–1967) and later

(1974–1978). In Norway, she met and married film-maker Eugen Arnesen, who died in 1969. She died of cancer in 1983 in Belgrade, shortly after retiring as President of the Federal Chamber of the Yugoslav Parliament, the country's highest-ranking woman at that time. She was awarded The Commemorative Medal of the Partisans of 1941 and other foreign and Yugoslav decorations, including the Order of Brotherhood and Unity of the First Class.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tomasevic-Arneson, Stana 1920 births 1983 deaths Yugoslav Partisans members Yugoslav women in politics 20th-century women politicians Legislative speakers Ambassadors of Yugoslavia to Denmark Ambassadors of Yugoslavia to Norway Ambassadors of Yugoslavia to Iceland Propaganda in Yugoslavia Women in the Yugoslav Partisans Women ambassadors Members of the Assembly of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Yugoslav women diplomats Women legislative speakers Deaths from liver cancer in Serbia

Biography

See also

References

External links