Vasilije Krestić ( sr-cyr, Василије Крестић; born 20 July 1932) is a Serbian

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and a member of the

Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , SANU) is a national academy and the most prominent academic institution in Serbia, founded in 1841 as Society of Serbian Letters (, DSS). The Academy's membership has included Nobel Prize, Nobel la ...

Biography

As a

, he focuses on the history of the

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

of the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

. In his early career, Krestić wrote about the history of

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

before and after the Nagodba of 1868, with special reference to the

Serbs of Croatia The Serbs of Croatia ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Срби у Хрватској, Srbi u Hrvatskoj) or Croatian Serbs ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Хрватски Срби, Hrvatski Srbi) constitute the largest national minority in C ...

and in Hungary. He has written numerous articles on related subjects. In the mid-1980s Krestić became involved in the politics of nationalist opposition to communism in Serbia. He became a voice of discontent regarding the status of the

and helped to revive Serbian nationalism. He was one of the leading authors of the 1986

Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, known simply as the SANU Memorandum ( sr-Cyrl, Меморандум САНУ), was a draft document produced by a 16-member committee of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) f ...

, which was a founding document in the creation of the Serbian nationalist movement of the 1980s. Krestić's main contribution was in the sections that described the genocide against Serbs perpetrated by the Croatian fascist Ustasha in the Independent State of Croatia. Nationalist professors led by Krestić removed Dr. Drago Roksandić from the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

in 1989, causing nine professors to publish an open letter in defence of Roksandić in the March 1990 issue of ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...

''.Andrzej Walicki, Daniel Chirot, Gale Stokes, Ivan Szelenyi,

Ivo Banac Ivo Banac (; 1 March 1947 – 30 June 2020) was a Croatian-American historian, a professor of European history at Yale University and a politician of the former Liberal Party in Croatia, known as the Great Bard of Croatian historiography. , Bana ...

, Jan T. Gross, Katherine Verdery, Norman Naimark,

Tony Judt Tony Robert Judt ( ; 2 January 1948 – 6 August 2010) was an English historian, essayist and university professor who specialised in European history. Judt moved to New York and served as the Erich Maria Remarque Professor in European Studies ...

: Fired in Belgrade. ''The New York Review of Books'', Volume 37, Number 5 - March 29, 1990. Available online a
nybooks.com
Retrieved 21 April 2007. In 1995, Krestić published a defense of the Memorandum, with Kosta Mihailović, another of the Memorandum's original authors. Krestić was also active in the defense 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 ...

before the

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes in the Yugoslav Wars, war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to tr ...

(ICTY). His son

Petar Krestić Petar (, sr-Cyrl, Петар) is a South Slavic masculine given name, their variant of the Biblical name Petros cognate to Peter. Derivative forms include Pero, Pejo, Pera, Perica, Petrica, Periša. Feminine equivalent is Petra. People mo ...

is also prominent Serbian historian.

Major works

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References

1932 births Living people People from Novi Kneževac 20th-century Serbian historians Historians of the Balkans 21st-century Serbian historians Members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Serbian nationalists Eastern Orthodox Christians from Serbia {{Serbia-historian-stub