Blagoje Jovović

Blagoje Jovović ( Serbian - Cyrillic Благоје Јововић ; * 1922 in Kosić, Danilovgrad , Kingdom of Yugoslavia ; † June 2, 1999 in Rosario , Argentina ) was a Yugoslav Chetnik and brief partisan of Tito . In 1957, as an agent of the Yugoslav secret service UDBA, he is alleged to have committed the assassination attempt on Ante Pavelić , who was the fascist dictator of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during World War II .

Life

Jovović was born in Kosić in 1922 . His family is said to have belonged to the old and traditional Serbian Bjelopavlići clan from the Danilovgrad area. Pro-Serbian and monarchist- oriented, he joined the Yugoslav army in the fatherland during World War II, which opposed the fascist and military occupation of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers . Most of the time he fought in the Strumica region . In 1941 he joined the popular uprising against the occupation of Montenegro by Italy and became commander of the partisan brigade in Kosić, with which it took part in the fighting for Pljevlja . On the instructions of partisan Ivan Milutinović , he was supposed to participate in the attacks against the colonel of the local Chetnik brigade Baja Stanišić . He is said to have taken up arms in Ostrog earlier , on the rumor that the communists would liquidate people who did not share the same political views.

Jovović eventually refused to participate in the attack and joined the Bjelopavlić Brigades of Baja Stanišić. In September 1944 he belonged with his cousin Jovo Jovović and Dušan Vlahović to the Chetniks who traveled to Italy to negotiate with the English. From Kotor they traveled to Taranto , where they were received by Americans. After a few days they received the news that the war had turned to the advantage of Tito and the partisans. Blagoje Jovović decided to stay in Italy. In between he lived in London for two years . In September 1947 he traveled from Genoa to Buenos Aires , where he developed into a successful partner in a hotel in Mar del Plata as well as a trader and industrialist in Argentina . Jovović later founded the Serbian Orthodox parish " Sveti Sava " and became its benefactor . He also founded the association of veterans called " Draža Mihailović " and became a board member of the "Njegoš" association .

attack

prehistory

During his time in Italy Jovović also working for the intelligence service of the Allies . There some Jews told him that the Catholic Church or the Vatican was hiding Ante Pavelić under a false name. As a result, Blagoje Jovović is said to have thought about finding Pavelić and his liquidation for the first time. The second time Jovović became aware of Pavelić through a report by the Argentine journalist Jose De Francesco in the newspaper La Prensa , in which Croatian-fascist-Ustasha emigrants, led by Pavelić, were accused as mercenaries of doing the dirty work for the dictator Juan Perón exercised. The report also mentioned that Pavelić was staying freely in Buenos Aires, where he was spending the money previously taken from Serbian and Jewish concentration camp prisoners in Croatia. Jovović then reported the following emotionally to one of his closest friends and leaders of the Argentine Chetniks, Vladimir Ivanišević from Cetinje :

“Oh, my brother Vladimir knows, if Ante Pavelić actually lives in Buenos Aires and if he moves freely, I will track him down and use his blood to avenge the Serbs who have been killed. [...] By Saint Vasilije, he will die at my hand! "

- Blagoje Jovović, 1956

On the same day, Jovović made his way to Buenos Aires to contact Jose De Francesco. They then met at Plaza Dorrego in the center of the San Telmo district in a café called Pappa Deus . There Jovović asked if he could be connected to the Yugoslav embassy and then described his plans. After he made it clear to the journalist that he did not want to carry out the act for payment, but out of conviction, he then asked for a 9.65 mm caliber revolver , otherwise he would be registered as the owner of a weapon if he were legally purchased from the police. At the second meeting in the same place, Jovović appeared with a mustache and longer hair and wore glasses. De Francesco reported to him that the Yugoslav embassy refused to get the revolver, which also broke the meeting.

On the advice of a former Italian general he finally discovered Pavelić in early 1957. In 1945 Pavelić had left the Croatian troops fleeing from the advancing partisans and fled to Argentina via rat lines in Austria and Italy. In the previous years he had a planned genocide carried out mainly against Serbs , Jews and Roma , but also against Croatian and Bosnian-Muslim opponents of the system, which claimed several hundred thousand deaths and reached its climax in the Jasenovac concentration camp . Because of the war crimes committed , he was on the list of several secret services , primarily on the list of the Yugoslav UDBA and the Israeli Mossad . In Yugoslavia he was sentenced to death in absentia . In Argentina, Pavelić was under the protection of Juan Perón.

Eventually, Pavelić's real identity and whereabouts in Argentina became known. The attack is said to have been planned by his relative Jovo Jovović, while Blagoje Jovović volunteered as an assassin. They were later joined by Milo Krivokapić from Cetinje. The attack was supposed to be carried out on April 9, 1957, but Pavelić was accompanied by his wife and daughter on that day, after which it was decided to carry out the action the next day. In the end, Blagoje Jovović was to carry out the attack alone.

procedure

Pavelić in hospital after the 1957 assassination attempt

On Wednesday April 10th at 9 p.m. in Lomas del Palomar , Argentina, Blagoje Jovović was chasing his target. After leaving a bus, Pavelić suspected his pursuer, whereupon he turned to Jovović, fired several shots in his direction and then fled. Jovović pursued Pavelić and fired several shots in Pavelić's direction, who was badly injured by two bullets in the back. Jovović later described the process as follows:

“I got closer to 7, 8 meters. Pavelić felt me, saw me ... he started to scream [...] I heard gunshots, didn't know where they were coming from. I didn't stop. [...] I approached within 2 to 3 meters and shot. [...] I shot him in the back while he was on the run. [...] He fell. The way he had carried the bag, it fell from his hands over the side into a garden. [...] I couldn't believe that he would pretend to be dead, even if there were two bullets in him. At that point, I thought it was better that he lived because that was how he would end up in the hospital. The people would see it and then he would come to justice. Should I hit him, I thought? I saw his wallet and documents. I thought it would be good to get it, but if I was caught, I'd be left a thief because of the money. [...] I finally left the bag to Pavelić. "

- Blagoje Jovović, 1999

The Argentine government subsequently decided to hand Pavelić over to Tito. Badly injured in the spine , Pavelić managed to go into hiding, to leave a false trail to Paraguay and to escape to Spain , where Franco granted him political asylum . Pavelić died on December 28, 1959 in the German Hospital in Madrid from the aftermath of the assassination attempt. He was holding his rosary in his hand, which he received in 1941 during an official visit from Pope Pius XII. had been given. Shortly before, he had received from Pope John XXIII. receive the special blessing . The attack is said to have been initiated by the UDBA, which is said to have known Pavelić's whereabouts for a long time, but the more precise circumstances could not be clarified.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t} The telegraph: DVA METKA ZA USTAŠU: Ko je četnik Blagoje Jovović koji je ubio Anta Pavelića?
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} The Blic : Ljuti osvetnik sa damskim revolverom