Sekula Drljevic

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Sekula Drljević (around 1925)

Sekula Drljević ( Serbian - Cyrillic Секула Дрљевић ; * September 7, 1884 in Ravni zu Kolašin , Principality of Montenegro ; † November 10, 1945 in Judenburg , Austria ) was a fascist Montenegrin politician and one of the best-known sympathizers of National Socialism in Montenegro.

Live and act

Sekula Drljević completed his law studies in Zagreb and obtained a doctorate . He was then Minister of Justice and Finance of the Kingdom of Montenegro . Initially, Drljević saw himself as a Montenegrin Serb and advocated Montenegro's entry into the First World War on the side of Serbia . After the unification of Montenegro with Serbia in 1918, which Drljević viewed as an occupation, he moved to Croatia, where he came into contact with fascist groups around Ante Pavelić . Under the influence of Croatian fascists, Drljević developed the idea of ​​an independent Montenegrin nation of Croatian origin and from then on advocated an independent Montenegro, which was in union with Croatia and Albania , which he also regarded as Croatian (according to a theory advocated by Croatian nationalists, according to which the Albanians would be descendants of a legendary Croatian tribe) should be independent.

After the Balkan campaign of the Axis powers , Drljević was brought to Montenegro by Mussolini in 1941 and declared the independent Kingdom of Montenegro on July 13 of the same year, but this failed due to the resistance of the (partly communist , partly pro-Serb monarchist ) rebels. Drljević left Montenegro the following day and returned to Croatia, where he joined Ante Pavelić as a propagandist. He was u. a. Editor of the fascist battle paper Graničar (The Border Guard), in which he praised the struggle of Adolf Hitler , and in 1944 he founded the Montenegrin People's Assembly , a kind of fascist government in exile, with seven like-minded people . In the same year he tried in his book Who are the Serbs? with scientific methods to portray the Serbs as a centuries-long destability factor in the Balkans .

Drljević presented his point of view as follows:

“The south-east is not a monotonous space from which a unit could be formed at the discretion of those who are foreign to it, or even such a number of units as would correspond to foreign interests. The countries facing the Aegean Sea separate from the countries of the Adriatic not only mountain ranges, not only the independence of their state and national life preserved through the past centuries, but also the diversity of cultural influences under which theirs are developed mental attitude. [...]
Like Montenegro, the other countries of the European Southeast also have their disparate and sharply contrasting peculiarities, which undoubtedly proves that they must remain special units in the new European order in the event of undesirable conflicts and shocks should be avoided. That this point of view is correct is also shown by the unfortunate attempt with the former Yugoslavia and everything that happened in it. [...]
Right from the very beginning of the existence of Yugoslavia, however, a life-and-death struggle against central Belgrade rule began . In this fight Croatia and Montenegro excelled through uncompromising determination. "

On November 10, 1945, Drljević was murdered together with his wife Marija in the DP camp in Judenburg (Austria). The fact was never cleared up; It is believed that both were killed by Chetniks from Herzegovina or Yugoslav agents. He was buried in Klagenfurt .

Afterlife

The rehabilitation of Sekula Drljević is now being sought by the Montenegrin independence advocates, and the current national anthem of Montenegro is a version of an older folk song from the 19th century that Drljević arranged.

Fonts (selection)

  • Borba za carinsku, vojnu i diplomatsku uniju između Crne Gore i Srbije . Cetinje 1914.
  • Централизам или федерализам [centralism or federalism] . Zemun 1926 (Serbian).
  • Balkanski sukobi: 1905–1941. Putovi, Zagreb 1944.

literature

  • Mato Rupić: DRLJEVIĆ, Sekula . In: Darko Stuparić (ed.): Tko je tko u NDH: Hrvatska 1941. – 1945 [Who is who in the NDH: Croatia 1941–1945] . Minerva, Zagreb 1997, p. 100 (Croatian).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ MS Štedimlija: In the Balkans . Putovi, Zagreb 1943, p. 7–9 (preface).
  2. ↑ Novak Adzic: KO JE BIO DR SEKULA DRLJEVIĆ? Retrieved July 15, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Drljević, Sekula
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Montenegrin politician and sympathizer of Croatian fascism and National Socialism
DATE OF BIRTH September 7, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Ravni, Montenegro
DATE OF DEATH November 10, 1945
Place of death Judenburg , Austria