Tito

by Vladimir Dedijer

Confessedly sympathetic to Tito and the cause for which he lives, unequivocally a Communist, though concurring with the inevitability of his native Yugoslavia's split with Moscow, Vladimir Dedljer gives a closeup of Tito, and of the role he has played in creating modern Yugoslavia, and does it so far as possible in Tito's own words. He serves as sort of commentator or Greek chorus, providing the connecting links, the explanatory interpolations, bits of historical background. It is in large part biographical- or should one say autobiographical, giving far more of Tito's boyhood and youth, his fourteen years experience working among peasants and laborers, five years of which he spent in prison, his role in the Balkan secretariat, then as leader of the partisans against the German menace, finally as director of the path Yugoslavia has taken in world politics. The most interesting contribution the book makes is through the step by step analysis of the breach and final break with Stalin, and the efforts made by Moscow to circumvent and block each move. Much controversial material here in frank presentation of the Tito case against Mihailovic, the Tito side of the American airplanes, Tito's attitude towards Balkan unity, towards the West, and so on. Despite awkward phraseology (translation perhaps?) and lack of color- this is an important book.--Kirkus

Genres: Biography

443 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Vladimir Dedijer was born on February 4. 1914. in Belgrade, where he spent his childhood and youth. He finished elementary school, high school and journalism, and was actively involved in the workers movement. He edited several newspapers in the country.

Although not a member of any Communist Party or Communist Youth League, Dedijer worked in favor of communist propaganda. He knew the director of "Politika", Vladislav Ribnikar with whom he met Tito's arrival in Belgrade in 1941.

At the time of the rebellion he had to organize the political and propaganda work, to teach communists and work at the "Struggle" as an editor, along with Milovan Djilas. There, their great friendship started.

Vladimir Dedijer was appointed political commissar of the Kragujevac NOP Detachment. Participated in the siege of Kraljevo, in mid-October 1941, when he was wounded in the leg.

After that, he went to the Supreme Headquarters and works in agitation and propaganda department of the war.

After the war, he left to witness the founding of the United Nations in San Francisco. Upon his return, as a very educated man, he gets a place of history teaching NOB at Belgrade University. During the war, he carefully writes his diary, which he publishes after the war.

He was a representative of the Yugoslav delegation at the peace conference in Paris 1946. Upon his return, becomes the editor-in-chief of the "Struggle".

During the conflict with Stalin, he was a member of various negotiating missions. There he began to collect data for his famous work, by which he would later become known - "Contributions to the biography of Josip Broz Tito."

He was a member of the Communist Party's Central Committee since 1952, the Socialist Alliance and the federal committee since 1953. As editor of "Struggle", was accused of arranging Đilas's articles, and was brought before a party committee, then before the court in Belgrade in 1954. He was sentenced to a year and a half (suspended). Later, the court overturned that decision.

Dedijer then decided to retire from political life. He resigned his membership in the Communist Party and Socialist Alliance in August 1954.

After his political career, he began to engage in writing. He went to the U.S. the 1955 where he won the title of professor of historical sciences. Occasionally he came from America to the country in which the research for his book was to be done.

Vladimir Dedijer became a member of the Russell Tribunal, and then the president of the same court that investigated war crimes in Vietnam, human rights violations in Latin America and many others.

He actively worked in the Serbian Academy of Sciences in Belgrade. He was one of the coauthors of the textbook "History of Yugoslavia since 1918", published by the Belgrade "Nolit" in 1972.

After Tito's death, he went back to America, to Washington, where he collected materials for a biography of Tito.

In America, he worked on preparing the Russell Tribunal Court of the Jasenovac concentration camp. To this end, he returned again to Yugoslavia in 1989. and in conjunction with senior research associate Antun Miletic worked on writing a book about Jasenovac.

Towards the end of his life he turned blind, and wanted to come back and die in his country, but died suddenly of a severe heart attack on the 30th of November 1990. in Boston, where he was cremated. His urn was, with all military honors, placed besides his two tragically departed sons in Ljubljana.

As a merit in working together, Antun Miletic (after Dedijer's death) published the book "Against oblivion and taboo - Jasenovac (1941-1945), where in addition to his name, entered the name Vladimir Dedijer.

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Bill Clinton granted political refugee status to Bosnians our East Rogers Park neighborhood in Chicago, transitional since at least my grandmother's time, absorbed many of them. I became friends with some of them and with some of their friends, being introduced to Bosnian culture, cuisine and a tiny bit of the language. My own former sister in law was the product of a Serbo-Bosnian union, so I'd had some exposure before by her family and, of course, I'd followed the break-up of Yugoslavia in the press, but this newly expanded network of relations got me much more interested in the history of the south Slavs and of their state, Yugoslavia.

So, starting with White Lamb, Black Falcon, I studied. This biography of Josip Broz Tito was so exceptionably thorough that I gave my copy to one of these new friends upon its completion.

[Julian Munoz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great history by a great man