Budimir Lončar (born 1 April 1924) is a Croatian retired diplomat who served as a

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

from 1987 until 1991. He served as Ambassador of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. In 1984, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of

SFRY The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

, and in 1987 Minister of Foreign Affairs. He held this post until the

disintegration of Yugoslavia The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

in 1991. During the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Lončar joined

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод� ...

anti-Axis resistance movement. From 1993 to 1995 he served as the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to the

Non-Aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide. The movement originated in the aftermath ...

. He was advisor in various NGOs, like Appeal of Conscience Foundation, The World Council of Religious and Spiritual Leaders in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

. He later served as an advisor to

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

n presidents Stjepan Mesić and Ivo Josipović.

Family, youth and education

Lončar ancestors originally moved to the island of

Ugljan Ugljan () is a Croatian island and the first in the Zadar Archipelago. It is located northwest of the island of Pašman and southeast of the islands of Rivanj and Sestrunj. Separated from the mainland by the Zadar Channel, it is connected with ...

from the

Lika Lika () is a traditional region of Croatia proper, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east b ...

region. Budimir's father Ive and mother Ivana, both born in 1884, were both from the island of Ugljan. They had 10 children, 5 of which survived their early childhood, one of which was the youngest Budimir. Alongside Budimir, the other four were his oldest sister Anastazija (born in 1906), and his brothers Šime, Stanko, and Ante (Tonći). Budimir's father was a ship owner and he traded with the mainland city of

Zadar Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ser ...

which at the time was under the Italian control. The city of Zadar with its elegant buildings,

gelato Gelato (; ) is the common word in Italian for all kinds of ice cream. In English, it specifically refers to a frozen dessert of Italian origin. Artisanal gelato in Italy generally contains 6%–9% butterfat, which is lower than other styl ...

shops, and

Perugina Perugina is an Italian chocolate confectionery company based in Perugia, Italy that was founded in 1907. The company also operates a chocolate-making school at its factory in Perugia, which commenced in 2007. Perugina was purchased by the Nestl ...

candies left a strong impression on young Budimir who described it as his first urban experience. His mother Ivana was a devout

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

and two of his uncles were Roman Catholic

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

s. Under the influence of his father Budimir moved to

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

to complete gymnasium

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

. His class master and physics professor was who influenced him to join Yugoslav Partisans.

World War II in Yugoslavia

During the

World War II in Yugoslavia World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was swiftly conquered by Axis forces and partitioned between Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and their client regimes. Shortly after Germany attacked the U ...

the country was divided and Budimir's region was incorporated into the Governorate of Dalmatia of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

. Budimir Lončar joined

in June of 1942 where he was active as a member of the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia. Under the mentorship of Jure Kaštelan Budimir Lončar edited ''Omladinska iskra'' magazine. He was wounded on two occasions, first in 1943 on the island of Ugljan and in 1944 on

Dugi Otok Dugi Otok (; Croatian for "Long Island", it, Isola Lunga) is the seventh largest island in the Adriatic Sea, part of Croatia. It is located off the Dalmatian coast, west of Zadar. It is the largest and westernmost of the Zadarian Islands, and ...

Early career

In May of 1950 Budimir Lončar was invited to become consul and adviser at the Mission of Yugoslavia to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

where he remained until 1956. After the posting at the New York mission he returned to

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...

to the position of the Chief of Analytics and Political Planning at the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he remained until 1964.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Loncar, Budimir 1924 births Living people Ambassadors of Yugoslavia to Germany Ambassadors of Yugoslavia to Indonesia Ambassadors of Yugoslavia to the United States Government ministers of Yugoslavia

Family, youth and education

World War II in Yugoslavia

Early career

See also

References

Sources