Rodoljub "Roćko" Čolaković ( sr-cyr, Родољуб Чолаковић; 7 June 1900 – 30 March 1983) was a Yugoslav politician and writer who served as the 1st Prime Minister of PR Bosnia and Herzegovina and as the Minister for

PR Bosnia and Herzegovina The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Bosna i Hercegovina, Социјалистичка Pепублика Босна и Херцеговина), commonly referred to as Socia ...

in the Provisional Government of DF Yugoslavia led by Josip Broz Tito. He was a

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

in the

Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska ar ...

and in the National Liberation Army during

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Biography

Born in

Bijeljina Bijeljina ( sr-cyrl, Бијељина) is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the provincial center of Semberija, a geographic region in the country's northeast. Administratively, Bijeljina is part of the Republika Srpska ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

on 7 June 1900, Čolaković joined the League of Communists of Yugoslavia in April 1919 as a student. Later, he joined ''Crvena Pravda'' ("Red Justice"), a left-wing terrorist organisation which assassinated Yugoslav interior minister

Milorad Drašković Milorad Drašković ( sr-cyr, Милорад Драшковић; 10 April 1873 – 21 July 1921) was a Serbian politician who was the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Death On 21 July 1921 Alija Alijagi� ...

on 21 July 1921. For his role in the assassination, Čolaković was sentenced to 12 years in prison. While serving his sentence, he made friends with many notable Yugoslav communists, including

Moša Pijade Moša Pijade ( sr-Cyrl, Мoшa Пијаде; he, משה פיאדה; alternate English transliteration Moshe Piade; 4 January 1890 – 15 March 1957), nicknamed Čiča Janko (, lit. "Old Man Janko") was a Serbian and Yugoslav communist of J ...

with whom he translated ''

Das Kapital ''Das Kapital'', also known as ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'' or sometimes simply ''Capital'' (german: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie, link=no, ; 1867–1883), is a foundational theoretical text in materialist phi ...

'' and other seminal Marxist texts into

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...

. After his release, Čolaković emigrated to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and in 1937 travelled to Spain to take part in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

on the Republican side. He later came back to Yugoslavia, participating in

. Between 1946 and 1955, Čolaković published five volumes of ''Zapisa iz oslobodilačkog rata'' ("Memoir of the liberation war") from his war diaries. In addition to writing newspaper articles, propaganda leaflets and books on World War II, he also published two autobiographies ''Kuća oplakana'' ("House of Mourning") and ''Kazivanje o jednom pokolenju'' ("Stories of One Generation). Čolaković died on 30 March 1983 at the age of 82 in Belgrade.

Awards and decorations

Domestic awards

After

, Čolaković was awarded many high profile Yugoslav orders, the biggest one of them being the

Order of the People's Hero The Order of the People's Hero or the Order of the National Hero ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Orden narodnog heroja, Oрден народног хероја; sl, Red narodnega heroja, mk, Oрден на народен херој, Orden na ...

, which he was awarded on 27 November 1953.

Foreign awards

Čolaković was also awarded two foreign orders; the Polish

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta ( pl, Order Odrodzenia Polski, en, Order of Restored Poland) is a Polish state order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on foreigners for outstanding achievement ...

and the Soviet

Order of Kutuzov The Order of Kutuzov (russian: орден Кутузова ''orden Kutuzova'') is a military decoration of the Russian Federation named after famous Russian Field Marshal Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov (1745–1813). The Order was established ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colakovic, Rodoljub 1900 births 1983 deaths People from Bijeljina People from the Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina League of Communists of Bosnia and Herzegovina politicians Yugoslav Partisans members Bosnia and Herzegovina people of World War II International Lenin School alumni Members of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina Recipients of the Order of the People's Hero