Ema Derossi-Bjelajac (3 May 1926 – 20 June 2020) was a
Croatian politician who served as the
President of the Presidency of the Socialist Republic of Croatia (a constituent republic of the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...
) from 1985 until 1986. She was the first woman to hold a title equivalent to a
head of state
A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...
in modern-day Croatia.
Biography
She served in a number of high-ranking functions within the
League of Communists of Croatia and the Croatian republican government of the period: notably, she was a Member of the Central Committee of the League between 1964 and 1974, and was a Member and Deputy Speaker of the Croatian Parliament (Sabor) between 1978 and 1982. She served in the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia from 1964 to 1968.
On 20 June 2020, she died in
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, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
, aged 94.
References
Sources
DEROSSI-BJELAJAC, Emaat lzmk.hr
Members of the Central Committee of the 8th Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia
League of Communists of Croatia politicians
Presidency of the Socialist Republic of Croatia members
20th-century Croatian women politicians
20th-century Croatian politicians
1926 births
2020 deaths
People from Labin
{{Croatia-politician-stub
Yugoslav Partisans members
First women presidents
Women presidents in Europe