Olga Humo (née Ninčić;

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, 17 May 1919 – Belgrade, 4 August 2013) was a

Yugoslav partisan The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

, writer and university professor. She was attached to the

Partisan Supreme Headquarters The Supreme Headquarters was created in June 1941 by the Central Committee of the Yugoslav Communist Party after the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia of 6 April 1941. It was the main command and staff body of the Yugoslav Partisans, with ...

as one of the most prominent women fighters and served as personal secretary to communist leader

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...

throughout the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Biography

Humo was born in Belgrade in 1919, to a wealthy family. Her father,

Momčilo Ninčić Momčilo Ninčić ( – 23 December 1949) was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and economist, president of the League of Nations from 1926 to 1927. Early life and education Momčilo Ninčić was born in Jagodina on to Aaron and Paula Nin ...

, was a university professor, economist and politician. He had been a member of parliament, government minister, and served as President of the Assembly of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

from 1926 until 1927.Maclean (1991), p. 328 This international exposure and London education ensured Olga spoke in "quiet and perfect English, with no trace of accent". She enrolled into

Belgrade University The University of Belgrade () is a public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Krag ...

, joined the Communist Youth organisation and married fellow student and Mostar-born Bosnian communist activist

Avdo Humo Avdo Humo (; 1 February 1914 – 24 January 1983) was a Yugoslav and Bosnian communist politician, writer and an Order of the People's Hero recipient. Humo held highest positions in the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1972, H ...

in 1940. She did not follow her parents in exile to London but remained in

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. Her father was a senior minister in the Yugoslav Royal government in-exile in London, opposing the communists.Deakin, p. 113 In 1941 she was arrested by Ustaša police, and although pregnant, managed to escape the guards at Sarajevo hospital. After the birth of her child she had to leave the infant with her husband's parents in

Mostar Mostar () is a city and the administrative centre of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the historical capital of Herzegovina. Mostar is situated on the Neretva Riv ...

and join

partisans Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Itali ...

at Tito's GHQ where her fluency in the English language was very much needed. She worked with Dr Ian Mackenzie of the

RAMC The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was a specialist corps in the British Army which provided medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. On 15 November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army De ...

William Deakin Sir Frederick William Dampier Deakin DSO (3 July 1913 – 22 January 2005) also known as F. W. Deakin, was a British historian, World War II veteran, literary assistant to Winston Churchill and the first warden of St Antony's College, Oxfor ...

, Fitzroy Maclean, and other Anglo-American representatives throughout their stay in the Balkans. In August 1944, together with

Vladimir Velebit Vladimir "Vlatko" Velebit, PhD (19 August 1907 – 29 August 2004) was a Yugoslav politician, diplomat and military leader who rose the rank of Major-General during World War II. A lawyer by profession, after the war he became a diplomat an ...

and Maclean, she flew to Naples and assisted Tito during numerous meetings with

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

Caserta Caserta ( ; ) is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. An important agricultural, commercial, and industrial ''comune'' and city, Caserta is located 36 kilometres north of Naples on the edge of the Campanian p ...

. At their last gathering, she received a gold locket, with the inscription "To Olga from Winston S. Churchill."Maclean (1957), p. 238

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Humo, Olga 1919 births 2013 deaths League of Communists of Yugoslavia Writers from Belgrade Serbian academics Serbian women writers University of Belgrade alumni Yugoslav Partisans members Women in the Yugoslav Partisans 20th-century Serbian people