Veljko Ražnatović (; 1920–1986) was a Montenegrin

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

in the

Yugoslav Air Force The Air Force and Air Defence ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Ратно ваздухопловство и противваздушна одбрана, Ratno vazduhoplovstvo i protivvazdušna odbrana ; abbr. sh-Cyrl-Latn, label=none, separator=/, РВ и ПВ� ...

.Milikić, Miloš Mido. ''Za naše nebo — Monografija prve klase letača Vazduhoplovnog učilišta 1945-1947''. Belgrade 1995. He is perhaps most remembered as the father of the mobster Željko "Arkan" Ražnatović, a

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

commander and head of the Serb paramilitary force called the

Serb Volunteer Guard The Serb Volunteer Guard, SDG. Also known as Arkan's Tigers () or Arkan's men (). was an elite Serbian volunteer paramilitary unit founded and led by Željko Ražnatović (better known as "Arkan"). It was recognized for its superior bearing an ...

during the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

Biography

He was born in 1920 in

Rijeka Crnojevića Rijeka Crnojevića ( cnr-Cyrl, Ријека Црнојевића, lit=River of Crnojević noble family, Crnojević) is a town in Montenegro on the eponymous Rijeka Crnojevića (river), Rijeka Crnojevića River, near the shore of Lake Skadar lake, ...

, near

Cetinje Cetinje ( cnr-Cyrl, Цетиње, ) is a List of cities and towns in Montenegro, town in Montenegro. It is the former royal capital ( cnr-Latn-Cyrl, prijestonica, приjестоница, separator=" / ") of Montenegro and is the location of sev ...

in present-day

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

. As a young man, he joined the youth revolutionary movement and in 1939 he became a member of the

League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia The League of Socialist Youth of Yugoslavia (SSOJ) was the youth movement, member organisation of the Socialist Alliance of Working People of Yugoslavia (SSRNJ). Membership stood at more than 3.6 million individuals in 1983. It was originally est ...

. He became a member of the

Communist Party of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats a ...

in May 1941. After the invasion and occupation of Yugoslavia, in 1941, he participated in the preparations for the armed uprising. He was a participant in the Uprising in Montenegro, and then worked as an illegal in Cetinje, where he was a member of the District Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia for Cetinje. He later transferred to the unit, where he performed the duties of deputy commander and company commander. He was then a member of the Politodel of the Tenth Krajina Strike Brigade, a member of the Politodel of the 23rd Serbian Division and the Deputy Political Commissar of the 46th Serbian Division. In August 1945, he was appointed political commissar of the Air Force Military School and worked on the creation of new regiments and air bases. He was especially engaged in organizing the Command of the Aviation Military Academy, as well as the teaching department and teaching. He later served in

Brežice Brežice (; ) is a town in eastern Slovenia in the Lower Sava Valley, near the Croatian border. It is the seat of the Municipality of Brežice. It lies in the center of the Brežice Plain (), which is part of the larger Krka Flat (). The area w ...

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 ...

and

Pančevo Pančevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Панчево, ; ; ; ; ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the South Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is located on the shores of rivers Timiș (ri ...

and was commissar of the

37th Aviation Division The 37th Aviation Division ( sh-Latn, 37. vazduhoplovna divizija, 37. ваздухопловна дивизија) was a unit originally established in 1944 as the 42nd Aviation Assault Division ( sh-Latn, 42. vazduhoplovna jurišna divizija, links ...

until 1953.Dimitrijević, Bojan. ''Jugoslovensko Ratno Vazduhoplovstvo 1942-1992''. Belgrade, 2006, p. 354. He was awarded the

Commemorative Medal of the Partisans of 1941 The Commemorative Medal of the Partisans of 1941 (Macedonian language, Macedonian, Slovene language, Slovene and sh-Latn-Cyrl, Partizanska spomenica 1941., Партизанска споменица 1941., separator=" / ") is a commemorative Soci ...

and other Yugoslav decorations, including the Order of Brotherhood and Unity of the First Degree, the Order of the Partisan Star of the Second Degree, the Order of Merit for the People of the Second Degree, the

Order of Bravery The Order of Bravery () is a Bulgarian order which existed during the Kingdom of Bulgaria and currently exists in the Republic of Bulgaria. It was the second highest in the Kingdom of Bulgaria and is the fourth highest in the Republic of Bulgaria ...

and the Order of the Partisan Star of the Third Degree.

Personal life

He was married to Slavka (née Josifović; 1925–2012) with whom he had three daughters named Mirjana, Jasna and Biljana and a son,

Željko Željko (), sometimes written Zeljko, is a South Slavic masculine given name. In Croatia, the name Željko was among the most common masculine given names in the decades between 1950 and 1979, and was the most common name in the 1960s. Notable pe ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raznatovic, Veljko 1920 births 1986 deaths Military personnel from Cetinje Serbs of Montenegro Yugoslav communists Serbian communists Yugoslav Partisans members