Dušan Letica
| Dušan Letica | |
|---|---|
| Commissioner of Finance of the Commissioner Government | |
|
In office 30 April 1941 – 29 August 1941 | |
| Prime Minister | Milan Aćimović |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Minister of Finance of the Government of National Salvation | |
|
In office 29 August 1941 – 26 October 1943 | |
| Prime Minister | Milan Nedić |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Ljubiša M. Bojić |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
23 October 1884 Valjevo, Kingdom of Serbia |
| Died |
19 September 1945 (aged 60) Belgrade, People's Republic of Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia |
| Political party | People's Radical Party (1918-1935) Yugoslav Radical Union (1936-1940) ZBOR (1940-1945) |
| Spouse(s) | Miša Ristić (1911-1945; his death) |
| Children | 7 |
| Residence | Naselje Milorada Pavlovica in Valjevo, Serbia (1884-1896), Belgrade, Serbia (1896-1945), Madrid Spain, (1921-1934) |
| Alma mater | Complutense University of Madrid, and University of Belgrade |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Profession | Politician |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
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| Service/branch | Royal Serbian Army |
| Years of service | 1896-1918 |
| Rank | Soldier |
| Battles/wars | |
Dušan Letica (Serbian Cyrillic: Душан Летица; 23 October 1884 – 19 September 1945) was a Serbian lawyer, translator, and Axis Power collaborationist during World War II.
Letica was a minister in the Nedić's regime and served as Minister of Finance of the Government of National Salvation from 29 August 1941 until the end of October 1943 during the war. He was captured by the Soviets in May 1945 in Hamburg, Germany following the war, and was charged with war crimes and sentenced to death in Belgrade with fifteen others Serbian Nazi collaborators.
He was one of the closest associates of Milan Aćimović in the commissioner government (1941) and Milan Nedić (1941-43) in the Government of National Salvation. At the start of his career he was a lawyer and a politician in the People's Radical Party (1918-36), and later the Yugoslav Radical Union (1936-40).
Early life and career
Letica was born on 23 October 1884 in Valjevo Kingdom of Serbia to a Serbian mother, Jelena (1861-1926), and a Bosnian father, Tomislav (1852-1939). He was their second youngest son, after he was born his family moved to Belgrade He completed the Military Academy in 1896 in Belgrade. Among his best friends were the military generals Dragomir Stojanović, Vojislav Tomić, Radovan Obradović, Dušan Simović, Dušan Trifunović, and Milorad Petrović.
He fought in the Balkan Wars of 1912-13 and World War I in the Royal Serbian Army, and was involved in the Serbian army's retreat through Albania into Greece during World War I. He fought on the Salonika front and Serbian Front with the Serbian forces. After the war he returned to Belgrade in December 1918, and worked as a lawyer and a politician in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He made friends with Dušan Milosević, Milan Grol, Niko Subotić, Stjepan Barić, Dusan Trifković, Cedomir Mihailović, Slavko Nikolić, Dušan Popović, Jovan Radulović, Slobodan Subotić, and others with whom he became good friends. He also went to Spain and continued his education at the Complutense University of Madrid,
Interwar Period
After his return to Yugoslavia from Spain in the spring of 1934 finishing his education. He was Minister of Finance in the government of Milan Stojadinović (1935-39). In 1936, he joined the Yugoslav Radical Party and participated in the Yugoslavian parliamentary election, 1938, in which Dragiša Cvetković became the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia in February 1939 when the Stojadinović regime broke down on 26 August 1939, just days before the beginning of World War II. In 1940, he joined the fascist movement Yugoslav National Movement (Serbo-Croatian: Jugoslavenski narodni pokret Zbor/Југословенски народни покрет Збор) in June 1940.
World War II
In March 1941 Letica supported the Yugoslav coup of 1941 and he supported his friend general Simović's Government During the April war after the invasion he joined the Commissioner Government the first Serbian collaborationist puppet government on 30 April 1941, Letica and other prominent Serbs signed the Appeal to the Serbian Nation on 13 August and began to cooperate with the Nazi Officials, and called fighting against On the Serbian resistance, on 29 August 1941, Milan Nedić come into power and in charge of the Serbian puppet government he was appointed the minister of Finance.
On 8 February 1942 he meet two German Generals Heinrich Danckelmann and Harald Turner n Belgrade for talks he and many others marked the shooting of Serbian writer and Partisan fighter Marko Ristić (1913-14 August 1942) who attempted to assassinate Letića in the Republic Square in Belgrade ten days earlier on 4 August 1942 together with a group of other Partisans, the assassination attempt was unsuccessful some of its plotters of the assassination attempt were later sene executed interrogated and tortured in the Banjica concentration camp.
He left the government on 26 October 1943, he also appeared at the 22 June 1944 parade with Velibor Jonić Milan Nedić, and Dragomir Jovanović, standing in front the Parliament building in Belgrade welcoming the Nazis with flowers. During the Occupation he supported the Chetnik movement of Draža Mihailović
Withdrawal from Serbia (1944)
By the end of August 1944 the Soviet Union's Red Army arrived on the eastern borders of Nazi-occupied Serbia The Red Army invaded Bulgaria by early September, on 3 September 1944 he planned to leave Yugoslavia.
On 14 September 1944 the red army entered Belgrade and handed power over to the Yugoslav Partisans in October 1944. He fled the country toward the end of the war to Kitzbühel than to Hamburg other exiled members of the Serbian puppet government went to Germany and Austria and other country to hide from the allies, only 5 members went to hide in Bulgaria including the United States
Capture, trial, and death
After the war he was captured by the Red Army in Hamburg on 16 May 1945 as he attempted to flee to Puerto Rico to meet his wife and children. He spent two months in the Vladimir Central Prison and was extradited to Yugoslavia in June 1945 to face war crimes.
His trial began on 15 August 1945, on 17 September 1945 he was found guilty of the killing of Marko Ristić in August 1942 and collaboration with Nazis and genocide against Jews, Romanis and others and called on the Serbian people to fight the "National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia". he was sentenced to death by firing squad in Belgrade along with Radoslav Veselinović, Čedomir Marjanović, Stojimir Dobrosavljević, and together with two Croatian generals Vladimir Metikoš, Ivan Tomašević, and fifteen others were all executed by firing squad in Belgrade. He was buried in Belgrade on 26 September 1945.
Family
Letica was married to Miša Ristić (1889-1962) who he met in high school in May 1903. She was from Kraljevo and they married on 11 June 1911. They had three daughters and a 4 sons and 3 daughters named: Niko Letica named after he brother, and which will fight for the Chetniks in World War II (1914-1945) Miodrag Letica (1918-1983) Milieva Letica (1922-2003) Snežana Letica (1936-) Ljubica Letića (1939-2018) Ljubiša was born shortly after his father’s death, in October 1945 and Slobodan Letica (1940-), and later worked as a Lawyer like his father, beside his Native language Serbian, Letica is fluent speaking in Polish, English, Russian, French, and Spanish, during his stay in Spain,
References
- Byford, Jovan (2006). "Serbian Orthodox Church". In Blamires, Cyprian; Jackson, Paul. World Fascism: A Historical Encyclopedia. 1. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-57607-940-9.
- Cohen, Philip J. (1996). Serbia's Secret War: Propaganda and the Deceit of History. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 978-0-89096-760-7.
- Israeli, Raphael (2013). The Death Camps of Croatia: Visions and Revisions, 1941–1945. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4128-4975-3.
- Tomasevich, Jozo (1975). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: The Chetniks. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-0857-9.
- Tomasevich, Jozo (2001). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Collaboration. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-3615-2.
References
- Byford, Jovan (2006). "Serbian Orthodox Church". In Blamires, Cyprian; Jackson, Paul. World Fascism: A Historical Encyclopedia. 1. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-57607-940-9.
- Cohen, Philip J. (1996). Serbia's Secret War: Propaganda and the Deceit of History. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 978-0-89096-760-7.
- Israeli, Raphael (2013). The Death Camps of Croatia: Visions and Revisions, 1941–1945. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4128-4975-3.
- Tomasevich, Jozo (1975). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: The Chetniks. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-0857-9.
- Tomasevich, Jozo (2001). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Collaboration. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-3615-2.