Commissioner Government
| Puppet government overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 30 April 1941 |
| Dissolved | 29 August 1941 |
| Jurisdiction | Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia |
| Headquarters | Belgrade |
| Minister responsible | |
The Commissioner Government (Serbian: Комесарска влада, Komesarska vlada) was the first Serbian puppet government established in the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia during World War II (within Axis-partitioned Yugoslavia). It operated from 30 April 1941 to 29 August 1941. The Serbian minister responsible was Milan Aćimović.
Contents
Overview
Adolf Hitler, the Führer of Germany, had briefly considered erasing all existence of a Serbian state, but soon abandoned the idea, and a search began for a suitable Serb to lead a collaborationist regime.[1] After considering former Yugoslav Prime Minister Dragiša Cvetković, former Yugoslav Foreign Minister Aleksander Cincar-Marković, former Yugoslav Minister of Internal Affairs Milan Aćimović, the president of the "quasi-fascist" Zbor movement Dimitrije Ljotić and the Belgrade police chief Dragomir Jovanović, the Military Commander in Serbia decided on Aćimović, who formed his Commissioner Administration on 30 April 1941, consisting of ten commissioners. (The German authorities passed over Ljotić as they believed he had a "dubious reputation among Serbs".[1]) Aćimović, virulently anti-communist, had had contact with the German police before the war.[2] He was sworn into office[by whom?] in late May 1941.[3] The other nine commissioners were Steven Ivanić, Momčilo Janković, Risto Jojić, Stanislav Josifović, Lazo M. Kostić, Dušan Letica, Dušan Pantić, Jevrem Protić and Milisav Vasiljević; each commissioner ran one of the former Yugoslav ministries (the Ministry of Army and Navy was abolished).[2] Several of the commissioners had held ministerial posts in the pre-war Yugoslav government, and Ivanić and Vasiljević both had close links to Zbor.[4] One of the first tasks of the administration involved carrying out Turner's orders for the registration of "all Jews and Gypsies" in the occupied territory and implementation of severe restrictions on their activities. While the German military government supervised the implementation of these orders, Aćimović and his interior ministry had the responsibility of carrying them out.[5]
During May 1941 the German military governor of Serbia, Helmuth Förster, issued numerous orders, which included a requirement for the registration of all printing equipment, restrictions on the press, operation of theatres and other places of entertainment, and the resumption of production. Förster also disestablished the National Bank of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and established the Serbian National Bank to replace it.[6] With Förster's transfer, on 2 June 1941 another Luftwaffe officer succeeded him as Military Commander in Serbia: General der Flakartillerie Ludwig von Schröder.[7]
In mid-May, Aćimović's administration issued a declaration to the effect that the Serbian people wanted "sincere and loyal cooperation with their great neighbor, the German people". Most of the local administrators in the counties and districts remained in place,[8] and the German military administration placed its own administrators at each level to supervise the local authorities.[9]
List of commissioners
From 30 April 1941
From 30 April 1941, the commissioners were:[10]
- Milan Aćimović, prime minister and commissioner for the interior
- Risto Jojić, commissioner for education
- Dušan Letica, commissioner for finance
- Dušan Pantić, commissioner for post office and telegraph
- Momčilo Janković, commissioner for justice
- Milosav Vasiljević, commissioner for national economy
- Dr Lazo M. Kostić, commissioner for transportation
- Dr Stevan Ivanić, commissioner for social policy/health
- Stanislav Josifović, commissioner for construction
- Jeremija Protić, commissioner for food and agriculture
According to Philip Cohen, Aćimović, Vasiljević and Ivanić were Nazi agents prior to the invasion of Yugoslavia.[10]
From 11 July 1941
After government reconstruction on 11 July 1941, the commissioners were:
- Milan Aćimović, commissioner for internal affairs
- Tanasije Dinić, first deputy
- Đorđe Perić, second deputy
- Velibor Jonić, commissioner for education
- Vladimir Velmar-Janković, deputy
- Ranisav Avramović, commissioner for traffic
- Nikola Đurić, deputy
- Momčilo Janković, commissioner for justice
- Dr Đura Kotur, deputy
- Dušan Letica, commissioner for finances
- Milan Horvatski, deputy
- Dušan Pantić, commissioner for post offices and telegraph
- Milorad Dimitrijević, deputy
- Stanislav Josifović, commissioner for buildings
- no deputy
- Budimir Cvijanović, commissioner for food
- no deputy
- Milosav Vasiljević, commissioner for people's economy
- Dr Mihajlović, deputy
- Dr Stevan Ivanić, commissioner for social policy and people's health
- Božidar-Darko Petrović, deputy
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ramet & Lazić (2011), pp. 19–20
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Tomasevich (2001), p. 177
- ↑ Dobrich (2000), p. 21
- ↑ Tomasevich (2001), p. 178
- ↑ Byford (2011), pp. 116–117
- ↑ Lemkin (2008), pp. 591–601
- ↑ Tomasevich (2001), pp. 65–66
- ↑ Ramet & Lazić (2011), p. 20
- ↑ Tomasevich (2001), p. 75
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Cohen (1996), p. 153
References
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- Kostić, Boško N., Za istoriju naših dana, Lille, France, 1949.
- Milosavljević, Olivera Potisnuta istina - Kolaboracija u Srbiji 1941-1944, Beograd, 2006.
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