Blagoje Jovović
Blagoje Jovović (Serbian: Благоје Јововић; 1922 – 2 June 1999) was a Montenegrin Serb hotel owner, and participant of World War II in Yugoslavia initially as a member of the Partisan and later the Chetnik movement. He is credited with mortally wounding Croatian Ustaše leader Ante Pavelić.
Blagoje Jovović | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1922 |
| Died | 2 June 1999 (aged 76–77) Rosario, Argentina |
| Occupation | Military officer, hotel owner |
| Known for | Attempted assassination of Ante Pavelić |
Biography
Jovović was born in Kosić near Danilovgrad in today's Montenegro. During World War II he fought for the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland, and was a member of the Bjelopavlić Chetnik brigade. At the time when World War II started, he was serving in Strumica, near the Yugoslav border with Greece. For his part in the April War he was honoured with a medal. When the war was over, he came back to his birthplace, Kosić in Bjelopavlići. As of July 1941 he took part in antifascist war against Italy. With Kosić's Partisan unit he participated in the battle of Pljevlja, and later commanded that unit.
He later fought for the Chetniks,[1] under the command of Bajo Stanišić. As of September 1944, he was part of the delegation led by Dušan Vlahović and Jakov Jovović, that was sent from Kotor across the Adriatic Sea to Taranto to negotiate with the British. There they were informed about Allied change of support in favor of Partisans as a result of the Tehran Conference and stayed in Italy throughout the remainder of the war.
Jovović spent his time in Italy in several immigration camps. He was surrounded by the people tied to the intelligence service operations. On one such occasion, he met Randolph Churchill, of whom he reportedly did not hold a very high opinion.[2]
Attempted assassination of Ante Pavelić
At that time, he found out that the Catholic Church had been hiding Ante Pavelić inside the Vatican under a false name.[3][4] Jovović conceived the idea of finding and executing Pavelić due to the persecution and genocide of Serbs under his rule.
Jovović was known as the founder of the Serbian Orthodox community “Saint Sava”, and one of the founders of the Organisation of Fighters “Draža Mihailović” as well as the member of the Board of the “Njegoš” association. While living in Argentina and running a successful hotel enterprise that he owned, he received tips about Pavelić's whereabouts in Argentina. Jakov Jovović began the assassination plans, but Blagoje himself agreed to carry them out.
In this, they were joined by Milo Krivokapić. The assassination was scheduled to take place on April 9, 1957, on the eve of the Independent State of Croatia's anniversary celebration, but they decided to delay the attack by a day.[2] On April 10, at 9 PM local time, 16 years after the founding of the Independent State of Croatia, Pavelić suspected someone was following him as he walked down a street, so he turned back and fired several shots towards Jovović, who started running after Pavelić and fired five shots, two of which hit Pavelić who then, according to Jovović, staggered, bent and begged for mercy.[2]
The assassination attempt is described in detail by Jovović in the following excerpt from the book “Two Bullets for Pavelić” („Два метка за Павелића”):[2]
I went after him, walking fast, nearly running. I got close, I was seven or eight meters from him. Pavelić sensed my presence, turned around and started shouting, 'Fuck your Serbian-Jewish communist mother!' I heard a shot, but couldn't see where it had come from. I didn't stop. I kept running straight towards him. Once I was two to three meters away from him, I started shooting. Once. Twice. I shot him in the back, as he was running away. Two bullets hit him and he fell. He dropped his briefcase and lay motionless. I was cautious. He might have been pretending to be dead. I started thinking that maybe it would be best to keep him alive and make him face a trial. I thought about beating him. Then I looked at his briefcase and thought of taking his documents. But, I thought, if there is any money in there and I get caught, I'd be labelled a thief and it may appear as if I had killed him just for the money. I decided to leave him and his briefcase as they were. Someone started shouting and shooting in my direction. I turned around and took three shots and started to run around the buildings on a semicircular street. Some people stepped out and asked me what had happened. Breathless, I responded, 'Look at those drunk fools, they're shooting at people for no reason!' I hid the gun in my pocket. I left one bullet for myself, just in case.
— Tihomir-Tiho Burzanović, Book About Blagoje Jovovic: Two Shots for Pavelic („Књига о Благоју Јововићу Два метка за Павелића”), Sveti Sava
Pavelić never fully recovered from the sustained injuries. He was also suffering from diabetes and he finally died on 28 December 1959 in Madrid, Spain.
Later years
In 1999, Jovović visited Yugoslavia for the first time fifty-five years after he had left and he visited Ostrog, where he met Metropolitan Amfilohije. There, he publicly confessed that he was the person responsible for the attempted assassination of Ante Pavelić.[2]
Death
Jovović died on 2 June 1999 in Rosario, Argentina, just several months after visiting his birthplace.
Legacy
In 2020 it was decided that Blagoje Jovović will have a street, in Belgrade, named after him.[5]
References
- Zlatar, Pero (9 March 2009). "The Secret of the Assassination of Ante Pavelic". dalje.com. dalje.com. Archived from the original on 2014-06-24. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
- Tihomir-Tiho Burzanović, Knjiga o Blagoju Jovoviću - Dva metka za Pavelića.
- Breitman et al. 2005, p. 214.
- Ramet 2006, p. 187.
- https://www.danas.rs/beograd/blagoje-jovovic-dobija-ulicu-u-beogradu-a-djuza-stojiljkovic-spomen-plocu/
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