Moša Pijade
Moša Pijade (Serbian Cyrillic: Мoшa Пијаде; alternate English transliteration Moshe Piade; 4 January 1890 – 15 March 1957), nicknamed Čiča Janko (Чича Јанко, lit. "Uncle Janko") was a Serbian and Yugoslav communist, a close collaborator of Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslav politician, and full member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Moša Pijade | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 5th President of the Federal People's Assembly of the Federative People's Republic of Yugoslavia | |
| In office 29 January 1954 – 15 March 1957 | |
| Preceded by | Milovan Đilas |
| Succeeded by | Petar Stambolić |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 4 January 1890 Belgrade, Kingdom of Serbia |
| Died | 15 March 1957 (aged 67) Paris, France |
| Nationality | Yugoslav |
| Political party | League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ) |
| Spouse | Lepa Pijade |
| Occupation | Painter, Art critic, Publicist, Revolutionary, Resistance commander, Statesman |
| Awards |  Order of the People's Hero  Order of the Hero of Socialist Labour  Order of the Brotherhood and Unity  Order of the Partisan Star  Order of National Liberation  Order of Bravery  Order of George I (Greece) _-_ribbon_bar.gif){kind=small} Order of the Holy Trinity (Ethiopia) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia |
| Branch/service | Yugoslav People's Army |
| Rank | Major General of Yugoslav People's Army |
| Commands | Yugoslav Partisans Yugoslav People's Army |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Life and career
Pijade was of Sephardic Jewish parentage. In his youth, Pijade was a painter, art critic and publicist. He was also known for translating Das Kapital by Karl Marx into Serbo-Croatian, together with Rodoljub Čolaković.
He is thought to have had a major influence on Marxist ideology as exposed during the old regime in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In 1925, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison because of his 'revolutionary activities' after World War I. He was discharged after 14 years in 1939 and imprisoned again in 1941 in the camp Bileća.
World War II
Pijade was one of the leaders of the Uprising in Montenegro.[1] His ruthless cruelty toward the people who refused to join his units was noted. He was subsequently recalled to the communist headquarters because of the issues connected to the uprising.[2] Under the influence of Pijade and Milovan Đilas an extreme prosecution of "leftist errors" was pursued by the Partisans in Montenegro.[3]
In March 1942, Pijade met British envoy in occupied Yugoslavia Terence Atherton and took him on a tour of inspection of the organization of the communist forces in Žabljak.[4]
Pijade was known as the creator of the so-called 'Foča regulations' (1942), which prescribed the foundation and activity of people's liberation committees in the liberated territories during the war against the Nazis. In November 1943, before the second AVNOJ meeting in Jajce, he initiated the foundation of Tanjug, which later became the state news agency of SFR Yugoslavia, nowadays of Serbia.
Pijade held high political posts during World War II and was a member of the Central Committee and the Politburo of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, being one of leaders of Tito's partisans.
Later career
For his services during the war, Pijade was subsequently proclaimed People's Hero of Yugoslavia, and continued to maintain an important role in the newly proclaimed Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. He was one of six Vice Presidents of the Presidium of the Yugoslavian Parliament (deputy head of state) 1945–53.
In 1948 Pijade convinced Tito to allow those Jews who remained in Yugoslavia to emigrate to Israel. Tito agreed on a one-time exception basis. As a result, 3,000 Jews emigrated from Yugoslavia to Israel on the SS Kefalos in December 1948. Among those was Tommy Lapid, who became Deputy Prime Minister of Israel and was the father of Yair Lapid.[5]
After having led the law commission of the Parliament, Pijade was vice-president (1953–54) and President of the Yugoslavian Parliament or Skupština (1954–55). In 1957, he died in Paris during the return from a visit to London, where he had talks as leader of a Yugoslav parliamentary delegation. Streets in many cities of the former Yugoslav countries were once named after him.
Notes
- Djilas, Milovan (1980). Tito: the story from inside. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-15-190474-7.
Mosa Pijade (1890-1957) Prominent Party theoretician of Serbian Jewish origin. With Djilas he led the Partisan uprising in Montenegro in 1941.
- Center, Free Europe Committee. Mid-European Studies (1957). Yugoslavia. Mid-European Studies Center of the Free Europe Committee. p. 431.
...he organized the uprising in the summer of 1941, noted for the ruthless cruelty used against those who refused to join. Thereafter, mainly because of the circumstances of the uprising, recalled to Headquarters...
- Goulding, Daniel J. (2002). Liberated Cinema: The Yugoslav Experience, 1945–2001. Indiana University Press. p. 14. ISBN 0-253-34210-4.
Under the influence of Milovan Djilas and the Marxist intellectual Mosa Pijade, however, the Partisan forces in Montenegro followed an extremist political line
- (Williams 2003, p. 67): "Atherton, it seems, was given the full treatment on the latter points. He was taken on a tour of inspection by Mosa Pijade of the partisan organization in Zabljak, Montenegro, and on the evening of his arrival at Tito's headquarters in Foca on 19 "
- Yair Lapid Memories After My Death: The Story of Joseph 'Tommy' Lapid, p. 81
References
- Jaša Romano (1980). "Jews of Yugoslavia 1941 - 1945" (PDF). Federation of Jewish communities of Yugoslavia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
- "Šezdeset godina Tanjugove fotografije:Vili Šimunov Barba". Tanjug. Archived from the original on 2020-07-07. Retrieved 2009-03-18.
- Sephardic Jews and Communism
- Williams, Heather (2003). Parachutes, Patriots and Partisans: The Special Operations Executive and Yugoslavia, 1941-1945. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. ISBN 978-1-85065-592-3.
