Savić Marković Štedimlija

Savić Marković Štedimlija (1906/1907–1970) was a Montenegrin publicist and writer, best known for his theories on the origins of the Montenegrin people.

Biography

Štedimlija was born in either 1906 or 1907 in Stijena, Podgorica, Montenegro. He attended the Gymnasium in Podgorica before attending various schools in Serbia, then Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. He subsequently moved to Zagreb, where he graduated in Law and Philosophy at the University of Zagreb, which greatly influenced his later activities.

He remained in Zagreb to the rest of his life. He expressed his theories on origins of the Montenegrins for the first time in early 1937, when he published a book named "Red Croatia" (Crvena Hrvatska) in Split. He referred to Doclea, the ancient South Slavic state from the early-to-High medieval ages, calling it a part of Red Croatia.

He explained in his thesis that thus, Montenegrins are descendants of the people that settled the area back then, i.e. the Red Croats. He explained that Montenegrins belonged to the Western world, and that despite many Montenegrins over the past centuries have adopted the Serbian national affiliation, they never in fact left their own Western cultural orientation. Although sympathetic of the Montenegrin sovereigntist ideals represented by Sekula Drljević, Stedimlija completely distanced himself from The Greens and Montenegrin Federalists.

When Sekula Drljević was expelled from the occupied Kingdom of Montenegro, he formed the Montenegrin National Council, a sort-of government in exile dedicated to restoration and preservation of Montenegrin sovereignty. Štedimlija was made his Minister of foreign affairs for his previous experience in the field.

When the Red Army caught Štedimlija on the run in Austria in 1945, he was sent to the USSR and spent ten years in the Gulag, accused for collaboration. In 1956 the Yugoslav Communist leadership asked the Soviet Union to hand him over. Upon the request of the League of Communists of Montenegro, he was tried and sentenced to 8 years of prison for his acts during the war. Late in life he was employed by Miroslav Krleža at the Yugoslav Lexicographical Institute.

Death

Savić Marković Štedimlija died in 1970 and was buried in Zagreb's Mirogoj Cemetery.

Legacy

In 2004, the Matica crnogorska published Štedimlija's memoirs, Ten Years in the Gulag.

Selected writings

External links


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