Džemal Bijedić


Džemal Bijedić was a Yugoslav Communist politician from Bosnia and Herzegovina. He served as the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia from 30 July 1971 until his death in a plane crash on 18 January 1977.

Early life

Džemal Bijedić was born in Mostar, Austria-Hungary to parents Adem and Zarifa, into a Muslim Bosniak merchant family. He finished his elementary and secondary education in Mostar, and graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, where he joined the League of Communists of Yugoslavia in 1939.

WWII: a communist, a domobran, and a partisan

In a documentary produced by Face TV, :bs:Mišo Marić|Mišo Marić claims that Bijedic joined the Domobrans |Hrvatsko domobranstvo in April 1941, following the directives of League of Communists of Yugoslavia, as a lieutenant using an alias Ante Jukic. Another documentary about Džemal Bijedic produced by Federalna televizija shows a photo of Bijedic dressed in a military uniform with Domobrans' collar insignia. The same photo was shown at the beginning of the first documentary, but the Domobrans' insignia was painted over with Partisans' red star in colour. It is also mentioned that Bijedic joined the Yugoslav Partisans in February 1943.

Politics

After the liberation, Bijedić had many political roles. From 1967, he was the president of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Assembly. From July 1971 until his death in 1977, he was Prime Minister of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Bijedić played a vital role in affirming Muslims as a Yugoslav constitutive nation.

Career

On 18 January 1977, Džemal Bijedić, his wife Razija and six others were killed when their Learjet 25 crashed on the Inač mountain near Kreševo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The plane took off from Batajnica Air Base in Belgrade and was en route to Sarajevo when it crashed, ostensibly due to poor weather conditions. Conspiracy theorists have suggested that the crash was not an accident but rather the result of foul play at the hands of his Serbian rivals.

Legacy

Significant progress in the economy of Herzegovina was made under Bijedić's leadership. The university in Mostar was renamed Džemal Bijedić University in his honour. Bijedić and his wife were survived by their two sons and one daughter.