Rodoljub Čolaković


Rodoljub "Roćko" Čolaković was a Yugoslav Partisan and politician who served as the 1st Prime Minister of PR Bosnia and Herzegovina and as the Minister for SR Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Provisional Government of DF Yugoslavia led by Josip Broz Tito. He was a major general in the Yugoslav People's Army and in the National Liberation Army during World War II.
Born in Bijeljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary on 7 June 1900, Čolaković joined the League of Communists of Yugoslavia in April 1919 as a student. Later, he joined Crvena Pravda, a left-wing terrorist organisation which assassinated Yugoslav interior minister Milorad Drašković on 21 July 1921. For his role in the assassination, Čolaković was sentenced to 12 years in prison. While serving his sentence, he made friends with many notable Yugoslav communists, including Moša Pijade with whom he translated Das Kapital and other seminal Marxist texts into Serbo-Croatian.
After his release, Čolaković emigrated to the Soviet Union and later took part in the Spanish Civil War on the Republican side. He later came back to Yugoslavia, participating in World War II. Čolaković died on 30 March 1983 at the age of 82 in Belgrade.

Awards and decorations

Domestic awards

After World War II, Čolaković was awarded many high profile Yugoslav orders, the biggest one of them being the Order of the People's Hero, which he was awarded on 27 November 1953.

Foreign awards

Čolaković was also awarded two foreign orders; the Polish Order of Polonia Restituta and the Soviet Order of Kutuzov.