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Commissioner Government

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Commissioner Government
Комесарска влада
Komesarska vlada
Puppet government overview
Formed30 April 1941
Dissolved29 August 1941
JurisdictionTerritory of the Military Commander in Serbia
HeadquartersBelgrade
Minister responsible

The Commissioner Government (Serbo-Croatian language: Komesarska vlada, Комесарска влада) was the first Serbian puppet government established in the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia during World War II (within Axis-partitioned Yugoslavia). It operated from 30 April 1941 to 29 August 1941. The leader of the puppet government was Milan Aćimović.

Overview[]

Hitler had briefly considered erasing all existence of a Serbian state, but this was quickly abandoned and a search began for a suitable Serb to lead a collaborationist regime.[1] After considering former Yugoslav Prime Minister Dragiša Cvetković, former Yugoslav Foreign Minister Aleksander Cincar-Marković, former Yugoslav Minister of Internal Affairs Milan Aćimović, the president of the 'quasi-fascist' Zbor movement Dimitrije Ljotić and the Belgrade police chief Dragomir Jovanović, the Military Commander in Serbia decided on Aćimović, who formed his Commissioner Administration on 30 April 1941, consisting of ten commissioners. They avoided Ljotić as they believed he had a 'dubious reputation among Serbs'.[1] Aćimović was virulently anti-communist and had been in contact with the German police before the war.[2] He was sworn into office in late May.[3] The other nine commissioners were Steven Ivanić, Momčilo Janković, Risto Jojić, Stanislav Josifović, Lazo M. Kostić, Dušan Letica, Dušan Pantić, Jevrem Protić and Milisav Vasiljević, and one commissioner was in charge of each of the former Yugoslav ministries except the Ministry of Army and Navy which was abolished.[2] Several of the commissioners had held ministerial posts in the pre-war Yugoslav government, and Ivanić and Vasiljević were both closely linked to Zbor.[4] One of the first tasks of the administration was to carry out Turner's orders for the registration of 'all Jews and Gypsies' in the occupied territory and implementation of severe restrictions on their activities. While the implementation of these orders was supervised by the German military government, Aćimović and his interior ministry were responsible for carrying them out.[5] During May 1941, Förster issued numerous orders, which included a requirement for the registration of all printing equipment, restrictions on the press, operation of theatres and other places of entertainment, and the resumption of production. He also disestablished the National Bank of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and established the Serbian National Bank to replace it.[6] Förster was subsequently transferred, and on 2 June was succeeded as Military Commander in Serbia by General der Flakartillerie Ludwig von Schröder, another Luftwaffe officer.[7]

In mid-May, Aćimović's administration issued a declaration to the effect that the Serbian people wanted 'sincere and loyal cooperation with their great neighbor, the German people'. Most of the local administrators in the counties and districts remained in place,[8] and the German military administration placed its own administrators at each level to supervise the local authorities.[9]

List of commissioners[]

From 30 April 1941[]

From 30 April 1941, the commissioners were:[10]

  • Milan Aćimović, prime minister and commissioner for the interior
  • Risto Jojić, commissioner for education
  • Dušan Letica, commissioner for finance
  • Dušan Pantić, commissioner for post office and telegraph
  • Momčilo Janković, commissioner for justice
  • Milosav Vasiljević, commissioner for national economy
  • Dr Lazo M. Kostić, commissioner for transportation
  • Dr Stevan Ivanić, commissioner for social policy/health
  • Stanislav Josifović, commissioner for construction
  • Jeremija Protić, commissioner for food and agriculture

According to Philip Cohen, Aćimović, Vasiljević and Ivanić were Nazi agents prior to the invasion of Yugoslavia.[10]

From 11 July 1941[]

After government reconstruction on 11 July 1941, the commissioners were:

  • Milan Aćimović, commissioner for internal affairs
  • Velibor Jonić, commissioner for education
    • Vladimir Velmar-Janković, deputy
  • Ranisav Avramović, commissioner for traffic
    • Nikola Đurić, deputy
  • Momčilo Janković, commissioner for justice
    • Dr Đura Kotur, deputy
  • Dušan Letica, commissioner for finances
    • Milan Horvatski, deputy
  • Dušan Pantić, commissioner for post offices and telegraph
    • Milorad Dimitrijević, deputy
  • Stanislav Josifović, commissioner for buildings
    • no deputy
  • Budimir Cvijanović, commissioner for food
    • no deputy
  • Milosav Vasiljević, commissioner for people's economy
    • Dr Mihajlović, deputy
  • Dr Stevan Ivanić, commissioner for social policy and people's health
    • Božidar-Darko Petrović, deputy

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ramet & Lazić (2011), pp. 19–20
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Tomasevich (2001), p. 177
  3. ↑ Dobrich (2000), p. 21
  4. ↑ Tomasevich (2001), p. 178
  5. ↑ Byford (2011), pp. 116–117
  6. ↑ Lemkin (2008), pp. 591–601
  7. ↑ Tomasevich (2001), pp. 65–66
  8. ↑ Ramet & Lazić (2011), p. 20
  9. ↑ Tomasevich (2001), p. 75
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Cohen (1996), p. 153

References[]

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