Ba Congress
The Ba Congress or Saint Sava Congress or Great People's Congress[1] was a meeting of political representatives from the German-occupied territory of Serbia, German-occupied Slovenia and the Independent State of Croatia organized by Draža Mihailović between 25 and 28 January 1944 in the village of Ba on liberated territory of the German-occupied territory of Serbia during World War II. The congress aimed to counter decisions of Communist organized AVNOJ and its decisions from 29 November 1943 to organize Yugoslavia as federative republic.
Background
The Congress of Saint Sava was organized to counter decisions of Communist organized AVNOJ and its decisions from 29 November 1943 to organize Yugoslavia as federative republic, Draža Mihailović organized the Saint Sava Congress participated by representatives of former liberal political parties from Serbia, Montenegro and Slovenia together with some pro-Yugoslav politicioans from Croatia, based on the idea of Yugoslavia as tripartite constitutional monarchy headed by Serb souvereign.[2] The main principle of the programme of the Ba Congress was social-democratic Yugoslavism.[3] This congress marked a change in the Chetnik main war objective, instead their initial aim to restore unitary monarchy they accepted federal state structure with dominant Serb federal unit.[4]
Dicsussions
Živko Topalović proposed that Bosnia should be fourth federal unit, but this was opposed by Dragiša Vasić and Stevan Moljević.[5]
Participants
The congress was organized by Draža Mihailović and participated by representatives of former liberal political parties from Serbia, Montenegro and Slovenia together with some pro-Yugoslav politicioans from Croatia, based on the idea of Yugoslavia as tripartite constitutional monarchy headed by Serb sovereign.[6]
There were 298 participants of the congress from different parts of Yugoslavia.[7] The congress was attended by American George Musulin as delegate of US Army and envoy of the president of the United States Theodore Roosevelt.[8][clarification needed] The work published in post-war Yugoslavia and authored by Branko Latas emphasized that British general Charles Armstrong, head of British mission with Chetniks, refused to participate in the congress being unsatisfied because Chetniks did not follow earlier British requests to perform two sabotages against Germans.[9] The pro-Chetnik post-war sources published explanation of Mihailović who emphasized that Armstrong insisted that Chetniks should destroy bridges over river Morava and river Ibar near Raška as condition for his participation at the Congress.[10]
Resolution
The congress denounced attempt of Second Sessions of AVNOJ held in Jajce on 29 November 1943 to change the constitutional organization of Yugoslavia.[11] The congress adopted a high-minded but somewhat imprecise resolution known as Ba Resolution (Serbian: Baška rezolucija) which proposed a federal organisation of Yugoslavia with entities of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia.[12]
Aftermath
Yugoslav government-in-exile reported at the beginning of March 1944 that Gestapo and Nedić regime, in response to Ba Congress, arrested 798 people only in Belgrade and held them in prison as hostages threatening to shot 100 of them for each German soldier killed in Serbia.[13]
References
- ^ (Redžić 2005, p. 162): "Resolution of the Great People's Congress in Ba [Rezolucija Velikog Narodnog kongresa u BA], 25-28 January 1944."
- ^ (Sirotković & Margetić 1988, p. 351): "Draža Mihailović, želeći brzo parirati odlukama AVNOJ-a, ... kao protuteža proklamiranom federativnom uređenju u Jajcu."
- ^ (Samardžić & Duškov 1993, p. 70): "The essence of the Ba Congress programme was expressed in a social-democratic Yugoslavism and a federal concept which was better founded, culturally and historically, than the AVNOJ concept. "
- ^ (Trbovich 2008, p. 134): "Initially the aim was to restore pre-war monarchy and unitary state structure, but it changed towards the end of the war (Ba Congress of January 1944) to accepting a federated structure, albeit with a dominant Serb unit."
- ^ (Vesović & Nikolić 1996, p. 67):"Ж. Топаловић је чак предлагао да Босна буде четврта федерална јединица, али су се томе оштро противили Д. ... Мољевић је био и против стварања нове политичке организације - ЈДНЗ - инсистирао је на проширењу Централног нацио- налног комитета и да конгрес у селу Ба ..."
- ^ (Sirotković & Margetić 1988, p. 351): "Draža Mihailović, .... saziva predstavnike bivših građanskih stranaka iz Srbije, Crne Gore i Slovenije, pojedine jugonacionaliste iz Hrvatske te neke javne radnike na četnički kongres u selu Ba, pod padinama Suvobora. ... je proklamirana ideja ustavne i trijalističke monarhije (s prevlašću Srbije, dakako) kao protuteža proklamiranom federativnom uređenju u Jajcu."
- ^ (Tasić 1995, p. 448): "Присуствовало му је 298 делегата из разних делова Југославије и из разних политичких ..."
- ^ (Vesović & Nikolić 1996, p. 57):"Конгресу је присуствовао и Џорџ Мусулин, делегат амери- чке војске и председника Рузвелта."
- ^ (Latas 1979, p. 288): " ... четничкој Врховној команди британски бригадир Армстронг одбио да присуствује конгресу због неизвршења задатака које су ... "
- ^ Glasnik Srpskog istorijsko-kulturnog društva "Njegoš". Njegoš. 1969.
- ^ (Redžić 2005, p. 152): "The congress condemned the attempt of the AVNOJ, in Jajce, to change the constitutional system in Yugoslavia and declared that the ..."
- ^ (Karchmar 1973, p. 603): "The program adopted on St. Sava's Day, which became known as the Ba Resolution (Baska rezolucija) was somewhat imprecise but high-minded: it proposed a federal state, with Serbian, Croat and Slovene units having wide economic, ..."
- ^ Saša Ilić, Veliki nacionalni kongres u selu Ba, 26-28 januar 1944, Arhiv, Časopis Arhiva Srbije i Crne Gore 1-2, 2003, page 168
Sources
- Sirotković, Hodimir; Margetić, Lujo (1988). Povijest država i prava naroda SFR Jugoslavije. Školska knj. ISBN 978-86-03-99180-2.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Redžić, Enver (2005). Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Second World War. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-7146-5625-0.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Vesović, Milan; Nikolić, Kosta (1996). Ujedinjene srpske zemlje: ravnogorski nacionalni program. Vreme Knjige.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Tasić, Nikola (1995). Историја Београда. Балканолошки институт САНУ.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Samardžić, Radovan; Duškov, Milan (1993). Serbs in European civilization. Nova. ISBN 978-86-7583-015-3.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Trbovich, Ana S. (5 February 2008). A Legal Geography of Yugoslavia's Disintegration. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-971547-3.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Latas, Branko (1979). Četnički pokret Draže Mihailovića: 1941-1945. Beogradski izdavačko-grafički zavod.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Karchmar, Lucien (1973). Draz̆a Mihailović and the Rise of the C̆etnik Movement, 1941-1942. Department of History, Stanford University.
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