Milan Grol

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Milan Grol
Slobodan Jovanovic
Succeeded byBožidar Purić
Personal details
Born(1876-09-12)12 September 1876
Yugoslavia
NationalitySerb
Political partyDemocratic Party (Yugoslavia)
Spouse(s)Ljubica Rakic, daughter of Dimitrije Mita Rakić (m.1898–1929), Nikolina Simović, daughter of Dušan Simović (m.1940–1952)
EducationUniversity of Belgrade

Milan Grol (12 September 1876 – 3 December 1952) was a Serbian literary critic, historian and politician. He was also director of the National Theatre in Belgrade.

Biography

Milan Grol was born in

Karađorđević dynasty to the Serbian throne. Politically, Grol identified with a group of left-wing urban democrats led by Ljubomir Živković, Ljubomir Stojanović and Jaša Prodanović. This movement separated from the People's Radical Party and later became the Independent Radical Party. After 1903, Grol continued to work with Skerlić, first as a journalist, and, from 1905 to 1909, as the editor of Dnevni list, which represented the left-wing ideals of the Independent Radical Party. Grol became a dramatist at the National Theatre and remained in that position until 1906. He taught for three more years before becoming the director of the National Theatre in 1909. From 1912 to 1914, he was the editor-in-chief of Odjek. Grol joined the main committee of the Independent Radical Party in 1913.[1]

Grol remained director of the National Theatre until the outbreak of

Reuben Markham, described Grol as "one of the most unimpeachable democrats in the Balkans. His whole life is a record of working for the people,...bravely and incorruptibly. He lived in a small house on a modest street in...Belgrade....His meager income was free from all contamination."[2]

Grol held various posts in the Yugoslav government-in-exile during World War II in London: Minister for Social Welfare and Public Health, from 27 March to January 1942; Minister of Transport, from 10 January 1942 to 26 June 1943; and Minister of Foreign Affairs, from 26 June to 10 August 1943.

In the first half of 1944, Serb politicians in the government-in-exile attempted to convince King Peter to appoint Grol to replace

communists failed to observe the conditions that had been agreed upon with the government-in-exile when the unified government was established.[6]

Grol tried to re-publish the pre-war Democratic Party magazine called Demokratija, but was blocked by the Partisans. He was placed under house arrest in November 1945, and withdrew from public life after the introduction of

communist rule. He testified at the trial of Draža Mihailović.[7]

Works

  • Theatre Reviews (Pozorišne kritike), Belgrade, 1931.
  • From Pre-War Serbia (Iz predratne Srbije), Belgrade, 1939.
  • From the Theatre of Pre-War Serbia (Iz pozorišta predratne Srbije), Belgrade, 1952.

Literature

  • Enciklopedija Jugoslavije, part 4, 1986.

Notes

  1. ^ a b Topham 1995, p. 381.
  2. ^ Markham, Reuben (27 August 1945). "Why Dr. Grol Resigned". The Christian Science Monitor.
  3. ^ Tomasevich (1975), p. 310
  4. ^ Roberts (1973), pp. 312–316
  5. ^ Roberts (1973), p. 317
  6. ^ Tomasevich (2001), p. 232
  7. ^ Captives Sold, Tribunal Told, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – 25 June 1946

References

Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Democratic Party of Yugoslavia
1940–1945
Succeeded by
Party dissolved
Political offices
Preceded by
Yugoslavian Minister of Education
1928–1929
Succeeded by
Preceded by Yugoslavian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1943
Succeeded by