Koča Popović

Konstantin Popović Константин Поповић
Koča Popović as Foreign Minister
2nd Vice President of Yugoslavia
In office 14 July 1966 – 30 June 1967
President	Josip Broz Tito
Preceded by	Aleksandar Ranković
Succeeded by	Office dissolved
3rd Foreign Minister of Yugoslavia
In office 15 January 1953 – 23 April 1965
Prime Minister	Josip Broz Tito Petar Stambolić
Preceded by	Edvard Kardelj
Succeeded by	Marko Nikezić
Personal details
Born	(1908-03-14)14 March 1908 Belgrade, Kingdom of Serbia
Died	20 October 1992(1992-10-20) (aged 84) Belgrade, Serbia, FR Yugoslavia
Political party	League of Communists of Yugoslavia
Spouse(s)	Veronika Vjera Bakotić Leposava Lepa Perović
Alma mater	University of Paris
Profession	Writer Soldier
Awards	Order of Freedom Order of the National Hero Order of the Hero of Socialist Labour Order of National Liberation
Military service
Allegiance	Kingdom of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia
Branch/service	Royal Yugoslav Army International Brigades Yugoslav People's Army Yugoslav Ground Forces
Years of service	1926–1927 1937–1939 1941–1953
Rank	Colonel General
Commands	First Proletarian Brigade 1st Division 1st Corps 2nd Army Chief of the General Staff
Battles/wars	Spanish Civil War, World War II

Konstantin "Koča" Popović (Serbian Cyrillic: Константин Коча Поповић; 14 March 1908 – 20 October 1992) was a Yugoslav politician and communist volunteer in the Spanish Civil War, 1937–1939 and Divisional Commander of the First Proletarian Division of the Yugoslav Partisans. He is on occasion referred to as "the man who saved the Yugoslav Partisans", because it was he who anticipated the weakest point in the Axis lines on the Zelengora–Kalinovik axis, and devised the plan for breaking through it during the Battle of Sutjeska, thus saving Tito, his headquarters and the rest of the resistance movement. After the war, he served as the Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav People's Army, before moving to the position of Foreign Minister and spent the final years of his political career as the Vice President of Yugoslavia.

Despite being a member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, he was a supporter of free market reforms and was also a member of a group of Serbian liberals, a prominent political movement in the 1970s, which also included Marko Nikezić and Latinka Perović. He retired in 1972, amidst pressure against his group of liberals. He spent the rest of his life in Dubrovnik and was very outspoken against the Yugoslav Wars and the regimes of Franjo Tuđman and Slobodan Milošević.

Popović was also among the founders of FK Partizan Belgrade, the football section of the Yugoslav Sports Association Partizan. He died in 1992 at the age of 84.

Biography

Popović came from a prosperous Belgrade family and spent the First World War in Switzerland.

In 1929, he moved to Paris to study Law and Philosophy. Here he mixed with the Left Bank world of poets, writers, artists and intellectuals. He became an active Surrealist, active in both the French and Serbian Surrealist groups. In 1931 Nacrt za jednu fenomenologiju iracionalnog (Outline for a Phenomenology of the Irrational) was published which he had co-written with Marko Ristić.

He then became involved with the then illegal Yugoslav Communist Party. In Paris there was a center run by Comintern and headed by Tito which was used to feed volunteers from the Balkans to the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. Popović was drafted through this center along with a select group of Party members. Popović fought with Spanish Republican forces and not the International Brigades, holding the rank of artillery captain. At the close of the Spanish Civil War Popović escaped through France and made his way back to Yugoslavia.

World War II

Josip Broz Tito inspects 1st Proletarian Brigade. Next to him are: Ivan Ribar, Koča Popović, Filip Kljajić, Ivo Lola Ribar, Danilo Lekić and Mijalko Todorović.

In 1940, as a reserve officer in the Royal Yugoslav Army he was mobilised and told by his Colonel to watch out for subversive activities within the regiment.

After the surrender of the Royal Yugoslav Army to the German Army in April 1941, Popović organised the Kosmaj detachment during the rising in Serbia. On the formation of the First Proletarian Brigade, Popović became its commander, and subsequently commanding the First Proletarian Division.

During his time leading the Partisans he encountered William Deakin, leader of the British military mission to Tito's headquarters, who wrote of Popović:

At the head of the First Proletarian Division was General Koča Popović. He had been present at our first encounter with Tito and his Staff on the morning of our arrival, but his identity was not disclosed. Taut and deliberately controlled by a sensitive and disciplined mind and power of will, Popovic was an intellectual soldier of outstanding talents, which were perhaps alien to his inner nature. [...] He was bilingual in caustic polished French, and his mental defences were impenetrable. His sarcasm was rapier-like, respectful of counter-thrusts, be he was never off his guard. [...] Popovic was a lone wolf and a solitary man, with rare unguarded moments. He had a touch of military genius and a hatred of war. He was wary of friendship, and defended with a devilish skill a total integrity of mind and heart. [...] I was frequently in his company, and grew to accept his contrived and polished sallies. Daring with cold deliberation and secret by nature, he was the idol of his troops, but few men knew him.

Post-war

Alongside dozens of others WW2 and Spanish Civil War veterans, Popović was among founding fathers of Partizan Belgrade football club in October 1945.

After the establishment of a communist regime in Yugoslavia in 1945, he served as the Chief of the Yugoslavian General Staff from 1945-1953. In this function he also conducted negotiations with the representatives of Western powers associated with the modernisation of the JNA during the conflict with the Soviet Union (i.e., Informbiro).

Consequently, he became the foreign minister of Yugoslavia in 1953 and held this office until 1965. As the Foreign Minister, he was the head of the Yugoslav delegation to the UN General Assembly sessions on several occasions.

From 1965 until 1972 he acted as a Member of the Federal Executive Council and the Vice-President of Yugoslavia from 1966 until 1967. In 1985 he was considered for promotion in rank General of the Army, but he was never promoted.

Honours

Yugoslavian decorations
	Order of the Yugoslav Star
	Order of the People's Hero
	Order of Freedom
	Order of the People's Liberation
	Order of the War Banner
	Order of the Yugoslav Flag
	Order of the Partisan Star
	Order of the Republic
	Order of Merits for the People
	Order of Brotherhood and Unity
	Order of Labour
	Order of Military Merits
	Order of Bravery
	Commemorative Medal of the Partisans of 1941
	Order of the Yugoslav Crown
International and foreign awards
	Order of the Falcon, (Iceland)
	Order of the White Rose of Finland, (Finland)
	Order of the Union of Burma, (Myanmar)
	Order of the Leader, (Afghanistan)
	Order of Menelik II, (Ethiopia)
	Order of the Partisan star, (Albania)
	Order of May, (Argentina)
	Order of the Southern Cross, (Brazil)
	Order of People's Freedom, (Bulgaria)
	Order of George I, (Kingdom of Greece)
	Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Italy)
	Royal Order of Cambodia, (Cambodia)
	Order of the Flag of the Republic of Hungary, (Hungary)
	Order of the Aztec Eagle, (Mexico)
	Order of St. Olav, (Norway)
	Order of Suvorov, (Soviet Union)
	Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945", (Soviet Union)
	Order of the Two Niles, (Sudan)
	Order of the Republic, (Tunisia)
	Order of Orange-Nassau, (Netherlands)
	Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal, (United Kingdom)
	Legion of Honour, (France)
	Legion of Honour, (France)
	Order of the White Lion, (Czechoslovakia)
	Czechoslovak Military Order for Liberty, (Czechoslovakia)
	Czechoslovak War Cross 1939–1945, (Czechoslovakia)
	Order of Merit, (Chile)
	Order of Civil Merit, (Spain)

See also

• Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
• Yugoslav People's Army
• Yugoslav Partisans
• Titoism
• Josip Broz Tito

External links

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Political offices
Preceded by Aleksandar Ranković	Vice President of Yugoslavia 1966–1967	Succeeded by Office dissolved
Preceded by Edvard Kardelj	Foreign Minister of Yugoslavia 1953–1965	Succeeded by Marko Nikezić
Military offices
Preceded by Arso Jovanović as Chief of the General Staff of People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia	Chief of the General Staff of Yugoslav Army (Since 1951 Yugoslav People's Army) 15 September 1945 - 27 January 1953	Succeeded by Peko Dapčević