Milan Aćimović
Milan Aćimović (Serbian Cyrillic: Милан Аћимовић, 1898–1945) was a Serbian collaborationist with the Axis in Yugoslavia during World War II.
Early life
Milan Aćimović was born on 31 May 1898 in Pinosava, in the Belgrade municipality of Voždovac. He finished gymnasium in Belgrade and received a law degree from the University of Belgrade in 1923.[1] On 2 September 1935, he and Velibor Jonić successfully petioned the Ministry of Interior to legalize the Yugoslav National Movement (Zbor).[2] He became the chief of police in Belgrade in 1938 and was appointed Minister of Interior by Milan Stojadinović on 21 December 1938. He held this position until 5 February 1939. In April 1939, he was arrested alongside Stojadinović and was detained until August 1940.[1][3]
World War II
On 30 May 1941, a few weeks after the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, Aćimović formed the first puppet government in Serbia, called the Commissary Government. He was the leader of the government until 29 August of that year when it was dissolved.
Aćimović's puppet government was replaced by another puppet government, the Government of National Salvation, headed by former general Milan Nedić. In this government, Aćimović served as minister of the interior. He was sympathetic towards the Chetniks of Draža Mihailović and maintained close contact with Mihailović. The Germans suspected that Aćimović warned Mihailović of the launching of Operation Mihailovic, which was conducted over 6–7 December 1941. The warning, apparently given the day before the offensive began, enabled Mihailović to escape.
Despite these actions and the German's suspicions, Aćimović managed to stay on good terms with them, even meeting with Mihailović in March 1942 with German permission. On 10 November 1942, Aćimović was replaced as minister of interior by Colonel Tanasije Dinić, who was seen as more anti-Mihailović than Aćimović. After his replacement and the expulsion of the Germans from Serbia in October 1944, Aćimović acted as liaison between Mihailović and German Envoy Hermann Neubacher in Vienna.
After the German administration in Serbia fell, Aćimović joined a Chetnik column. He was killed by Yugoslav Partisans at the Battle of Zelengora in May 1945.
Notes
- 1 2 Božović 1985, p. 17.
- ↑ Cohen 1996, p. 15.
- ↑ Jarman 1997, p. 259.
References
- Božović, Branislav (1985). Milan Aćimović. Zagreb: Centar za informacije i publicitet. OCLC 486883834.
- Cohen, Philip J. (1996). Serbia's Secret War: Propaganda and the Deceit of History. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 978-0-89096-760-7.
- Jarman, Robert L. (1997). Yugoslavia: 1938–1948. Cambridge: Archive Editions. ISBN 978-1-85207-950-5.
- Ramet, Sabrina P. (2006). The Three Yugoslavias: State-Building and Legitimation, 1918–2005. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34656-8.
- Tomasevich, Jozo (1975). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: The Chetniks. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-0857-9.
- Tomasevich, Jozo (2001). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Collaboration. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-3615-2.