Jump to content

Stana Tomašević

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stana Tomašević in 1944
Stana Tomašević with President of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito in Belgrade in 1963

Stana Tomašević (married name Stana Tomašević-Arnesen, 1920–1983) was a Yugoslav Partisan officer during World War II, a teacher, model, politician and diplomat. She was Yugoslavia's first woman ambassador, serving as the country's representative in Norway, Iceland and Denmark. She served as president (speaker) of the Federal Chamber from 1979 to 1982.

Biography

[edit]

Tomašević was born in Bar, Montenegro in 1920,[1] and studied to become a teacher.[2] She was working as a teacher in Vrulja, near Pljevja when the Kingdom of Italy occupied Montenegro in 1941. As an idealistic young patriot, she immediately joined the Partisans and became the first woman commissar in Yugoslavia. She was part of the “Jovan Tomašević” battalion and then in the Fourth Montenegrin Proletarian Brigade.[2] She was wounded twice and ended the war highly decorated with the rank of colonel.[2]

In May 1944, the Germans attempted to capture Josip Broz Tito in the Bosnian town of Drvar and Tomašević's battalion played an important role in defending Tito. While she was in Drvar, the British military photographer John Talbot took pictures of her that were dropped as leaflets over Europe to encourage resistance to the occupiers. The photos became widely known to European resistance fighters.[3] Her brother Duško was killed by Chetniks while fighting in Bosnia.[4]

After the war, she graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade in 1954,[2] and then served as a federal minister in the Yugoslav government. She was appointed as the country's first woman ambassador, firstly to Norway and Iceland (1963–1967) and later Denmark (1974–1978).[1] She was the third female ambassador accredited to Norway.[5] In Norway, she met and married film-maker Eugen Arnesen, who had first seen her on poster that had been airdropped into Norway.[3] He died in 1969.[citation needed]

After the death of Tito, served as president of the Socialist Alliance of Working People (SSRNJ) Committee for commemorating Tito's legacy.[6]

Tomašević died of cancer in 1983 in Belgrade, shortly after retiring as President of the Federal Chamber of the Yugoslav Parliament, the country's highest-ranking woman at that time.[7][2]

She was awarded The Commemorative Medal of the Partisans of 1941 and other foreign and Yugoslav decorations, including the Order of Brotherhood and Unity of the First Class.[2]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Yugoslavia. Skupština (1977). Yugoslav Assembly. Univerzum. p. 22. Archived from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2016. From 1958 to 1963, Stana Tomasevic-Arnesen was assistant federal secretary for labour and labour relations, and after that, until 1967, Yugoslav ambassador to Norway and Iceland. At that time she was also a member of the Central ...
  2. ^ a b c d e f Women of Montenegro. United Nations Development Programme. 10 April 2022. p. 93.
  3. ^ a b Cathie Carmichael (2 July 2015). A Concise History of Bosnia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 88–. ISBN 978-1-107-01615-6. Archived from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  4. ^ The South Slav Journal. Dositey Obradovich Circle. 2009. p. 140. Archived from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  5. ^ News of Norway. Vol. 20. The Representative. 1963. p. 140.
  6. ^ Spaskovska, Ljubica (30 April 2017). The last Yugoslav generation: The rethinking of youth politics and cultures in late socialism. Manchester University Press. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-5261-0634-6.
  7. ^ Tomasevic, Bato (2008). Life And Death In The Balkans. C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd. ISBN 978-1850659136.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stana_Tomašević&oldid=1304673365"