Draft:Milivoje M. Naumovic

Milivoje M. Naumović (Serbian Cyrillic: Миливоје М. Наумовић; 1894-1982) was a Serbian diplomat representing the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in San Francisco (1930-1933), New York City (1933-1936), Montreal (1936-1939).[1][2], and shortly before World War II he became an international correspondent for United Press International (UPI).[3]

Biography

Naumović was born in Belgrade in 1894 to a well-to-do Naumović family. Right after he finished Visoka škola he volunteered to fight against the Turks in the First Balkan War and Bulgarians in the Second Balkan War.[4] The following year came the Great War where once again Serbia not only faced Bulgaria, but this time Austria-Hungary and Kaiser's Germany as well. Lieutenant Milivoje Naumović, as a guerrilla fighter in the unit of Vojvoda Vuk, was wounded seventeen times. He was "all butchered" in Vlasina in 1915.[5] Milivoje Naumović later went on to graduate from a prestigious law school in Paris, and entered the Serbian and Yugoslav diplomatic corps in Belgrade.

With the then Prince Alexander Karađorđević as commander Captain Naumović fought against the Hungarians and Austrians in 1914 and then in 1915 against the Austria-Hungary, Kaiser's Germany, the Ottoman Empire and once again the Bulgarians. He was with the Serbian army in the tragic Great Retreat over the Albanian Mountains. In one of the battles he was captured and imprisoned at Salzberg and Linz where he remained incarcerated until the Armistice of 11 November 1918.

He served and fought under two monarchs King Peter I of Serbia and King Alexander II of Yugoslavia.

After joining the diplomatic corps of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, he served as vice-consul in Chicago from 1924 to 1927, consul for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in San Francisco from 1930 to 1933. During the 1932 Summer Olympics officially, the Yugoslav Olympic Committee did not make a decision on the participation of Yugoslav athletes in the Games at Los Angeles, nor did it apply for the competition of athletes. One athlete Dr. Veljko Narančić was reported for the games by Milivoje Naumović, the then Yugoslav consul in San Francisco, and the Organizing Committee accepted this application after the consent was given by Sigfrid Edström, the president of the International Amateur Athletics Federation. Narančić went on to compete in the discus throw and with 36.51 m and took 17th place in the competition of 18 competitors from 11 countries. Thanks to this violation of the Olympic rules, Yugoslavia (Serbia) preserved the continuity of participation in the Summer Olympic Games from 1912 to the present.

In 1933 Naumović was named member of the Yugoslav legation in New York City and consul-general in Montreal in 1936, succeeding Nikola Perazić.[2] In May 1939 Naumović returned to the foreign office in Belgrade after Vladimir Vukmirović became his successor in Montreal[6]. He remained in Belgrade throughout the Nazi occupation in World War II. After the war, he worked as a UPI foreign correspondent, but was incarcerated by the Communists for writing the truth[7][8].

Naumović wrote a study on Dušan A. Popović who he knew personally in his youth[9]. After the death of Josip Broz Tito, he wrote Socijalističko samoupravljanje (Socialist self-government) with a seering criticism of Tito and his flawed legacy in the abysmal Yugoslav totalitarian past[10]

Awards and honours

Naumović was a recipient of several coveted medals for bravery and the Order of the White Eagle.

Personal

Milivoje Naumović was married to Milena Naumović[11], née Milojević, daughter of Dr. Milan Milojević, diplomat, and Jelena Curčić, daughter of Stevan Curčić and Stana Grujić, daughter of Jevrem Grujić, minister, royal envoy.