Milan Grol

Milan Grol

Milan Grol (Belgrade, 31 August 1876 – Belgrade, 3 December 1952) was a Serbian literary critic and politician.

Biography

Milan Grol studied in Belgrade and in Paris. He graduated from the Department of Philology and Literature at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy in 1899. He studied literature and theatre for two years in Paris. Grol was an assistant dramaturgist in 1902 and dramaturgist, from 1903 to 1906, of the National Theatre in Belgrade. He was appointed editor of the Dnevni list (Daily Newspaper), from 1905-1909. He also taught at a high school (gymnasium) in Belgrade, from 1906 to 1909. He was appointed editor of Odjek (Echo), from 1912-1914 and 1936-1941. He was appointed head of the National Theatre in Belgrade, from 1909 to 1914, and again in 1918 until 1924. In 1922, Grol founded Nedeljni glasnik (Sunday Herald). During the Great War he headed the Serbian Press Bureau in Geneva, from 1915 until 1918. In 1919 he joined the Democratic Party. He was the Under-Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from August 1924 and Envoy of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes to Turkey until December 1924. In 1925 he was selected to the National Assembly for the first time. He was chosen Deputy of the National Assembly, from 1925-1929, and organizer and director of the Kolarac People's University, from 1929 until 1941. In 1940, after the death of Ljubomir Davidović, he became the head of the Democratic Party.

He 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 Božidar Purić as Prime Minister, but British pressure resulted in the appointment of a non-Serb, Dr. Ivan Šubašić, who would be willing to remove Draža Mihailović from his post as Minister of the Army, Navy and Air Force. The British had assessed that no Serb politician would be in a position to remove Mihailović.^[1]

In February 1945, prior to the return of the government-in-exile to Yugoslavia, King Peter named Grol as a member of the regency to be formed under the Tito-Šubašić agreement, however Tito would not accept Grol in the regency, and he was ultimately not appointed.^[2] When the government-in-exile returned to Yugoslavia in March 1945 and merged with the interim Partisan government, Grol became vice premier without portfolio in the unified government under Prime Minister Tito. On 18 August 1945,^[3] Grol resigned his cabinet post because the communists failed to observe the conditions that had been agreed upon with the government-in-exile when the unified government was established.^[4]

He tried to re-publish the pre-war Democratic Party magazine called Demokracija, 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.^[5]

Published a large number of works in the fields of literature, dramaturgy and politics. Books: Theatre Reviews (1931); From Pre-War Serbia (1939); From the Theatre of Pre-War Serbia (1952); London Diary 1941-1945 (1990).

Works

• Pozorišne kritike, Belgrade, 1931.
• Iz predratne Srbije, Belgrade, 1939.
• Iz pozorišta predratne Srbije, Belgrade, 1952.

Literature

• Enciklopedija Jugoslavije, part 4, 1986.

See also

• Democratic Party (Yugoslavia)
• Yugoslav government-in-exile
• Peter II of Yugoslavia
• Treaty of Vis

Notes

References

• Roberts, Walter R. (1973). Tito, Mihailović and the Allies 1941-1945. Rutgers University Press. 
• Tomasevich, Jozo (1975). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: The Chetniks 1. San Francisco: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-0857-6. 
• Tomasevich, Jozo (2001). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: Occupation and Collaboration 2. San Francisco: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-3615-4.