Jovan Ducic in America - North American Society for Serbian

3
SERBIAN STUDIES
PUBIJSHED BY THE NORTII AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR SERBIAN STUDIES
CONTENTS
VOLUME 4, NUMBER 4
FALL 1988
Dusan Puvacic
THE ECHOES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN IVO
ANDRIC'S PROSE
5
Edward Goy
THE PLAY TASANA BY BORISAV STANKOVIC
22
Andrei Simic
INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS AMONG THE SOUTH
SLAVS: PROBLEMS IN CROSS-CULTURAL PERCEPTION
43
Vasa D. Mihailovich
JOVAN DUCIC IN AMERICA
70
Alex N. Dragnich
SERBIAN CULTURE IN KOSOVO IN PAST AND PRESENT
TIMES
88
REVIEWS
Tatyana Popovic
Prince Marko: the Hero of South Slavic Epic
Syracuse
Syracuse University Press, 1988
XVIIT + 221 pp.
(Biljana Sljivic-Sim~ic)
112
Vasa D. Mihailovich
55
JOVAN DUCIC IN M1ERICA
Jovan Ducic was destined to live his last days in the United States
of America. As a student and, later, as a diplomat he spent practically all his adult life abroad, in various capitals of Europe and
Africa. When Yugoslavia was occupied by the Germans in April
1941, its embassy in Madrid, at which Ducic was the ambassador,
ceased to function and Ducic was forced to leave. He decided to go
to the United States of America because, among other reasons, he
had always wanted to visit this continent. He felt that if he did not
see America, his life would not be complete.
He arrived by boat in New York in August 19411 and proceeded
to join his relative, Mihailo Ducic, a well-known businessman in
Gary, Indiana. His first impressions of America fully justified his
curiosity, as he says,
All that I read or heard about the United States wasn't
sufficiently suggestive to give me an image of this country. Everybody is expressing an opinion concerning the
New World from the point of view of his respective
nation, as a fanatic believer in his O\"lll philosophy of
life and finally as a European proud of his ancestry.
However, the evaluation of the American people
shouldn't be based entirely on the comparison with
other parts of the world. I found America considerably
greater than seen in my dreams and projected in my
visions .... The Fifth Avenue fully reflects the American
genius: taste, charm, style, joy of life, and many other
wonders which demonstrate the ever-changing enthusiasm and dynamism of America whose creative spirit
is never immobilized ....
On these shores, I didn't have the impression that I
was on a new continent but on a new planet. The
expression The New World is very appropriate in this
case. The newness of life in all its aspects is quite evident here. 2
Jovan Ducic spent the last twenty months of his life at the home
of his relative in Gary, where he died on April 7, 1943. He was first
Vasa D. Mihailovich
56
buried in Gary and in 1946 his remains were taken to the monastery
at Libertyville, Illinois, where they still lie, waiting for the fulfillment of the poet's last wish to be buried in his native Trebinje.
Upon his arrival, his first desire was, as always, to continue his
literary activity. His literary output from his arrival to his death is
relatively large- the largest of any comparable periods of his life: a
good number of poems, collected in his last book of poetry Lirika
(Lyrics)l and scattered in various newspapers and journals 4 ; several
poems in prose, undoubtedly intended as a continuation of his Plave
legende (Blue Legends); a number of essays on literary figures and
subjects as well as on general topics, all collected in three new books,
futra sa Leutara (Mornings on the Leutar), Moji saputnici (My Fellow Travelers), and Staza pored puta (A Path by the Road)s; a long
historical-biographical work, fedan Srbin diplomat na dvoru Petra
Velikog i Katarine I, Grof Sava Vladislavic (A Serb Diplomat at the
Court of Peter the Great and Catherine the I, The Count Sava Vladislavic)6; and several political articles and studies concerning the
current situation, especially the theme of Yugoslavia's fate and the
role of the Croats in it. Such feverish activity in the course of only
twenty months would suggest a renewed vigor in a writer approaching seventy. A closer look, however, reveals that most of these works
were ·written before his arrival here; Ducic rushed their publication
so that the manuscripts would not be lost during the war. 7 Since
four fifths of these works do not reflect Ducic's state of mind and
emotions during his stay in America, they will not be treated here.
Only a handful of new poems and the political articles ·will receive
our attention.
This is not to say that other works-Lirika, essays, and Grof Sava
Vladislavic-cannot be considered an integral part of his "American
period," as critics in Yugoslavia like to say. After all, they were
published in the United States, either during his life or shortly after
his death. But aside from that, they have little in common with the
way Ducic thought and felt and with the problems and themes that
preoccupied him during his stay here. In Lirika, for example, even
though seven of twenty two poems (Pesma, Bogu, Noc, Putnik, Zvezde,
Povratak, Himera) had never been published before, they are of a
piece with other, previously published poems in theme, spirit, and
form; so much so, that they should be considered belonging to the
same, prewar, period. The same can be said of other works. Some
Vasa D. Mihailovich
57
of the essays collected in three aforementioned books were not only
written before-some as far back as the beginning of the centurybut they were also partly published before the war. And Grof Sava
Vladislavfc was known to have been virtually completed during
Ducic's ambassadorship in Madrid.8
That these works have little in common with the works written
after his arrival here will be seen from a brief analysis of the latter
writings. All of his "American" poems deal almost exclusively with
events that were taking place during the war. They were, in fact,
Ducic's poetic answer to those events. The first new poem published
after his arrival in the United States, "Vrbas," sets the tone for most
of the poems to follow:
Nosi srpska reko krv nasih sinova
Jer krvave reke svud su nase medje,
Macevi ubica svi su is tog kovaSad nosi unuke kud nosase predje. 9
He goes on to speak of innocent blood and of "terrible justice" that
only the dead can bring about. It is easy to see what is troubling the
poet: the horrible genocide perpetrated on the Serbs by the Ustashi
in the so-called Independent State of Croatia, an event that shook
the nation in its foundation and emotionally devastated the poet.
The heart-shattering and mind-boggling news about the mass murder of the Serbs had been trickling into the United States during
1941 , and Ducic, the son of Herzegovina that was bearing the brunt
of the genocide, could not react in any other way. In another poem,
"Molitva" (A Prayer), he returns to the theme of the suffering of the
innocent:
Pomiluj, Svemocni, nevins sto ginu,
Tebi su pruzene njine ciste ruke:
Za Tvoju su oni pali velicinu,
Na Tvoj znak prineli sve suze i muke.
This elevation of innocent victims to the status of martyrdom,
almost sainthood, and their identification as children of God, reflects Ducic's perception of the tragic fate of the Serbian people and
of their devotion to God that goes back to Czar Lazar's choice of the
Vasa D. Mihailovich
57
of the essays collected in three aforementioned books were not only
written before-some as far back as the beginning of the centurybut they were also partly published before the war. And Grof Sava
Vladislavic was known to have been virtually completed during
Ducic's ambassadorship in Madrid. 8
That these works have little in common with the works written
after his arrival here will be seen from a brief analysis of the latter
writings. All of his "American" poems deal almost exclusively with
events that were taking place during the war. They were, in fact,
Ducic's poetic answer to those events. The first new poem published
after his arrival in the United States, "Vrbas," sets the tone for most
of the poems to follow:
Nosi srpska reko krv nasih sinova
Jer krvave reke svud su nase medje,
Ma~evi ubica svi su is tog kovaSad nosi unuke kud nosase predje. 9
He goes on to speak of innocent blood and of "terrible justice" that
only the dead can bring about. It is easy to see what is troubling the
poet: the horrible genocide perpetrated on the Serbs by the Ustashi
in the so-called Independent State of Croatia, an event that shook
the nation in its foundation and emotionally devastated the poet.
The heart-shattering and mind-boggling news about the mass murder of the Serbs had been trickling into the United States during
1941, and Ducic, the son of Herzegovina that was bearing the brunt
of the genocide, could not react in any other way. In another poem,
"Molitva" (A Prayer), he returns to the theme of the suffering of the
innocent:
Porniluj, Svernocni, nevine sto ginu,
Tebi su pruzene njine ~iste ruke:
Za Tvoju su oni pali velicinu,
Na Tvoj znak prineli sve suze i rnuke.
This elevation of innocent victims to the status of martyrdom,
almost sainthood, and their identification as children of God, reflects Du~ic's perception of the tragic fate of the Serbian people and
of their devotion to God that goes back to Czar Lazar's choice of the
Vasa D. Mihailovich
58
heavenly kingdom. "I sad su nam groblja veca od gradova ..." exclaims the poet, underlining the martyrdom of the Serbs. 10
He would return to this theme again and again. His "Vecnoj Srbiji"
(To the Eternal Serbia) is an apotheosis of the indestructibility of
the Serbian nation and of its martyrdom, calling on his people to
stay on the historical path begun on Kosovo:
Znaj, samo iz krvi heroja se radja
Zvezda putovodja za daleke pute ....
Vetrom neba ide mucenicka ladja,
Suze su nevinih do neba dignute.11
In "Bosna" (Bosnia), he laments the selling out of this proud Serbian province and the degradation of the famous Serbian heroes of
the past:
Au tvom su nebu sve molitve nase.
0 vecna predstrazo i slavi i placu.
Cista Bozja kapljo iz zavetne case,
Svetlo nase slovo pisano na macuY
And in "Na obali Neretve" (On the Shores of the Neretva), Ducic
paints a judgement day picture of his native Herzegovina:
A danas sva rumena od krvi detinje
Teces u more pesme i mit o carima:
Zajedno streljahu ovde ljude i svetinje,
Trag su brisali ovde novim i starima.
Krvave zore svicu po praznim selima,
Krvavo izgreva sunce u divljim hajkama,
A jos ti predackih koplja ima po zdrelima,
0 sveta stara reko slavna u bajkarna. 1 3
The poem "Licki mucenici" (The Martyrs of Lika) best expresses
Ducic's emotions regarding the senseless exterminations of his countrymen. Written in 1943- perhaps a few days before his death - and
published posthumously, the poem reflects the unspeakable pain
and despair haunting the poet in his last days. As such it deserves
Vasa D. Mihailovich
59
to be quoted in full.
Streljaju i sad na svim poljima,
Pored svih puta stoje vesala;
Padaju bolji sve za boljima,
S tlom srpskim krv se srpska smesala.
Kroz noc se redom crkve zazareSveci su s nama zlocin podneli;
Svud po putevirna slepi strazare,
I oci su im drugi odneli.
Svima su bele ruke prebili,
Da ih u nebo ne bi dizali.
Svetu rec srpsku svud su trebili,
Kao hijene krv su lizali.
Svud su s krstom vojske hodile,
Pratili s crkve zvucni zvonovi;
I s molitvom su vodji vodiliOra pro nobis hucu dolovi.
A osvetnik je zrtvu pratioz!
Za mucenikom idu heroji!
Put nevinih je Bog pozlatio:
Sarno se groblje :lrtvi prebroji.. .. t 4
In addition to the poems about the pogroms of his people, Ducic
wrote a few more poems on other themes. In "Na carev Arandjelovdan" (On Czar's St. Archangel's Day), he returns to the spirit of
his "Carski soneti" (Imperial Sonnets), written half a century ago,
but the reality of the current war destroys the idyl of the earlier
poems:
Za tvoju slavu, svetli Care,
Care nad trima morima!
Zli zreci danas pricest kvare;
Guba je u svima torima...
Nad tvojim carstvorn mrak se siri,
Vetrovi cmi duvaju:
Sad nasu savest brane zbiri,
Vasa D. Mihailovich
60
Lupezi blago cuvaju.ts
He protests against the de-heroization and dishonesty of the present times in other poems as well ("Jugoslavija-April 1941," "Francuskoj," "Satira," and "Nova vlada"), but these poems are artistically
inferior to the poems discussed earlier. The quality of his poetry
written in America is, by and large, lower than that of the earlier
periods. But what is lacking in artistry is compensated by the sin·
cerity of his feelings, by intensity of his protest, and by immediacy
of his expression. It must be kept in mind that Ducic was physically
ill during most of his stay in America. He also had no time to leave
his poems alone for a while, as was his custom. It is possible that
he himself would have rejected some of these poems, as he had done
throughout his career. As it is, these poems are legitimate documents
attesting to his state of mind and heart in his last days. As for the
unabashed nationalism of these poems and the seeming intolerance
toward his people's enemies, whom he saw in no other terms but
as executioners, the frightening events of those days, coupled with
his inability to see and hear things the first hand, offer the best
explanation.
Ducic did not contend himself with writing literary works. He
was very active, as much as his frail health allowed, in the patriotic
activities of his fellow Serbs, whose guest he was. He was, for example, the guest of honor at the memorial banquet of the choir "Karageorge" in Gary, eulogizing the massacres of the Serbs in Yugoslavia.
At this banquet he gave a speech about Serbian poetry, that had
always inspired its people, and he left the contemporary matters for
other occasions. 16 He was the main speaker at the first convention
of the revived Serbian National Defense, of which he was the main
supporter and whose revival carne at his urging. 17 He gave interviews and he gladly saw people in the bouse of his relative. 18 He
expressed his condolences to all Serbs on the occasion of the death
of Nikola Tesla, which preceded his only by three months.19 In all
his public appearances and utterances he expressed his revulsion at
the slaughter of the innocent Serbs by the Ustashi, while affirming
his faith that Serbia will rise again. He often declared his unreserved
support for General Draza Mihailovic and his opposition to the communist partizans. He also wrote numerous articles, mostly unsigned,
in which he expressed his political views characterized above. As a
Vasa D. Mibailovich
61
consequence, he was perceived as the main, and the most famous,
supporter of the Chetnik cause in America, not only abroad but in
Yugoslavia as well, especially by the communists and their sympathizers during the war, and, to a large degree, even today.
Of all his activities discussed so far, none is more controversial.
direct, uncompromising and vitriolic than his three long studies of
Yugoslavia and the role the Croats have played in its pre-history,
formation, and eventual destruction. It is these studies that have
made Ducic an unreformable enemy to all Croats and that have been
the main stumbling block in the slow and reluctant acceptance of
the last phase of his life on the part of the official Yugoslavia after
the war. So much so that even those who are attempting to rehabilitate him characterize his activities on behalf of the Chetniks and
General Mihailovich and his political writings against the Croats as
those of "a poor publicist" and "a bad politician ... reactionary, wTong,
impermissibly naive and immature . .. poisoned by his nationalism."20
The first of these studies, "Dr. Vlatko Macek i Jugoslavija" (Dr.
Vlatko Macek and Yugoslavia), was published unsigned in the
American Srbobran at the beginning of 1942. 21 It is hard to establish
exactly when this and other political studies were written except
that it was after the inglorious disintegration of the Kingdom of
Yugoslavia. The essay on Macek, the last democratic leader of the
Croats, can be considered to be an introduction to other studies.
Ducic's portrait of Macek is very unflattering. He considers him to
be "a full-blooded Slovene" born in Zagreb, 22 "somewhat uneducated,"23 a coincidental figure who never excelled in speech-making
or writing, but who was also a modest, straightforward, practical
man of common sense. However, it was not Macek's personality that
interests Ducic, but the simple fact that Macek had followed the
straight line from Starcevic to Radic to Pavelic, of the Croatian historical thinking regarding the unity with other Slavic brethren of the
Balkans. Macek, like those mentioned, had not for a moment wanted
a Yugoslavia as envisaged by the Serbs, and had always expressed
his hatred for the "Orthodox Serbian capital, Belgrade." 24 Instead,
he advocated the Zagreb concept of Yugoslavia which would unite
all other Slavs on the Balkans under the leadership of the Croats
and as a counterbalance to the Serbian nation. This has prompted
Ducic to call Macek the first "who has separated (razbratio) two
Vasa D. Mihailovich
62
brotherly nations, Serbs and Croats; being a Slovene, it was perhaps
much easier for him to do that." 25 Strangely enough, Duci6 does not
blame Macek for the political troubles in the prewar Yugoslavia but
rather the Serbian "dictatorship in Belgrade"zs and Serbian politicians, both in Belgrade and in Croatia, who had failed to understand
properly the true nature of Macek's thinking and actions. Moreover,
he gives Macek credit for his "courageous and open struggle against
Belgrade" 27 and for being "an honest man because he was always
our sincere enemy."zo
Before turning to the broader framework of the Yu goslav question
and the Serbian-Croatian conflict in it, Ducic wrote a sh ort article
"Istina o reci 'vlah"' (The Truth about the Word 'Vlach'), 29 in which
he endeavored to prove, by citing twelve examples, that this word
was used by the Croats to refer, not to Serbs, but to themselves as
"Vlachs". Castigating the tendency of the Croats to fals ify facts, he
concludes this article with perhaps his most famous and most biting
statement about Croats, and the one most bitterly resented by themjustifiably so, I might add: "The Croats are the most courageous
people, not because they are afraid of nothing but because they are
ashamed of nothing."Jo
In his second long article on the Yugoslav question, also unsigned,
"Jugoslovenska ideologija- Is tina o 'jugoslavizmu'" (Yugoslav Ideology-The Truth about 'Yugoslavism'), 31 Ducic broadens his approach and goes straight to the heart of the matter. The opening lines
set the tone of the entire essay: "The Croats have never cared for
Slavism, nor have they talked about Yugoslavism without distrust.
They have identified Slavism with Russian Orthodoxy, and Yugoslavism with Balkanism. That is why they consider them both incompatible with the Croatian idea of culture, the only true culturethe Western, therefore for the most part Catholic.'' 32 Ducic proceeds
to corroborate this basic premise. He attempts to debunk the common belief that Yugoslavism was a Croatian idea, and he does it by
maintaining that there has been no affinity between Serbs, Bulgarians, and Croats throughout .Middle Ages, or in the nineteenth century. On the contrary, the Croats have often been all too eager to
33
assist the Hungarians and Austrians in the persecution of the Serbs.
Even lllyrianism and the subsequent adoption of the Stokavian dialect were used by Croatian cultural leaders mainly to save themselves from total cultural extinction, because the two legitimate
Vasa D. Mihailovich
63
Croatian dialects, Kaikavian and Cakavian, were spoken by relatively few people, while the Stokavian was spoken in many Croatian
parts settled by the Serbs throughout centuries. By adopting the
"alien" dialect like Stokavian, the Croatian cultural leaders were
hoping to keep for Croatia such territories as Dalmatia, which otherwise would have been claimed by many Serbs living there, or to
appropriate the literature of Dubrovnik. 35 Since the Illyrian leaders
were inspired by the epic poems collected and published by Vuk
Karadzic, Ducic denies the Croats any epic poetry of their own. 36
Illyrianism, led by Ljudevit Gaj, was, according to Ducic, of local
and internal nature; Yugoslavism, led by Bishop Strossmayer, expressed a wider and expansionist idea. Both Gaj and Strossmayer,
however, were Germans and as such could not have the true union
with other Slavic Balkan nations in their heart. And since Strossmayer was a Catholic leader, Ducic saw in his activity nothing but
the efforts of the Catholic Church to spread its Gospel among the
Serbs. 37 Strossmayer most actively proselytized in Bosnia because
throughout the Middle Ages the Croats were perceived as foreigners
there. 3 8 Strossmayer's goal was the unification of all Southern Slavs
under the Habsburg dynasty and the Pope. This was the meaning of
Trialism -Strosmayer's doctrine of equality between Austria, Hungary, and Croatia as the basic principle of the Habsburg rule. 39
The separate existence of the Croats and the Serbs persisted in the
nineteenth and into the twentieth centuries. No Croat carne to help
Karageorge or Milos in their uprisings against the Turks, or in any
other struggle against the common enemy. 40 The assassination of
Prince Ferdinand in Sarajevo provoked violent and bloody demonstrations in Zagreb against the Serbs. 41 The culmination of anti-Serb
sentiments Ducic sees in the Croatian active support of Austro-Hungary in the war against Serbia. And the formation of "Jugoslavenski
odbor" (whose original name was "Hrvatski odbor") he explains by
the fear of the Croats of losing their lands to Italy after the signing
of the London Treaty, and not by a sincere desire for a common state
with the Serbs. 4 2 The main role of this Committee was to keep the
Serbs under control and to prevent the Serbian realization of war
gains, as advocated by Nikola Pasic. 43 And while the Committee
signed the Corfu Declaration, another team of Croatian politicians
signed in Vienna the May Declaration, which envisaged Yugoslavia
·within the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Ducic concludes with a brief
Vasa D. Mihailovich
63
Croatian dialects, Kaikavian and Cakavian, were spoken by relatively few people, while the Stokavian was spoken in many Croatian
parts settled by the Serbs throughout centuries. By adopting the
"alien" dialect like Stokavian, the Croatian cultural leaders were
hoping to keep for Croatia such territories as Dalmatia, which otherwise would have been claimed by many Serbs living there, or to
appropriate the literature of Dubrovnik. 35 Since the Illyrian leaders
were inspired by the epic poems collected and published by Vuk
KaradZic, Ducic denies the Croats any epic poetry of their own. 36
Illyrianism, led by Ljudevit Gaj, was, according to Ducic, of local
and internal nature; Yugoslavism, led by Bishop Strossmayer, expressed a wider and expansionist idea. Both Gaj and Strossmayer,
however, were Germans and as such could not have the true union
with other Slavic Balkan nations in their heart. And since Stressmayer was a Catholic leader, Ducic saw in his activity nothing but
the efforts of the Catholic Church to spread its Gospel among the
Serbs. 37 Strossmayer most actively proselytized in Bosnia because
throughout the Middle Ages the Croats were perceived as foreigners
there. 38 Strossmayer's goal was the unification of all Southern Slavs
under the Habsburg dynasty and the Pope. This was the meaning of
Trialism- Strosmayer's doctrine of equality between Austria, Hungary, and Croatia as the basic principle of the Habsburg rule. 39
The separate existence of the Croats and the Serbs persisted in the
nineteenth and into the twentieth centuries. No Croat came to help
Karageorge or Milos in their uprisings against the Turks, or in any
other struggle against the common enemy. 40 The assassination of
Prince Ferdinand in Sarajevo provoked violent and bloody demonstrations in Zagreb against the Serbs. 41 The culmination of anti-Serb
sentiments Ducic sees in the Croatian active support of Austro-Hungary in the war against Serbia. And the formation of "Jugoslavenski
odbor" (whose original name was "Hrvatski odbor") he explains by
the fear of the Croats of losing their lands to Italy after the signing
of the London Treaty, and not by a sincere desire for a common state
with the Serbs. 4 2 The main role of this Committee was to keep the
Serbs under control and to prevent the Serbian realization of war
gains, as advocated by Nikola PasicY And while the Committee
signed the Corfu Declaration, another team of Croatian politician~
signed in Vienna the May Declaration, which envisaged Yugoslavia
within the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Ducic concludes with a brieJ
Vasa D. Mihailovich
64
survey of the seditious behavior of the Croats during the short life
of Yugoslavia, of which he will have more to say in the next study.
In short, Yugoslavia and Yugoslavism were "a detour and impasse,
recklessness and suicide ... a political absurdity ... a cruel adventure ... " ("stranputica i bespuce, vratolomija i samoubistvo ... politicki absurd ... svirepa avantura") -an idea which was
realized a century too soon. 43
His negative views about Yugoslavia and the Croats Ducic develops further, bringing them to a logical conclusion, in his last, and
longest, political essay, "Federalizam iii centralizam: lstina o 'sparnom pitanju' u bivsoj Jugoslaviji" (Federalism or Centralism: The
Truth about the "Contested Issue" in the Former Yugoslavia).4s It
was published posthumously and, perhaps for that reason, under
his name. 46 Ducic reiterates many points of his earlier essays, especially the lack of sincerity of the Croats in joining the Serbs and
Slovenes in the new state. The main new element is the theory that,
contrary to the common belief, it was the Croats who had endeavored to maintain the centralist form of government in postwar Yugoslavia, instead of a federalist one, which is usually ascribed to
them. And that the Serbs, though centralist by nature and historical
tradition, have nevertheless entered the union with a sincere intent
to help their South Slav brethren and not to follow the idea of Great
Serbia, of which they have often been accused. Ducic again cites
many historical facts concerning the frantic efforts on the part of the
leading Croatian politicians to prevent the Serbs from becoming the
leaders of all Yugoslav nationalities after World War I. For illustration, when The Supreme National Council (Vrhovno narodno vijece)
was formed in Zagreb in the last days of the war, its first note to the
Serbian government was to bar the Serbian army from crossing the
Sava and the Danube; this note was changed to an invitation to the
Serbian army to protect the Croatian people only after the Croats
had become aware that Italy might take any territory promised to it
by the London TreatyY Ducic again blames the Serbian politicians,
this time mostly the "precani," for not understanding the centuriesold aspirations of the Croats and the true motivation in their dealings
with the Serbs. Ducic sees the axis of the Croatian history, national
goal, and political thinking in their constant struggle for "drzavno
pravo" (the state right), which they have developed during several
centuries of living under foreign domination and which they have
Vasa D. Mihailovich
brought into the union with other Southern Slavs-an attitude that
inevitably led to the eventual downfall of the new state. Three most
important Croatian leaders, Ante Starcevic, Stjepan Radic and Ante
Pavelic, have followed, in one form or another, this basic political
philosophy, with more or less the same results- hatred against the
Serbs; reliance on foreign powers, notably Austria, Hungary and the
Vatican; and the successful demolition of Yugoslavia.
Such attitude prevented Radic from accepting the truly federalist
constitution proposed by Stojan Protic, which would have given the
Croats equal rights, though not a total autonomy demanded by them.
Instead, he advocated a return to the status quo before December 1,
1918, hoping to negate the leading role of Serbia in the new state.
But when Nikola Pasic pushed through a new, centralist constitution, the so-called "Vidovdanski ustav," and when some Serbian
politicians themselves demanded the return to the pre-December 1
situation, which would have allowed Serbia to cash-in on its victories, Radic made an astounding turnaround, reconciled himself
with Belgrade, and promised support for the centralist constitution.
There is no need to go into many other details of the diplomatic
history Ducic discusses here, such as the sinister role of Ante Trurohie; various unfavorable treaties signed by Croatian diplomats of
Yugoslavia with other states; the role of Anton Korosec; the Concordat episode; and the unsuccessful efforts of Nikola Pasic to form,
from the outset, a strong Serbian state that would unite all Serbs
and reward them for their victories, suffering, and sacrifices. The
gist of all this-and of all Ducic's writing about Yugoslavia-is the
fact that throughout history Croats and Serbs have been more often
enemies than friends, that the Croats have never wanted a union on
even terms with Serbs, and that the tragic events of the Second
World War have made any future union between Croats and Serbs
impossible. Ducic concludes with a paraphrase of Shakespeare's words
to Lady Macbeth, "All perfumes of Arabia cannot wash your bloody
hands." 48
In conclusion, it is not easy to evaluate these political tracts. To
say that Ducic showed immense animosity toward the Croats would
be a gigantic understatement. Any competent historian could point
at many exaggerations, flippant remarks, poetic license, and even
some untruth in Ducic's statements. Personally, I am not convinced
that he thought some of his arguments through, and I suspect that
Vasa D. Mihailovich
66
he took many facts out of context, without illuminating them from
all sides. Gust one example: When he speaks of a group of politicians
signing the May Declaration in Vienna in May of 1918, he does not
tell us who these politicians were, whom they truly represented,
and whether they were not simply a front put up by the AustroHungarian authorities.) Many of the things be had said should have
been left unsaid. The damage caused by these writings, both at the
time they were written and to this day, is appreciable and it effects
the stature of Jovan Ducic as one of the greatest Serbian writers as
well as it does among Serbs and Croats who would still like to find
a modus vivendi among these two troubled nations.
On the other hand, Ducic presents quite a few disturbing facts that
cannot simply be ignored. It is here that historians should come to
the rescue. I would like to mention that Ducic was not a practicing
politician but a lifelong diplomat, and that as such he must have
known many secrets that are still not readily available to the general
public. When, and if, the complete diplomatic archives are made
public, we should perhaps know with greater certainty whether he
was right in his statements. Our final judgment of Ducic's last phase
will have to wait until all facts are fully known.
I would like to offer some explanations on his behalf-not as apology, for he does not need me to apologize for him- but as an effort
to attain objectivity. The crucial question is whether Ducic spoke so
vitriolically against the Croats out of hatred and malice or because
he disagreed with their philosophy and political actions. Here the
picture is anything but clear. On the one hand, he frequently expressed friendly feelings toward the Croats before World War II and
counted some of them among his friends (Mato~ and Me~trovic, for
example). On the other hand, his political writings from 1941 to
1943 could not have come at the spur of the moment but were rather
the result of a long experience in this matter of an intellectual and
a high state official. While he was unable to express his views during
his diplomatic service, apparently he decided to make them public
after the state, which he bad faithfully served since 1907, was destroyed, in which process the Croats played not a small role. When
we add to this the news about the massacres of the Serbs in Yugoslavia, which had begun to reach Ducic at about this time, it is easy
to understand the explosive reaction on the part of the sensitive and
highly patriotic poet. (I would like to ask the simple question: what
Vasa D. Mihailovich
67
would have been the reaction of Silvije Strahimir Kranjcevic, or
Mato§, or Nazor, or Krleza-or the entire Croatia, for that matterif seven hundred thousand Croats had been' murdered by the Serbs
only because they were Croats?) It is my belief, therefore, that the
two factors mentioned above prompted Ducic to speak out the way
he did. Had he been granted an opportunity for an objective picture
of what was taking place in his country, he might have concluded
that the crimes were committed by one fanatic group, aided by misfits to be found in any society. But then again, how do you explain
by rational methods a murder of seven hundred thousand human
beings?
In the last analysis, Ducic will be judged not by these articles and
poems but by his exquisite poetry and prose writings of earlier periods. This is being realized even in Yugoslavia today, where the
second set of his collected works has just been published. 49 Whether
his compatriots will ever be able to understand the true motives of
his last works, or whether they will be bold enough to say so even
if they do understand, only the future will tell. 5° We here know that
what is contained in these works above all is a painful outcry of
outrage and despair of a sensitive poet whose relatives and friends
have been murdered through no fault of their 0'"111 and whose entire
nation has been crucified through no fault of its own. Why should
Jovan Ducic be expected to react differently than all of us mere
mortals? As a poet, Jovan Ducic was basically an emotional human
being. As a Serb, be loved his country and his people too much to
be silent.
University of North Carolina
•Amerikansld Srbobran (20 August, 1941), p. 1.
•Petar Bubresko, "American-Serbian Literature." Proceedings of the Comparative
LJteraturo Symposium, vol. 9, 1976: Ethnic Literature Since 1776; The Many Voices
of America. Part 2. W. T. Zyla & W. M. Aycock, eds. {Lubbock: Texas Tech Press,
1978), p. 528.
'Jovan Duti6, Lirika (n.p.: n.p., 1943).
•Mostly in Amerikanski Srbobran (Pittsburgh) and Sluzbene novine Kraljevine Jugoslovije (London).
Vasa D. Mihailovich
68
•Jovan Du~ic, Sabrana deJa, knjiga VII-IX (Chicago: Srpska narodna odbrana, 1951).
•Jovan Dul':ic, fedan Srbin diplomat na dvoru Petra Velikog i Katarine I, Grof Sava
Vladislavic. Sabrana deJa, knjiga X (Belgrade & Pittsburgh: Amerikanski Srbobran,
1942).
7
Lirika, p. 85.
•Jovan Dul':ic, Sabrana djela, knjiga 5 (Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1969), p. 381.
•Amerikanski Srbobran (28 October, 1941), p. 1.
10
Ibid. (17 September, 1942), p . 3. This poem was used several times in an adver·
tisement appeal in Amerikanski Srbobran for helping the Serbian poor.
11
Ibid. (28 December, 1942), p. 1.
12
lbid. (11 January, 1943), p. 1.
"Ibid. (20 October, 1943), p. 2.
14
fbid. (13 September, 1943), p. 1.
15
lbid. (30 December, 1942), p. 1.
••The Gary Post Tribune. Reprinted in American Srbobran (14 November, 1941),
p. 3.
17
Amerikanski Srbobran (18 December, 1941), p. 2.
••The Gary Post Tribune (16 September, 1941). Reprinted in American Srbobran
(23 September, 1941), p. 2. Also Amerikanski Srbobran (14 January, 1942), p. 2.
••Amerikanski Srbobran (18 January, 1943), p. 2.
20
Zivorad Stojkovic, "Uz Sabrana dela Jovana Dul':ica." Sabrana djela, knjiga 6
(Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1969), p. 18.
21
Amerikanski Srbobran (30 January, 1942·9 February, 1942).
22
/bid. (30 January, 1942). p. 1.
23
/bid. (3 February, 1942), p. 2.
24 /bid.
25
/bid. (4 February, 1942), p. 2.
••Ibid. (6 February, 1942). p. 2.
27
Ibid.
••Ibid. (4 February, 1942), p . 2.
••Ibid. (31 March, 1942), p. 1.
30Ibid.
31
Ibid. (9 March, 1942·20 March, 1942).
32
!bid. (9 March , 1942), p. 1.
33
/bid., p. 2.
••Ibid. (10 March, 1942), p. 1.
" Ibid., p. 2.
36/bid.
37
/bid. (11 March, 1942), p. 2.
38 /bid. (12 March, 1942), p. 1.
••Ibid. (16 March, 1942), p. 1.
40
Ibid.
41
Ibid. (17 March, 1942), p. 1.
••Ibid., p. 2.
43 Ibid.
44
Ibid. (20 March, 1942), p. 1.
45
Ibid. (25 October, 1943·16 December, 1943).
••Other articles were published anonymously presumably because Dul':ic was tech·
nically still in the diplomatic service of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
47
Amerikanski Srbobran (26 October, 1943), p. 2.
••Ibid. (15 December, 1943), p. 1.
49
Jovan Ducic Izabrana deJa. 5 knjiga (Belgrade: Slovo ljubve, 1982).
Vasa D. Miliailovich
69
A recent book, Istina o Duticu (Belgrade: Knjizevne novine, 1982) by Radovan
offers an objective survey of Du(:ic 's life and activities, based on facts and
solid arguments, while a series of feuilletons in Politika (14 to 21 June, 1983), entitled
"Knjiievna desnica," by Radivoj Cveti~anin and Sava Dautovic, treads the stale waters
of bias and misunderstanding.
•0
Popovi~.