Dimitrije Ljotić

Who was Dimitrije Ljotić?

Dimitrije Ljotić was a Serbian fascist politician and ideologue who established the Yugoslav National Movement in 1935 and collaborated with German occupational authorities in the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia during World War II. Born in Belgrade, he was influenced by the writings of Charles Maurras in his youth. With the outbreak of the Balkan Wars and World War I, he joined the Serbian Army and remained in active service until 1920, when he decided to pursue a career in politics. In 1920, Ljotić joined the People's Radical Party of Nikola Pašić and became regional deputy for the Smederevo District in 1930. The following year, he was appointed to the position of Yugoslav Minister of Justice by King Alexander I but resigned soon afterwards following a disagreement between him and the king over the layout of the Yugoslav political system. In 1935 Ljotić founded Zbor, a fascist political party that attracted support from members of the urban middle class and received German financial assistance. Zbor received little support from the largely anti-German Serbian public and never won more than 1 percent of the vote in the 1935 and 1938 Yugoslav parliamentary elections. Ljotić was arrested in the run-up to the latter elections and briefly sent to an insane asylum after being charged with religious mania.