PARTISAN MOVEMENT IN SOUTHERN SERBIA AND THE CASE OF MILISAV IGNJATOVIC JANKO 1941-1942.

Abstract

The partisan movement in the south of Serbia had a different dynamic of events and characteristics of development in relation to other parts of Serbia. The uprising was started later, which put it out of the focus of the occupiers and collaborationist forces. It became the scene of the fight only during 1942, when several military actions were launched in order to break it. New circumstances in which the partisan guerrillas found themselves in the winter of 1941/1942 and 1942/1943 caused problems, the death of a large number of military and political leaders, but also created a rift between CPY officials and the people on which they relied. The fate of political commissar Milisav Ignjatovic is symbolic for understanding the complex circumstances in which many Serbian partisans fought. Ignjatovic was supposed to lead the partisan uprising in part of southwestern Serbia, but due to high political ambitions, he soon caused a crisis within his detachment: he fell into paranoia, and soon began to liquidate fighters who seemed suspicious to him. In the end, he himself became a victim of his party and personal ambitions, at a time when the occupiers liquidated his family members in the camp. Also, this was the only case in that about 20 fighters were killed in the internal conflict of the partisans. Due to the involvement of several senior party officials, the whole case was later covered up, and it was shown in black and white in pro-partisan literature during the 1960s and 1970s. Based on the new material, primarily those derived from the work of the security services, the phenomenon, which has been neglected in previous research, has been reconstructed. The fate of Milisav Ignjatović is unique in its tragedy, but it also describes a series of similar fates of partisans who, after the temporary defeat of their forces, dealt with various fears, hesitations and mental illnesses