FROM SOUTH SERBIA TO SOUTH AMERICA – SLAVOLJUB DJERA PETROVIĆ AS ENVOY (AMBASSADOR) IN ARGENTINA 1953–1958

Abstract

Born and raised in Niš, Slavoljub Djera Petrović was partisan commander in South Serbia during the Second World War. After the war he became a diplomat. With only 33 he was appointed as Yugoslav envoy in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. In Buenos Aires, Petrović faced several challenges like repairing errors of his predecessors considering relations between Yugoslavia and Argentina, stabilizing the trade problems and difficult relations within the diplomatic mission itself. After succeeding in elevating the interstate relations, Petrović was given the rank of ambassador in 1956 as the one of the first diplomats born and raised in South Serbia to be named ambassador. One of the main challenges Petrović faced in South America was problem of ustaša emigration. When he resumed his post, Yugoslav diplomacy was already certain that Ante Pavelić, the head of the Independent state of Croatia was also in Argentina. Over the years, Petrović tried to inform his colleagues, journalists who Pavelić is and what was his role during the Second World War and influence public opinion in Argentina in a favorable direction. After an assignation attempt on Pavelić in spring 1957, those efforts were doubled and resulted in Pavelić’s escape to Spain. At the end of his diplomatic mission in Argentina, Petrović received medal of San Martin as recognition for its good service and his role in improvement of Yugoslav-Argentine relations.