| Rodoljub Roćko Čolaković | |
| Office: | 1st Prime Minister of PR Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Term Start: | 27 April 1945 |
| Term End: | September 1948 |
| Predecessor: | Office established |
| Successor: | Đuro Pucar |
| Office2: | Minister for PR Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Provisional Government of DF Yugoslavia |
| Term Start2: | 7 March 1945 |
| Term End2: | 11 November 1945 |
| Primeminister2: | Josip Broz Tito |
| Predecessor2: | Office established |
| Successor2: | Office abolished |
| Birth Name: | Rodoljub Čolaković |
| Birth Date: | 7 June 1900 |
| Birth Place: | Bijeljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary |
| Death Place: | Belgrade, SR Serbia, Yugoslavia |
| Citizenship: | Yugoslav |
| Spouse: | Milica Zorić-Čolaković |
| Occupation: | Soldier, politician |
| Awards: | 10 Yugoslav and 2 international decorations, including Order of the People's Hero Order of the Hero of Socialist Labour Order of National Liberation Partisan 1941 Commemorative Medal Order of Polonia Restituta Order of Kutuzov (full list below) |
| Allegiance: | (1941–1945) |
| Branch: | Yugoslav People's Army National Liberation Army |
| Serviceyears: | 1941–1945 |
| Battles: | Spanish Civil War World War II |
Rodoljub "Roćko" Čolaković (Serbian: Родољуб Чолаковић; 7 June 1900 – 30 March 1983)[1] was a Yugoslav politician and writer who served as the 1st Prime Minister of PR Bosnia and Herzegovina and as the Minister for PR Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Provisional Government of DF Yugoslavia led by Josip Broz Tito.[2] [3] He was a major general in the Yugoslav People's Army and in the National Liberation Army during World War II.
Born in Bijeljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary on 7 June 1900, Čolaković joined the League of Communists of Yugoslavia in April 1919 as a student. Later, he joined Crvena Pravda ("Red Justice"), a left-wing terrorist organisation which assassinated Yugoslav interior minister Milorad Drašković on 21 July 1921. For his role in the assassination, Čolaković was sentenced to 12 years in prison. While serving his sentence, he made friends with many notable Yugoslav communists, including Moša Pijade with whom he translated Das Kapital and other seminal Marxist texts into Serbo-Croatian.
After his release, Čolaković emigrated to the Soviet Union and in 1937 travelled to Spain to take part in the Spanish Civil War on the Republican side. He later came back to Yugoslavia, participating in World War II. Between 1946 and 1955, Čolaković published five volumes of Zapisa iz oslobodilačkog rata ("Memoir of the liberation war") from his war diaries. In addition to writing newspaper articles, propaganda leaflets and books on World War II, he also published two autobiographies Kuća oplakana ("House of Mourning") and Kazivanje o jednom pokolenju ("Stories of One Generation). Čolaković died on 30 March 1983 at the age of 82 in Belgrade.[4]
After World War II, Čolaković was awarded many high profile Yugoslav orders, the biggest one of them being the Order of the People's Hero,[5] which he was awarded on 27 November 1953.
| 1st Row | Order of the People's Hero | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd Row | Order of the Hero of Socialist Labour | Order of National Liberation | Order of the Yugoslav Flag | ||||
| 3rd Row | Order of Merits for the People | Order of Brotherhood and Unity | — | ||||
| 4th Row | Order of Bravery | Commemorative Medal of the Partisans of 1941 | — | ||||
| Note: All Yugoslav decorations are now defunct. | |||||||
Čolaković was also awarded two foreign orders; the Polish Order of Polonia Restituta and the Soviet Order of Kutuzov.
| Award or decoration | Country | Place | Note | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Order of Polonia Restituta | Warsaw | One of Poland's highest orders. | |||
| Order of Kutuzov | Moscow | Soviet military order. | |||