The Slobodan Jovanovich Fund
website (visit
link) tells us of this exile:
"Slobodan Jovanovic (December 3,
1869, Novi Sad, Austria-Hungary (now Serbia) – December 12, 1958, London, United
Kingdom) was one of Serbia’s most prolific jurists, historians, sociologists and
journalists. He distinguished himself with a characteristically clear and sharp
writing style later called the “Belgrade style”.
Liberal in his social and political
views, he was perhaps Yugoslavia’s greatest authority on constitutional law;
also a master of Serbian prose style, he was for nearly half a century a leader
of the Serbian intelligentsia. He graduated law in Geneva in 1890. In 1905, he
became of professor of the University of Belgrade’s Law School. He kept this
position until 1941.
Biography:
He had some influence on political
life in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia due to his well established authority in the
field of law and history, but he entered directly political life only in 1939
when the Serbian Cultural Club was established, and he was appointed as Club’s
president.
He was a pro-Western politician and
when a pro-Western military coup took place in Belgrade on March 27, 1941, a
pro-Western, essentially pro-British government was installed headed by General
Dušan Simovic. Jovanovic was deputy Prime Minister in that government of the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The Third Reich attacked the Kingdoms of Yugoslavia and
Greece on April 6, and soon defeated Yugoslav and Greek forces. Jovanovic moved
in mid April together with King Peter II and other cabinet ministers to
Jerusalem and he reached London in July. He became prime minister of the
Yugoslav government in exile during World War II on January 11, 1942 and
remained in that position till June 26, 1943. Tried in absence by Tito’s
communist regime together with general Draža Mihailovic, he was sentenced to
twenty years in jail which he never served, as well as the loss of political and
civil rights for a period of ten years, and confiscation of all property and
loss of citizenship.
He spent his later years in exile
in London (1945-1958). A memorial plaque in honour of “Professor Slobodan
Yovanovitch. Serbian historian, literary critic, legal scholar, Prime Minister
of Yugoslavia” may be found in London at 39b Queens Gate Gardens,
Kensington.
After unofficial rehabilitation in
1989, his collected works were published in 1991. In Serbia, he is universally
regarded as one of the most influential political thinkers of the turn of the
century. Leading Serbian quality daily Politika on the occasion of his 70th
birthday concluded that “his name has been carved as the highest peak of our
culture up to now”. [1] In the same issue four most prominent Serbian
intellectuals assessed very highly his accomplishments as a historian, jurist,
sociologist and writer.
His analysis of the Karadordevic
and Obrenovic rulers ranks among the clearest and most astute. In Serbia, he
initiated discussion about previously little known subjects (such as the
question of cultural patterns). He also distinguished himself with literary
criticism and essays on topics ranging from art to culture and
politics.
Jovanovic became a full member of
the Serbian Royal Academy in 1908, and its President from 1928 till 1931. He was
also a correspondent member of the Yugoslav Academy of Science in Zagreb from
1927.
He was one of the most prominent
intellectuals of his time. In his career, he was a lawyer, historian, writer,
president of the Serbian Royal Academy (now Serbian Academy of Sciences and
Arts), professor and rector at Belgrade University, and finally, deputy prime
minister and prime minister of the Royal Yugoslav Government in
exile.
His collected works were published
in 17 volumes in 1939-1940. Although his works were not officially banned any
new issue of his books was not permitted in communist Yugoslavia until late
1980s. Finally, a new edition of his collected works was published in Belgrade
in 12 volumes in 1991. Since 2003 his portrait is shown on the 5000 dinar
banknote of the National Bank of Serbia, and his bust stands at the Faculty of
Law in Belgrade. Official rehabilitation occurred on October 26, 2007 by the
court in Belgrade.
His father was Vladimir Jovanovic
(1833-1922), a famous Serbian liberal economist and politician. He was inspired
by John Stuart Mill’s essay “On Liberty” and he baptised his son Slobodan
(“sloboda” means freedom, liberty in Serbian) in 1869. Thus Slobodan Jovanovic
was the first “Slobodan” among Serbs."