Ivo Andrić zwischen Gavrilo Princip und Adolf Hitler
Ivo Andrić between Gavrilo Princip and Adolf Hitler

The Life of the Nobel Prize Winner as a Historical Source

Summary/Abstract: Ivo Andrić is mostly known as an author, but he was a political activist as well. It is noteworthy that no other Nobel Prize winner (the case of Winston Churchill taken aside) has been as directly involved in events of international political importance as Andrić. The archives are full of documents supporting this claim.As a young man, he belonged to the movement later known as “Mlada Bosna” and personally knew Gavrilo Princip, the assassin of Franz-Ferdinand. Andrić reached the peak of his political power between 1935 and 1939 as a close aide of Foreign Minister Milan Stojadinović, who was Prime Minister as well and made him his deputy in the Foreign Ministry of the Yugoslav Kingdom.When Stojadinović was ousted in 1939, the new government made Andrić its envoy to Berlin.Hitler received him first in April 1939 and later met him on several occasions. As it was Andrić’s task to secure German arms supplies to the Yugoslav army, he dealt with Hermann Göring aswell.After the war, Andric never set foot on German or Austrian soil again and turned down all invitations coming from these countries, including one from the Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft.The article argues that in detailing Andrićs life, not only can the Yugoslav, but equally the European history of the 20th century in general be told.

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