By DAN BILEFSKY
Published: October 7, 2010
Published: October 7, 2010
PRAGUE — Milka Planinc, the prime minister of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1980s and its first female premier, died Thursday in Zagreb. She was 85.
The Croatian state-run news agency HINA, quoting family sources, said Mrs. Planinc died in a clinic after a long illness.
Mrs. Planinc (pronounced plah-NEENTZ) was relatively unknown in Belgrade diplomatic circles when she was catapulted into the premiership of Yugoslavia in 1982 at the age of 58.
She was an early loyalist of Josip Broz Tito, the long-serving president of Yugoslavia.
As leader of the Communist Party in Croatia in the early 1970s, she helped crush the Croatian independence movement, purging nationalists and separatists and arresting dissidents, including the future Croatian president, Franjo Tudjman.
As prime minister of Yugoslavia from 1982 to 1986, she was credited with putting in place austerity measures that helped reduce the country’s debt, even as war, deprivation and the future disintegration of Yugoslavia loomed on the horizon.
A 1985 profile in The New York Times said that a poll had found Mrs. Planinc to be the most popular political leader in Yugoslavia.
“I am not the type that welcomes a superficial and comforting sense of popularity,” she said in response. “I experience this more as a burden or responsibility.”
Mrs. Planinc was born in the Croatian village of Drnis on Nov. 21, 1924, and graduated from the Zagreb Management School. Details on survivors were not available, but she and her husband, an engineer, had a son and a daughter.
Berislav Jelinic, a leading journalist for the Croatian weekly Nacional, said that today Mrs. Planinc was considered a relic that many Croatians preferred to forget.
“Planinc was a forgotten figure and generally disliked because of her role in crushing the Croatian independence movement in 1971,” Mr. Jelinic said by phone from Zagreb, the Croatian capital. “She was living a good life before she died, but no one had paid attention to her for decades.”
ny times
*Milka Planinc
Milka Planinc (21 November 1924 — 7 October 2010) was an ethnic Croatian Yugoslav female politician. She served as a Socialist Federal Prime Minister of Yugoslavia from 1982 to 1986. She was the only female head of government in the history of real socialism.[citation needed]
Her mandate as prime minister was remembered as the times when the government finally decided to regulate external debt of SFR Yugoslavia and to start to pay it back. In order to achieve necessary means, her cabinet implemented restrictive economic measures for a few years. Political roles she held during her career include Secretary of the People’s Assembly of Trešnjevka 1957; Secretary of Cultural Affairs of the City of Zagreb 1961–1963; Secretary of Education 1963–1965; President of the Assembly 1967–1971; Leader of the Communist Party in Croatia 1971–1982; President of the Federal Executive Council (Prime Minister) of SFR Yugoslavia 1982–1986.
Her mandate as prime minister was remembered as the times when the government finally decided to regulate external debt of SFR Yugoslavia and to start to pay it back. In order to achieve necessary means, her cabinet implemented restrictive economic measures for a few years. Political roles she held during her career include Secretary of the People’s Assembly of Trešnjevka 1957; Secretary of Cultural Affairs of the City of Zagreb 1961–1963; Secretary of Education 1963–1965; President of the Assembly 1967–1971; Leader of the Communist Party in Croatia 1971–1982; President of the Federal Executive Council (Prime Minister) of SFR Yugoslavia 1982–1986.
Biography
Planinc was born Milka Malada in Žitnić, a small village near Drniš, Dalmatia. She attended school, but with the onset of World War II her schooling was interrupted.[1] She joined the Communist Youth League in 1941,[1] which was a pivotal year in Planinc’s life and for her country. Adolf Hitler invaded Yugoslavia and divided the country among German, Italian, Hungarian, and Bulgarian occupying authorities.[2] Soon a resistance group known as the Partisans was formed, led by a locksmith named Josip Broz who called himself "Tito".[2] Planinc waited impatiently for the day when she would be old enough to join the anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia.[2]
Aged 19, Planinc joined the Partisans and became extremely devoted to Tito.[2] In 1944 she joined the Communist party.[3] She became county commissar of the 11th Dalmatian Shock Brigade whose job it was to teach party principles and policies, and ensure party loyalty.[2] Planinc spent years working for the Partisans and the Communist party, and when they gained control of the entire region she enrolled in the Higher School of Administration in Zagreb to continue her education.[4] Partisan commander Simo Dubajić later alleged that Planinc was involved with the post-war massacre at Kočevski Rog.[5]
She married an engineer surnamed Planinc. The couple had a son and a daughter.[4] From the late 1990s until her death, Milka Planinc was wheelchair-bound and rarely left her apartment.[6] She resided in Zagreb until her death on 7 October 2010, aged 85.
Planinc was born Milka Malada in Žitnić, a small village near Drniš, Dalmatia. She attended school, but with the onset of World War II her schooling was interrupted.[1] She joined the Communist Youth League in 1941,[1] which was a pivotal year in Planinc’s life and for her country. Adolf Hitler invaded Yugoslavia and divided the country among German, Italian, Hungarian, and Bulgarian occupying authorities.[2] Soon a resistance group known as the Partisans was formed, led by a locksmith named Josip Broz who called himself "Tito".[2] Planinc waited impatiently for the day when she would be old enough to join the anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia.[2]
Aged 19, Planinc joined the Partisans and became extremely devoted to Tito.[2] In 1944 she joined the Communist party.[3] She became county commissar of the 11th Dalmatian Shock Brigade whose job it was to teach party principles and policies, and ensure party loyalty.[2] Planinc spent years working for the Partisans and the Communist party, and when they gained control of the entire region she enrolled in the Higher School of Administration in Zagreb to continue her education.[4] Partisan commander Simo Dubajić later alleged that Planinc was involved with the post-war massacre at Kočevski Rog.[5]
She married an engineer surnamed Planinc. The couple had a son and a daughter.[4] From the late 1990s until her death, Milka Planinc was wheelchair-bound and rarely left her apartment.[6] She resided in Zagreb until her death on 7 October 2010, aged 85.
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