Jovanka Broz

Jovanka Broz (; ; 7 December 1924 – 20 October 2013) was the First Lady of Yugoslavia from 1952 until 1980 as the wife of Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito. She was a lieutenant colonel in the Yugoslav People's Army.

Born in Lika, she joined the anti-fascist resistance movement in 1941 and served in the Partisan army during World War II in Yugoslavia, where she was wounded twice and awarded the Order of Bravery. In 1945, she was assigned as Tito's personal secretary and later became his wife in 1952.

As First Lady, she participated in numerous diplomatic events and hosted foreign leaders. In the 1970s, tensions with Tito's close aides led to accusations of political interference, resulting in her isolation and eventual separation from Tito in 1977. Afterward, she lived in seclusion until Tito's death in May 1980, when she appeared in public for the first time in three years at his funeral. In July 1980, she was expelled from her residence and forcibly placed under unofficial house arrest.

She lived without personal identification documents or a pension, and until her death was unable to complete the probate proceedings necessary to determine what she was entitled to inherit following her husband's death. After the breakup of Yugoslavia, she continued to live in isolation. In 2009, after three decades, she finally received personal identification documents. Until the end of her life, she remained extremely reclusive and rarely gave interviews. She became ill in August 2013 and was subsequently admitted to the Emergency Center of Belgrade, where she died. She was buried with full state honors at the House of Flowers.

She was a recipient of the Commemorative Medal of the Partisans of 1941 and numerous other Yugoslav and foreign decorations.

Early life and ancestry Jovanka Budisavljević was born on 7 December 1924, into a Croatian Serb family in the village of Pećane near Udbina, in the Lika region, then part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, now Croatia. Her parents were Milica and Mihailo "Mićo" Budisavljević. She had four siblings: older brother Maksim (b. 1923), younger brother Petar (b. 1926), and two younger sisters, Nada (b. 1934) and Zora (b. 1936). She was named after her maternal grandmother, Jovanka Svilar .

Her father, Mihailo, emigrated to the United States as a young man, where several of his uncles lived, before returning to Yugoslavia in 1920. He purchased 20 acres of farmland and married Milica Svilar. The couple had three children before Mihailo briefly moved to Canada. Fluent in English and well travelled, he became known in the village as the “rich American.” During the Second World War in Yugoslavia, he served as a translator for an American military mission that landed in the Krbava Field. After Milica died of tuberculosis in 1937, Mihailo remarried her relative, Soka Svilar, with whom he had a daughter, Mara. Mihailo himself died of typhus in 1944. In her autobiography, Jovanka mentions her father meeting with Tesla many times while living in the United States. Shortly thereafter, at the age of 17, Jovanka joined the Yugoslav Partisans.

Initial relationship Milovan Đilas, one of the communist revolutionary movement's leading members and ideologues, and a subsequent dissident, provides more details about Jovanka during this period in Druženje s Titom (Friendship with Tito). According to him, the relationship with Tito was extremely difficult for her: She never appeared outside of Tito's company. We'd see her many times as she was keeping a vigil for hours in a hallway [while we're holding a late-night meeting inside], to make sure she is available if Tito needs anything as he's going to sleep. Because of that, the wrath and the lack of trust she was receiving from other servants was almost inevitable. [According to what was on offer] the motives for her closeness to Tito could've been explained in endless ways, none of which would show her character in a good light: career climbing, cajolery, malicious female extravagance, exploitation of Tito's lonesomeness...

As far as she was concerned, Tito was a war and communist party deity for whom everyone was supposed to sacrifice everything they had. She was a woman deep in the process of comprehending Tito as a man, while also increasingly and devotedly falling in love with him. She was resigned to burn out or fade away, unknown and unrecognised if need be, next to the divine man about whom she dreamt and to whom she could only belong now that he has chosen her.

Marriage Jovanka Broz in 1971 during a visit to the Nixon White House, with Tito, President Richard Nixon, and First Lady Pat Nixon.

The exact date of their marriage is also subject to debate. The secret wedding ceremony happened either during 1951 or in April 1952; however, the location of the ceremony is also not clear. Some sources say it took place in the Dunavka villa in Ilok while others list Belgrade's municipality of Čukarica as the location.

Deterioration Jovanka in her house in June 2009 with Ivica Dačić and Rasim Ljajić. Many believed her to be a victim of the ambitions of various politicians who managed to manipulate the ageing Marshal into turning against his wife. Ivo Eterović, a writer and photographer with unprecedented decades-long access to Yugoslavia's ruling couple, stated "the main culprits for the Tito-Jovanka split are that pig Stane Dolanc and General Nikola Ljubičić". Iran: Commemorative Medal of the 2500th Anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire (14 October 1971). Nepalese Royal Family: Member First Class of the Most Illustrious Order of the Three Divine Powers (2 February 1974).

References in popular culture In the British television series Doctor Who, the fictional character of Tegan Jovanka, one of the companions of the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, and one of the longest running companions of the Doctor, got the name as a combination of Tegan, named by one of the producers' niece, and Jovanka, after Jovanka Broz.