Zoran Đinđić

His mother Mila Dušanić (c. 1931-2 - 14 March 2016), a housewife, raised him and his elder sister Gordana; the family moved according to his father's jobs.

Ten years of Zoran's childhood were spent in the town of Travnik, in central Bosnia.

Eventually, the family moved to the capital, Belgrade, after his mother had gained a post there.

Zoran Đinđić (Зоран Ђинђић, ; 1 August 1952 – 12 March 2003) was a Serbian politician and philosopher who served as the prime minister of Serbia from 2001 until his assassination in 2003.

Đinđić attended Ninth Belgrade Gymnasium, subsequently enrolling at the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Philosophy, graduating in 1974.

During his university days he developed an interest in politics.

After being convicted in 1974 by the communist authorities and through Party-controlled media for his role in his attempt to organize an independent political movement of Yugoslav students, Đinđić emigrated to West Germany thanks to the intervention of former German Chancellor Willy Brandt, who persuaded authorities to let Đinđić come to Germany instead of serving his sentence in Yugoslavia.

He continued his studies with professor Jürgen Habermas in Frankfurt.

In Germany, Đinđić obtained a PhD in philosophy from the University of Konstanz in 1979.

As a student, he was greatly influenced by Habermas's advice that an intellectual had a duty not only to think, but to act.

One fellow Yugoslav student who knew him in Germany, Milorad Vučelić, recalled that Đinđić was known on campus "not only for his brilliance as a student, but that he was open to life. He wasn't a typical boring intellectual. He knew how to live. He had great-looking girlfriends. He was extremely cool."

While a student at the University of Konstanz, he maintained close ties to student anarchist groups and participated in the Praxis-run Korčula Summer School.

He became proficient in German.

Later, while serving as Serbian prime minister, he also mastered English.

In 1979, Đinđić returned to Yugoslavia to take a teaching post at the University of Novi Sad.

In the 1980s, he was a writer for the Literary Review, an influential Belgrade journal.

In Serbia in common with the other "submerged" nations of Eastern Europe that have all at one time or other been ruled by outsiders, the intelligentsia has a tremendous prestige as the bearers of the national culture, keeping alive a sense of national identity.

Đinđić's stance on the Kosovo question marked him as an opponent of Slobodan Milošević who starting in 1987 had campaigned to end Kosovo's autonomy.

In an essay in the June 1988 edition of the Literary Review, Đinđić called for preserving the status quo established in 1974 with the Kosovo region to remain an autonomous province within the Socialist Republic of Serbia, declaring that if Kosovo were to lose its autonomy: "we will be able to declare with considerable certainty that in every future Serbian state Kosovo will be a permanent source of repression."

On 28 June 1989, Milošević ended the autonomy of Kosovo, which caused much alarm in the other Yugoslav republics where it was feared that Milošević might do something similar.

On 11 December 1989 together with other Serb intellectuals and pro-democracy activists he founded the liberal Democratic Party (DS) based on the similarly conceptualized Democratic Party that existed in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

During the 1990s, he was one of the co-leaders of the opposition to the administration of Slobodan Milošević, and became the Prime Minister of Serbia in 2001 after the overthrow of Milošević.

As Prime Minister, he advocated pro-democratic reforms and the integration of Serbia into European structures.

He became the party's Executive Board Chairman in 1990, and got elected to the Parliament of Serbia the same year.

In the early 1990s, Đinđić shifted over to a more nationalist position that was broadly supportive of Milošević's policies, much to the chagrin of his former admirers.

In 1993, he played a leading role in writing the platform of the DS, calling for a referendum on the restoration of the monarchy.

Đinđić made it clear that he personally favored restoring the House of Karađorđević.

The same platform called for the Kosovo region to remain part of Serbia proper and for the government to take anti-natalist policies designed to limit the birthrate of the Kosovo Albanians.

Đinđić was one of the original thirteen restorers of the modern day Democratic Party, becoming its president in 1994.

In January 1994 he replaced Dragoljub Mićunović as President of the Democratic Party.

The new balance of power within DS led to an early party conference.

One intellectual, Drinka Gojković recalled in 1996: "You can't imagine how wonderful it was then to read his writing. While everyone was screaming, using shocking language to fan hatred, Zoran was writing these beautiful essays, arguing that nationalism was not the way".

He was the mayor of Belgrade in 1997.

Đinđić was a long-time opposition politician and held a doctorate in philosophy.

Following the arrest of Special Operations Unit (JSO) members and extradition to the ICTY, the JSO organized an armed mutiny in November 2001 in Belgrade.

His government ratified the European Convention on Human Rights and implemented innovations in line with the Council of Europe recommendations, which led to the introduction of institutions for the protection of human rights and freedoms, as well as for Serbia and Montenegro to become a member state of the Council of Europe in 2003.

His government strongly advocated cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Đinđić was assassinated in 2003 by Zvezdan Jovanović, a former JSO member operative with ties to the Zemun Clan.

Đinđić was born in Bosanski Šamac, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia where his father was stationed as an officer of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA).

His paternal side hailed from Toplica in southern Serbia.