We find that in recent months American Serbs have been baptizing their male children with the name of Draža, after the glorious name of the illustrious Colonel Draža Mihailović who, together with Dragiša Vasić, towers at the head of the new Army which has emerged under the Serbian Flag in the mountains of the Serbian Lands after the capitulation of the Army of Yugoslavia.
Draža is the name which graces the most famous Serb of our time. He appeared suddenly and to the astonishment of the entire world, astride the peaks of the Serbian mountains, one body and one heart, as an impregnable rock against Germans, Italians, Croats and every other adversary of the Serbian people, without exception.
No one appreciated his heroism more deeply than American Serbs, who in the last war, out of about 100,000 souls in their community, had dispatched about twenty thousand volunteers to fight for the liberation of Serbia.
The Serbian people at this moment are at a historical crossroads, such as they had faced only three times before: in the time of Nemanja and Saint Sava, in the time of Prince Mihailo and Garašanin, and in the time of the old King Petar and Pašić. Today is a historical moment, not a political one; it is the day when Draža, the God sent Leader, goes in front the Serbian People like the pillar of fire that moved in front of Moses, leading the People out of the wilderness. This is the beginning of a new era where the initial steps that are taken shall define the entire path upon which the Nation has embarked.
(Ivanjica, 14/26 April 1893 — Belgrade, 17 July 1946)
If in the coming months the Serbian People go astray from the true path, choosing moral delusion and historical falsity, treading on such an erroneous path they inevitably will lose even what little they still have left.
Historical crises are resolved by figures of historical stature. These are individuals with a broad vision of reality as it pertains to their own Nation, endowed with a deep nationalist instinct as much as with human genius, they are straight as a spear hurled into space, uncompromising, tested, towering over themselves, and illuminated by the Sun itself, which irradiates and warms them…
*Jovan Duchich (Trebinje, February 15, 1874 – Gary, In April 7, 1943) was a Serbian writer, diplomat and academic. He was active in diplomacy for over three decades (1909-1941) in ten cities. He is the first Yugoslav diplomat with the title of ambassador. He is one of the most important poets of Serbian modernism and the most important lyricist. He was one of the founders of the National Defense, a national non-governmental organization in the Kingdom of Serbia. Coming to America in 1941, according to his idea, he renewed the work of the Serbian National Defense in America.
This text about General Draza Mihailovic was first time published in the inaugural issue of Sloboda newspaper 1952.
Translated by Stefan Karganovic
