Publisher: Historical Archives of Belgrade
For the Publishers: MA Dragan Gačić
Editors-in-Chief: Mirjana Milenković
Editor: Vladimir Mijatović
Consulting Editor: Rade Ristanović
Consulting Associate: Petar Petrović
Technical Editor: Zorica Smilović
Review by: Tatjana Korićanac, Danijela Punišić
Printed by: Zlamen
Circulation: 500
For the Publishers: MA Dragan Gačić
Editors-in-Chief: Mirjana Milenković
Editor: Vladimir Mijatović
Consulting Editor: Rade Ristanović
Consulting Associate: Petar Petrović
Technical Editor: Zorica Smilović
Review by: Tatjana Korićanac, Danijela Punišić
Printed by: Zlamen
Circulation: 500
Luka Mladenović (Mijić) was born in Žitorađa, a little town near Vladičin Han, on October the 8th 1909, as a son of Milija and Leposava Mijić. As the author of numerous valuable drawings of old Belgrade, his work remains scattered throughout the city - from museums, libraries and archives, to taverns, cafes, bakeries... It can be said that almost every resident of Belgrade has seen at least one of his drawings. However, few would be able to say anything more about the author of these testimonies. The painter, in this case, remained in the shadow of his work. In 1958, Mladenović donated an album of photo reproductions of drawings of old Belgrade to the Historical Archives of Belgrade, with 97 images, and almost three decades later, in 1987, he also submitted the manuscript of his 146-page autobiography.
Luka Mladenović's autobiography is a moving manuscript that testifies to the deep Bulgarian-Serbian division of the population of southern Serbia during the Balkan Wars, to life under occupation in World War I, to the circumstances in interwar Belgrade and Serbia, as well as to the fascinating fate of the author and his family in World War II.
A very important moment in his life was meeting the cartoonist Pjero Križanić and the director of Politika, Vladislav Ribnikar, who awarded Luka Mladenović a scholarship and helped him enroll in the Art School, which he attended as a part-time student from 1926 to 1931. He attended evening classes held by Professor Ilija Šobajić, together with Prvoslav Piva Karamatijević and Branko Šotra. After graduating, he worked as a graphic artist, lithographer, and zincographer for Politika newspapers.
He worked as a zincographer at the Military Institute in Čačak, when the Second World War broke out. German units that entered the Institute captured him and sent him to forced labor in Germany. At the Hanover station, he managed to escape from the train and reach Herford (North Rhine-Westphalia), where he successfully hid due to his good German, and after some time he moved to Berlin as a volunteer worker.
The decision to flee from Herford to Berlin, and then to Serbia to bring his wife and son to Nazi Germany, affected Luka for the rest of his life. In addition to the horror and sufferings they experienced in Berlin, there was obviously also the fear that new communist authorities in Belgrade might not understand his choice and the circumstances that led to it. This fear is best illustrated by Mladenović's biography, written for the catalogue of the exhibition of his drawings, published in 2000 by the National Museum in Belgrade. That biography, written during Luka's lifetime, claimed that he "spent the years of occupation in Belgrade", and that "there was no time or conditions for drawing", but that he only "occasionally refined his drawings". Although Luka provided drawings for the exhibition and had the opportunity to present the truth about his life during World War II to the author of the exhibition and catalog, he did not do so. We assume that even then Mladenović had a certain fear, and that he felt safer if some traces of the past remained hidden in archival depots.
The decision to flee from Herford to Berlin, and then to Serbia to bring his wife and son to Nazi Germany, affected Luka for the rest of his life. In addition to the horror and sufferings they experienced in Berlin, there was obviously also the fear that new communist authorities in Belgrade might not understand his choice and the circumstances that led to it. This fear is best illustrated by Mladenović's biography, written for the catalogue of the exhibition of his drawings, published in 2000 by the National Museum in Belgrade. That biography, written during Luka's lifetime, claimed that he "spent the years of occupation in Belgrade", and that "there was no time or conditions for drawing", but that he only "occasionally refined his drawings". Although Luka provided drawings for the exhibition and had the opportunity to present the truth about his life during World War II to the author of the exhibition and catalog, he did not do so. We assume that even then Mladenović had a certain fear, and that he felt safer if some traces of the past remained hidden in archival depots.
This exciting autobiography follows three phases of the author's life – growing up, life in Belgrade in the interwar period and in Germany during World War II. It was published by the Historical Archives of Belgrade on 200 pages. The text is accompanied by a selection of illustrations and photographs that complement the author's life story and work.