Akif Šeremet (19 September 1895 – 19 April 1939) was a Bosnian communist activist, known as the "Red Professor".

Akif Šeremet
A statue of Šeremet in Kladanj
Born(1895-09-19)19 September 1895
Died19 April 1939(1939-04-19) (aged 43)
SpouseNafija

A member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia since its inception in 1919, Šeremet remained active in various communist groups throughout the interwar period before being arrested in Moscow during the Great Purge and executed after nearly a year of imprisonment.

Early life edit

Although the Šeremet family hailed from the village Suhača[1] near Livno in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina, Akif Šeremet was born in the central Bosnian town Kladanj on 19 September 1895. His father Ahmed Šeremet, was a teacher in Livno.[2]

Education and teaching edit

After graduating teaching school, Šeremet received his doctorate in 1919 at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb.[3] From 1920 to 1921 he was a leading member of the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia at the University of Zagreb.

For a short time he taught at secondary schools in Prahovo and Čačak. In 1924 he was appointed a professor of history and geography at a high school in Banja Luka.[4] He socialized with fellow activist and writer Veselin Masleša. Due to the addition of his personal communist stance into his teaching, he gained the nickname the "Red Professor".[5][6]

Arrest and death edit

Šeremet was arrested 19 July 1938 during the Great Purge in Moscow.[7] In March 1939, Josip Broz Tito excluded Šeremet from the Communist party and declared him a "vermin" that was "cheating Comintern". Šeremet was executed along with other prominent Yugoslav communists, such as Kosta Novaković, Sima Marković and Sima Miljuš on 19 April 1939.[8] They were cremated after the execution at the crematorium of the Donski cemetery in Moscow, where their remains were buried in a collective grave.

References edit

  1. ^ U traganju za ljudima i zavičajem. akademija nauka i umjetnosti Bosne i Hercegovine. 2007. ISBN 9789958501388. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  2. ^ "Crveni profesor Akif Šeremet". Samobor. 1982. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  3. ^ "Vreme i savest: zbornik eseja i kritika pisaca boraca i revolucionara". Kultura. 1960. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  4. ^ "Vila Velebita: nacionalna borba Hrvata u Lici između dva rata". Hrvatsko književno društvo "sv. Ćirila i Metoda". 1992. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  5. ^ "Pregled, Volume 63, Issues 11-64". 1973. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  6. ^ "Krleža u školi". Zavod za izdavanje udžbenika. 1973. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  7. ^ "Članci i grada za kulturnu istoriju istočne Bosne, Volumes 9-12". Muzej istočne Bosne u Tuzla. 1972. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  8. ^ "Krležin zbornik". Naprijed. 1964. Retrieved 10 May 2016.