| Josip Broz Tito (Cyrillic: Јосип Броз Тито, May 7, 1892 [May 25th according to official birth certificate] -- May 4, 1980) was the leader of the Second Yugoslavia, which lasted from 1943 until 1991. Tito is best known for organizing the anti-fascist resistance movement known as the Yugoslav Partisans, founding Cominform,[1] along with defying Soviet influence (see Titoism), and founding and promoting the Non-Aligned Movement. He died on May 4, 1980 in Ljubljana. Josip Broz was born in Kumrovec, Croatia, then part of Austria-Hungary, in an area called Zagorje. He was the seventh child of Franjo and Marija Broz. His father, Franjo Broz, was a Croat, while his mother Marija (born Javeršek) was a Slovenian. After spending part of his childhood years with his maternal grandfather in Podsreda, he entered the primary school in Kumrovec, and failed the second grade. He left school in 1905. In 1907, moving out of the rural environment, Broz started working as a machinist's apprentice in Sisak. There, he became aware of the labor movement and celebrated May 1 - Labour Day for the first time. In 1910, he joined the union of metallurgy workers and at the same time the Social-Democratic Party of Croatia and Slavonia. Between 1911 and 1913, Broz worked for shorter periods in Kamnik (Slovenia), Cenkovo (Bohemia), Munich and Mannheim (Germany), where he worked for Benz automobile factory; he then went to Wiener Neustadt, Austria, where he worked at Daimler as a test driver. On April 6 ... |
