Tito's third man who directed the Cominform purges and guarded Yugoslav centralism
Interior minister Ranković remarked after the 1948 split that 'it was impossible to know whom to trust and that one's closest comrades may now be the enemy.'
The third most powerful figure in Yugoslavia after Tito and Kardelj, Ranković served as interior minister and head of the State Security Administration (UDBA), where he directed the anti-Stalinist purges following the 1948 Cominform split. He built the Goli Otok labor camp and oversaw the arrest and imprisonment of tens of thousands of 'Cominformists', while also leading harsh repressive policies against Kosovo's Albanian population. A staunch opponent of federal decentralization and defender of Serb-dominated centralism, he fell from power in 1966 after a scandal involving the bugging of Tito's bedroom, spending the rest of his life barred from public office.
Career Timeline
- 1928Joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia
- 1929–1935Arrested and imprisoned for communist activity
- 1941–1945Served on Partisan Supreme Staff; founded OZNA (1944)
- 1946–1953Minister of Interior of Yugoslavia and head of UDBA
- 1948–1955Directed anti-Cominform purges; established Goli Otok camp
- 1963–1966Vice President of Yugoslavia
- 1966Dismissed from all posts at Brioni Plenum; expelled from party