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Herta Haas

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Haas in 1943

Herta Haas (29 March 1914 – 5 March 2010) was a Slovene and Yugoslav Partisan during World War II and the third wife of Josip Broz Tito, leader of the partisans and a future president of Yugoslavia.[1]

Early life and family

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Haas was born 1914 in Slovenska Bistrica, which was part of Austria-Hungary at the time.[2] She was originally registered as Herta Gabriele Schindler[3] and was the illegitimate daughter of Prisca Schindler (1888–1975) and the lawyer Heinrich Haas (1864–1925). After Heinrich Haas obtained a divorce from his wife, Elsa Demel Haas (1868–1951), he married Herta's mother in 1924.[3][4] Her surname was legally changed to Haas in 1925.[3][4]

She joined the revolutionary workers movement in high school and worked as a courier between groups in Yugoslavia and France.[2]

Later life

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Haas met Tito in Paris in 1937,[2] a year after he had divorced his first wife, Pelagija "Polka" Belousova. In 1940, Haas travelled to Istanbul to deliver a passport to Tito, who was returning from a trip to Moscow.[2] Their relationship soon turned romantic, according to Tito's authorized biography, The Loves of Josip Broz Tito.[2] The couple married in 1940[1] and returned to Yugoslavia using aliases.[2] They lived in Zagreb until the Invasion of Yugoslavia, when Tito moved to Belgrade, while Haas, who was pregnant with their only child, remained in Zagreb.[2]

In May 1941, Haas gave birth to their only son, Mišo Broz, who was a Croatian ambassador to Indonesia from 2004 to 2009.[1] Partisan supporters hid Haas and her son from Nazi German authorities and their allies, but she was eventually caught and arrested.[2] She was swapped for a German officer in a 1943 prisoner exchange between the Germans and the Partisans.[2]

By the time Haas was released and rejoined the Partisans in 1943, Tito was having an affair with his personal secretary Davorjanka Paunović, who was code named "Zdenka".[2] Haas and Tito suddenly separated in 1943 in Jajce during the second meeting of AVNOJ after she reportedly walked in on him and Davorjanka Paunović.[5] Haas spent much of the rest of World War II in Slovenia, away from Tito.[2]

Haas reportedly met Tito only once after World War II during a visit to his presidential office in Belgrade.[2] Following the end of the war, Haas worked at several Yugoslav government institutions.[1] She remarried and gave birth to two daughters;[2] one of them is researcher Cvetana Krstev. She lived much of her later life in relative obscurity.

Haas died in Belgrade, Serbia, on 5 March 2010 at the age of 95.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Tito's ex wife Hertha Hass dies". Monsters and Critics. 9 March 2010. Archived from the original on 28 January 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Tito's second wife dies at 96". Xinhua. 10 March 2010. Archived from the original on 9 June 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
  3. ^ a b c Geburts- und Taufbuch. Slovenska Bistrica. 1902–1917. p. 227. Retrieved 3 February 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^ a b Tomažič, Dušan (2017). "Herta Gabrijele Schindler (Haas, Krstev) 'Vera Savić'. Predniki in potomci (1914–2010)". Časopis za zgodovino in narodopisje. 88 (4): 88–122. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  5. ^ "Titova udovica daleko od očiju javnosti". Blic.rs. 28 December 2008. Archived from the original on 14 December 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2010.
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