Dimitrije Ljotic

At the beginning of the Summer, after my exams, I was looking around for some good books. In particular I wanted to read more on recent Serbian history, politics, sociology, and the organisation of the state,from an Orthodox Christian point of view. Of course the number one source to turn to is St. Nikolai and his multitude of works. He, more than any other Church leader during the last century explained and analysed a multitude of problem's facing contemporary mankind. Especially national, social, political and other problem's which not many Bishop's or Priest's speak about in great detail or with such clarity as he did. However given that my father already has the complete works of St. Nikolai, I wanted to use my time in Serbia to acquire some additional work's by other's.
I didn't really know where to start looking, but luckily while in Belgrade a relative handed me a pamphlet which contained a war time speech by Dimitrije Ljotic. It was about WW2 and entitled The reason for war, and it's master. From the way the man wrote you could tell that he was principled, honest, highly knowledgeable, and a believer. I especially liked his logical style, which I found similar to St. Nikolai's. It wasn't the first time I'd heard of him, but I didn't know too much, and I certainly hadn't read anything of his before. What I did know was that he founded the Serbian Volunteer Corps (SDK) during WW2. This I knew only because I had ancestor's on both my mother's and father's side that had fought for the SDK. This personal connection compounded my interest. I researched him on the internet and to my surprise found that St. Nikolai had given a speech at his funeral and that they had been close. As soon as I'd read the speech I headed down to a certain bookshop I knew would have more of Dimitrije Ljotic's material.
I spent much of the Summer reading about Ljotic's life and his works, and it was time well spent. Infact I still haven't finished reading his works, and won't do till I run out of material. Not many people speak about him these days. The vast majority don't know who he was or what he stood for. The minority that do speak usually do so in a derogatory way, using smear's, hoping to sweep him back under the carpet. This man doesn't deserve to be swept underneath anyone's carpet, yet alone the carpet of those lukewarm Serb's or outright traitor's that have the cheek to call him a traitor! I consider it a travesty that God gave us such a man as an example and that so many have not even heard of him. For this reason I intend to post about him in the coming week's or month's. There is too little material out there about him, even in Serbian, but especially in English. Certainly reading him has been a pleasure for me, not a chore. I hope others have a similar experience.
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