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Jovan I. Deretić

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Not to be confused with Jovan Deretić, a late literature historian.
Jovan I. Deretić

Jovan I. Deretić is a megalomaniac pseudohistorian and conspiracy theorist from Serbia who believes that all Indo-Europeans (except Albanians) are Serbs and that "fact" was hidden in the name of the Vatican after Berlin Congress (1878). Thanks to his tireless efforts in promoting his ideas, Deretić became synonym with neo-romanticists (derogatory term for people who wish that history perfectly suits to their needs and used medieval poems and legends as serious historical sources, in contrast to historians of "critical school", who took more serious approach).

Contents

[edit] Career

Jovan I. Deretić & Co. emerged and benefited from chaos that hit Balkans during 1990s. The collapse of communism and break up of former Yugoslavia during 1990s set the stage for nationalist agitators in successor states. Due to negative experience with Catholic Church in past (especially during World War II), some Serbs are prone to accept more or less crackpot conspiracy theories that include Vatican and the Pope.

[edit] Birth of the monster

Deretić explained the cause of his actions: while he was still teenager, people in his native Herzegovina used to find pieces of pottery. His uncle explained him that the pottery is older from Roman era. Stunned little Jovan asked: "But how it is possible, if we (Serbs) migrated here in 7th century?" Uncle replied: "Dear boy, don't be a fool, nobody migrated here."[1]

Deretić's education is somewhat unclear. He claims that he studied in Belgrade Faculty of Sciences, then left Yugoslavia in 1963 and went to France. There he first he in Paris Technical School, and then he studied history in Lyon for three years, insufficiently to obtain Ph.D. He moved to USA, and claims he obtained an LLD in Chicago. Finally, he claims he is a member Petrovskaya Academy of Science from Sankt Petersburg, Russia (note that this academy is established in 1991; Russia has its national academy - Russian Academy of Sciences; Petrovskaya is more like NGO). Knowing the fact that Deretić dares to claim that even Russians are under Vatican influence (see bellow), it is odd how he obtained membership in the "academy".

Deretić built upon his pseudohistory on work of Miloš Milojević and Sima Lazić Lukin, whose thesis were discarded and debunked by historians such as Ilarion Ruvarac at the of 19th century. While Milojević and Lazić held somewhat modest views on Serbian history, Deretić believes that there was ancient Serbian empire that ruled world (or at least had great impact on early history). He explains that modern accepted history that it taught over world is product of Vatican-Austrian conspiracy. That "conspiracy" should force Serbs to abandon process of national liberation and unification, which would make easier for Catholicism and Austria to spread further to East.

Deretić had regular appearances on local TV stations where he promoted his "Forbidden Serbian History" (Serbian: Zabranjena istorija Srba)

[edit] Deretić's methodology

[edit] Deretić on history

[edit] History on Deretić

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[edit] Acceptance of Deretić's ideas

Deretić is accepted only among uneducated laymen. No one sufficiently intelligent in Serbia (SANU - national academy of sciences, universities and ministry of education) ever endorsed Deretić. Radivoje Radić, associate of SANU Byzantine institute wrote book Srbi pre Adama i posle njega, istorija jedne zloupotrebe: Slovo protiv novoromantičara (Serbs before Adam and after him, history of an abuse: A word against neo-romanticists).

[edit] Political engagement

Deretić considers himself a fierce Serbian Orthodox.

Deretić took part in political life in Serbia, but without any success. In 2011, he founded NGO Free Serbia. Ideology of the movement are: euroscepticism, counter-globalisation, social conservatism and aligning Serbia with proposed Eurasian Union.

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

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