Ema Derossi-Bjelajac

Ema Derossi-Bjelajac
Ema Derossi-Bjelajac
President of the Presidency of the Socialist Republic of Croatia
	In office; 26 November 1985 – 9 May 1986
Prime Minister	Ante Marković
Preceded by	Pero Car
Succeeded by	Ante Marković
Deputy Speaker of Parliament
	In office; 1978–1982
Speaker	Jure Bilić
Member of Parliament
	In office; 1978–1982
Speaker	Jure Bilić
Personal details
Born	Ema Derossi; 3 May 1926; Stermàzio, Italy; (now Štrmac, Croatia)
Died	20 June 2020 (aged 94); Zagreb, Croatia
Party	League of Communists of Yugoslavia
Spouse	Boško Bjelajac
Alma mater	University of Zagreb
Profession	Politician

Ema Derossi-Bjelajac (3 May 1926 – 20 June 2020) was a Croatian politician who served as the President of the Presidency of the Socialist Republic of Croatia (a constituent republic of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) from 1985 until 1986. She was the first woman to hold a title equivalent to a head of state in modern-day Croatia.

Biography

Born in Istria under Italian fascist rule, Derossi joined the Partisan movement and became a member of the League of Communist Youth (SKOJ) in 1943. After the war she worked as an party functionary in Pula from 1946 to 1948.^[1]

She served in a number of high-ranking functions within the League of Communists of Croatia and the Croatian republican government of the period: notably, she was a Member of the Central Committee of the League between 1964 and 1974, and was a Member and Deputy Speaker of the Croatian Parliament (Sabor) between 1978 and 1982. She served in the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia from 1964 to 1968.

On 20 June 2020, she died in Zagreb, aged 94.^[2]^[3]

References

↑ "DEROSSI-BJELAJAC, Ema - Hrvatski biografski leksikon". hbl.lzmk.hr. Retrieved 2026-07-16.
↑ "Umrla Ema Derossi Bjelajac, Istranka i prva predsjednica Hrvatske". istarski.hr (in Croatian). 24 June 2020.
↑ "EMA DEROSSI-BJELAJAC (1926.- 2020.): Očuvala je Čakavski sabor u najtežim vremenima". glasistre.hr (in Croatian). 26 June 2020.

Sources

DEROSSI-BJELAJAC, Ema at lzmk.hr (in Croatian)

[1] "DEROSSI-BJELAJAC, Ema - Hrvatski biografski leksikon". hbl.lzmk.hr. Retrieved 2026-07-16.

[2] "Umrla Ema Derossi Bjelajac, Istranka i prva predsjednica Hrvatske". istarski.hr (in Croatian). 24 June 2020.

[3] "EMA DEROSSI-BJELAJAC (1926.- 2020.): Očuvala je Čakavski sabor u najtežim vremenima". glasistre.hr (in Croatian). 26 June 2020.

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Presidency of the Socialist Republic of Croatia
President of the Presidium of the Parliament	Vladimir Nazor (1946–1949) Karlo-Gašpar Mrazović (1949–1952) Vicko Krstulović (1952–1953)
Speaker of the Parliament	Zlatan Sremec (1953) Vladimir Bakarić (1953–1963) Ivan Krajačić (1963–1967) Jakov Blažević (1967–1974)
President of the Presidency of the Republic	Jakov Blažević (1974–1982) Marijan Cvetković (1982–1983) Milutin Baltić (1983–1984) Jakša Petrić (1984–1985) Pero Car (1985) Ema Derossi-Bjelajac (1985–1986) Ante Marković (1986–1988) Ivo Latin (1988–1990) Franjo Tuđman (1990)
Succeeded by Croatian presidents

Members of the Presidency of the Socialist Republic of Croatia (1982–1986)
Marijan Cvetković President (1982–1983) Milutin Baltić President (1983–1984) Jakša Petrić President (1984–1985) Pero Car President (1985) Ema Derossi-Bjelajac President (1985–1986) Mirko Bošković Tode Ćuruvija Dragutin Plašć
Members ex officio as President of the Presidency of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Croatia	Jure Bilić (1982–1983) Josip Vrhovec (1983–1984) Mika Špiljak (1984–1986)

Authority control databases
International	ISNI VIAF
National	Croatia