A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF RODOLPHE ARCHIBALD REISS’S ACTIVITIES IN THE KINGDOM OF SERBS, CROATS, AND SLOVENES (1919–1929)

  • Srđan Milošević Institut za noviju istoriju Srbije
Keywords: Rudolph Archibald Reiss (1875-1929), Aleksandar Karađorđević (1888-1934), Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Ministry of the Interior

Abstract


In this paper two hitherto unknown letters related to the activity of Dr. Archibald Reiss in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (1919–1929) are being presented and commented on. While Reiss's activities during WWI (1914–1918) are well documented and thoroughly researched, the knowledge about his engagement in the first post-war decade remains fairly scarce, due to the lack of sources. However, the available sources generally confirm that there was insurmountable tension in the relations between R. A. Reiss and the authorities of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, almost from the very beginning of his “second term” in the service of the Belgrade government. The two Reiss’s letters addressed to the Regent and King Aleksandar, published in this paper (one of which was hitherto unknown), clearly reveal the peculiar relationship between them. Another letter, rather a short diplomatic report, sheds some new light on the conditions of Reiss’s return to the service of the government in Belgrade in 1919. The research clearly shows that Reiss occupied the position of the head of the Technical Service at the Department for Public Safety and also points out at his official reporting missions to Macedonia, on the request of the Minister of the Interior, in 1921 and 1921.

References

Unpublished sources:
Archive of Yugoslavia (AJ):
Collection of Vojislav Jovanović Marambo (335)
Letter from Archibald Reiss to King Aleksandar 1929 (box 6 – doc. 2)
Report to the Minister of the Interior written by Archibald Reiss, September 1921 (box 18 – fol. 633–640)
Report to the Minister of the Interior written by Archibald Reiss, November 1922 (box 18 – fol. 641–673)

Legation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in France (388)
Dispatch from the Legation of the Kingdom SCS in Paris to the President of the Council of Ministers (box 5 – fol. 233–234)

Press:

Politika, 2 – 4 July 1922.

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Published
2021/04/30
Section
History of Policing