Francis was his compass
"Man's personal and historical destiny has always been measured by the magnitude of his victories stolen from the enemy: the forces that have denied him throughout history."
Miroslav Tuđman, scientist and politician, is the son of the first Croatian president Franjo Tuđman and his wife Ankica Tuđman. He was born in Belgrade in 1946 on the anniversary of his parents' wedding. He was named Miroslav after the Croatian writer Miroslav Krleža, whom his father greatly respected at the time.
He attended and finished elementary school in Belgrade, during which he regularly practiced swimming. From childhood, like her father, she was a great lover of books. The family moved to Zagreb, where Miroslav attended grammar school, after which he entered the Faculty of Philosophy.
Although Miroslav was very self-effacing when it came to his private life, he once told journalists what his childhood was like. — In our house, no jokes were told, no drinking was done, but serious conversations were always held. It greatly influenced my way of thinking, my commitment to life. - He said.
Famous Croatian intellectuals used to gather in the Tuđmans' home. Krleža was also a frequent guest, whose works were devoured by the young Miroslav in addition to his school duties. Once a young man, having read a quote from the writer's work somewhere, asked him if he knew which work the quote was from. Krleža replied that he had no idea. — I looked at him in wonder, but only later did I realize that a man who wrote so many works cannot remember every detail. Tuđman explained.
He also told how all the Tuđmans' children were very independent in making their own decisions from childhood. Their father would only ask them about their grades at the end of the school year. When Miroslav enrolled in philosophy and sociology, Franjo only after enrollment asked him what he was studying. When Miroslav answered him, his father said: - It could have been better. You could have entered history instead of sociology! —
During his studies, Miroslav was the editor-in-chief of "Studentski list" and deputy editor of "Jedno list omladine", and after graduation he became the editor-in-chief of "Pitanja" magazine.
Because of his father's career, he was privileged during his life, but in many ways he was also discriminated against and deprived. At the time when Franjo ends up in custody, Miroslav is fired and struggles to find a job. In a letter to his wife Ankica, Franjo writes: "Without you, without Mirek, Braca and Seka, it would be much harder for me to endure this." It gives me the greatest pleasure that our children are convinced that I was telling the truth. They know, just like you and I, that because of me and my words, we will all have even greater difficulties in life, but I am happy that our family sympathy is strengthened, and our reputation among well-meaning people is greater."
Miroslav received his master's degree in 1975 on the topic "Cognitive and logistic elements of facts and information", and his doctorate in 1985 in the field of information sciences by defending the dissertation "Paradigm of information science".
He got a job at the Referral Center of the University of Zagreb, and also worked at the Croatian Institute of Culture. He chaired the Department of Documentary Studies at the Department of Information Sciences at the Faculty of Philosophy, and then the Department of Knowledge Organization at the same Department, where he taught various topics in the field of information sciences.
He was the organizer of many scientific and professional gatherings in the field of information sciences and national security, and during the 90s he was engaged in the field of the intelligence system.
From that period, Ankica Tuđman recalled an anecdote told to her by Miroslav in her autobiography "My life with Francek".
Not long after "The Storm", Miroslav met with the director of MI6, the United Kingdom's intelligence service. They decided to walk along the walls of Dubrovnik. While walking, one of the passers-by pointed to Miroslav and said: — That is our president. —
When the interlocutor asked who was with him, the answer followed: — It must be his bodyguard! —
The officer accompanying the director of MI6 overheard this conversation and immediately told it to his boss, who always joked about him with Miroslav during the following meetings.
As in the case, Miroslav is often credited with remaining in the shadow of his father Franja, although he built a respectable scientific career and made a significant contribution to the field of information sciences. His works in that field are well-known, in which he writes: "In the modern world, information has become a weapon, and the media has become a battlefield."
Miroslav is the founder and first head of the Department of Information Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, and in 2000 he launched the international magazine "National Security and The Future", in which he was the editor-in-chief.
In one of his first published essays, "How Venus Withers or a Woman Between Paradigm and Paradogma", Miroslav thought about life like this:
"Man's personal and historical destiny has always been actually measured by the magnitude of his victories stolen from the enemy: the forces that have denied him throughout history. That is why contemporary European history is dominated by the tragic conception of man and the tragic determination of his identity. And in the future man will be happy as a tragic and historical being if he has enough enemies: real ones to evaluate his historical role, and invented ones to justify his social position over his contemporaries."
The source of the story is Ankica Tuđman's autobiography "My Life with Francek", published in 2006.
