Predrag Koraksić Koraks has passed away.

Cartoonist Predrag Koraksić Koraks, one of the harshest and most consistent critics of political and social conditions in Serbia, has died at the age of 93, announced the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS), of which Koraks was one of the founders.

As N1 writes, Koraks was born on June 15, 1933 in Gornja Gorevnica near Čačak, into a family of teachers. His childhood was marked by war and the loss of his father, a partisan who was killed during World War II, as well as the exile that followed. He began publishing cartoons at the age of 17, in 1950, in the satirical newspaper "Jež", which began an extraordinary career that lasted more than seven decades. Although he studied architecture in Belgrade, he decided to devote himself entirely to cartooning and journalism.

Koraks worked for more than three decades at Večernje Novosti, from where he was dismissed in 1993 for political reasons, after which he continued his work in independent media such as Vreme, Danas, Borba, Peščanik and Radio Free Europe. For decades, he defended the right to free thought and freedom of expression with his cartoons, leaving an indelible mark on journalism, media culture and public life in Serbia. His recognizable drawings and sharp humor were a symbol of resistance to authoritarianism, nationalism and abuse of power, according to N1.

He was considered one of the most important political cartoonists in the former Yugoslavia, and his cartoons often spoke more than a thousand words. During his career, he had more than 40 solo exhibitions in the country and abroad and was the recipient of numerous domestic and international awards, including the French Legion of Honor.

As one of the founders of NUNS, he was part of the generation that created space for independent and professional journalism in the most difficult times. Due to his exceptional contribution to the profession and the fight for media freedom, NUNS awarded him the status of honorary member in 2021, on the occasion of his 88th birthday.

Koraks was not just a cartoonist, he was a chronicler of his time, whose voice and perspective on reality will be deeply missed. His passing represents a great loss for the journalistic community, but also for all who believe in the importance of critical thinking and a free society.

NUNS expresses its deepest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

Caricatures that caused him "problems"

At that time, it was forbidden to draw Tito, but instead the caricatures depicted certain situations in society, bad traits of the people, etc. These were, as Koraksić once stated, "caricatures without an address," according to N1.

And when Koraks started to "address" his cartoons, he suffered the consequences. Fortunately, not so severe. The cartoonists who worked for Novosti were given the opportunity to draw somewhat "freer" cartoons in the weekly supplement, but nothing that would greatly offend the party leaders.

In the early 1970s in Slovenia, a high-ranking Communist Party official, France Popit, dismissed about twenty directors of large Slovenian companies, fearing that the economic sector would threaten the communist government.

As Koraks said in the documentary "Koraks - Drawing History", Popit was known for his love of drinking.

That's why the cartoon depicted him with a glass of whiskey in his hand, with the dismissed directors in the glass along with ice cubes. The cartoon was accompanied by the title "France Popi(t)".

Immediately after the cartoon was published, the Slovenian central committee complained to the committee in Serbia. A commission was quickly formed and "judgments" were made. The editor of this supplement, Branko Stošić, was expelled from the party, and Koraks was punished with a three-month suspension.

The second "controversial" cartoon was to be published in "Duga", for which Koraks also drew.

The actor was Kurt Waldheim, then Secretary-General of the United Nations and a good acquaintance of Tito. A photograph of Waldheim from Kozara, taken during World War II, appeared from somewhere, showing him dressed in a Nazi uniform.

Koraks drew a portrait of Waldheim, seemingly quite ordinary. However, a swastika-shaped plaster was stuck over his mouth. The magazine went to press, but the censor stopped the printing process. Then 50 thousand copies of the paper were thrown away, and the new circulation was printed without Corax's caricature. Koraksić saved one censored copy for his personal archive. This caused a bigger reaction than Korax's previous "mistake".

Tito's death gave cartoonists the freedom to draw whatever they wanted, and whoever they wanted. Although Koraksić has been drawing cartoons since 1950, as he himself said, his career really took off in the 1990s, because it was only then that he was able to work the way he really wanted.

The time of the breakup of Yugoslavia, wars, bombings, and the problems faced by citizens, along with all the political actors of that time, are neatly recorded in his caricatures.

Milutinović "neatly" collected caricatures in which he

And the only president at the time who "neatly" collected Koraks' caricatures in which he was the protagonist was Milan Milutinović. He did not mind that Koraks mostly portrayed him as a ficus in Milošević's office or a fish in an aquarium.

At a time when Milošević was awaiting extradition to The Hague, Milutinović summoned Koraksić to the Presidency for a conversation. He then revealed that he had repeatedly suggested to Milošević that two pages in the "New York Times" be rented and Koraks's caricatures published there, in order to show that there was democracy in the country. The proposal was never adopted.

But on that occasion, the late editor of "Vreme" Dragoljub Žarković sent a photojournalist who took a picture of Milutinović and Koraksić shaking hands, making it appear as if they were particularly close.

As Milutinović revealed to him at the time, Milošević did not pay much attention to the caricatures in which he was the protagonist. And he was in a large number of them. Milošević only had two complaints against him.

He was bothered by the fact that Koraks drew Mira Marković as very plump, when in fact she had had liposuction to remove all that extra weight. Another complaint was that he depicted her with a flower in her hair, which Mira never wore.

Mira Marković once stated that "Predrag Koraksić is the worst cartoonist in the world". She added that when she sees his cartoons, she wishes he were no longer a leftist. In an interview, Koraksić stated that at the time he was unaware of the danger he was in.

Tadić bought about 20 caricatures

Besides Milutinović, only former President Boris Tadić was interested in caricatures featuring him.

As Koraksić revealed in an interview with Al Jazeera, Tadić sent an associate from his cabinet to buy back about 20 caricatures.

However, the young man chose, as Koraks stated, somewhat "gentler" caricatures, that is, those whose subject matter was not problematic, and Tadić was presented in a not so bad light.