He Was an Indispensable Part of the Artistic Elite, Helped the Spanish Civil War: Who Was Dida de Majo from "Shadows over the Balkans"?
When the character of Dida de Majo appears in the popular series "Shadows over the Balkans" (played by Petar Benčina), he embodies the spirit of interwar Belgrade – he is skillful, dangerous, elegant, and connected to the deepest layers of the underworld. However, the historical David Dida de Majo was a personality whose biography surpasses even the boldest scenarios of Dragan Bjelogrlić. He was not just an opium king from the screen; he was an artist, a falsifier with ideals, a resistance fighter, and a victim of all the great ideologies of the 20th century.
TL;DR
- Historical Dida de Majo was an artist, falsifier, resistance fighter, and victim of 20th-century ideologies.
- He studied art in Vienna and Paris, working on film scenography and designing for the Moulin Rouge.
- As a member of the Communist Party underground, he became a master forger, creating over 150 fake passports for Spanish Civil War volunteers.
- He survived imprisonment in Glavnjača and Sremska Mitrovica.
- During WWII, he joined the French Resistance and helped liberate writer Andre Malraux.
- His family in Belgrade perished in the Holocaust.
- After the war, he returned to Belgrade but was imprisoned on Goli otok for four years.
- He died in 1964, working as a technical editor for Serbian publications.