Introduction
Anton Vratuša, born Vratussa Antal (born 21 February 1915) is a former politician and diplomat, who was Prime Minister of Slovenia and Yugoslavia's ambassador to the United Nations. At the age of 102 years, 92 days he is oldest former head of state in world.
Life
Vratuša was born in Dolnji Slaveči, Austro-Hungarian Empire, today Slovenia. His parents were Vratussa Antal and Anna Bokán.
From 1941 onward, he was involved in the Yugoslav People's Liberation War, and was interned in the Italian concentration camps of Gonars, of Treviso, of Padova, and of Rab from February 1942 to September 1943. After the concentration camp at Rab was liberated by the Yugoslav Partisans, Vratuša was named Deputy Commander of their Rab battalion, made up of camp survivors. He was also the head of the Yugoslav Partisans' delegation at the National Liberation Committee, the Italian Partisans' underground political entity during the German occupation of Italy in the last years of World War II.
After the war, he pursued an academic and diplomatic career. He was Chief of Staff to Edvard Kardelj (1953–65); the UN Commissioner to South West Africa (now Namibia) (27 October 1966 – 13 June 1967) while it was under direct UN ruleand Yugoslavia's ambassador to the United Nations (1967–69). From April 1978 to July 1980, he was the Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia.
He helped to found the International Center for Promotion of Enterprises (formerly known as the International Center for Public Enterprises in Developing Countries), where he currently serves as the Honorary President of its Council.
Work
Vratuša's published works include The Commune in Yugoslavia (1965) and Prospects of the Non-Aligned Movement (1981). From 1985 until 1988, he wrote various UN publications, especially in the fields of the law of the sea and politics in developing countries.