Born Apr. 20, 1906, in Banja Luka; died June 14, 1943. Yugoslav public figure, historian, and publicist; People’s Hero of Yugoslavia (Nov. 20, 1951, posthumously). Son of a merchant. In 1925-27 he studied in Zagreb, Frankfurt, and Paris. He joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in 1927.
Masleša was persecuted and arrested on a number of occasions for revolutionary and publicistic activity in the period 1927-40. During the fascist occupation of Yugoslavia he took part in the armed uprising in Montenegro (July-August 1941). He worked in the political departments of the 4th and later 5th Montenegro brigades of the National Liberation Army. In 1942 he became a deputy to the Antifascist National-Liberation Council of Yugoslavia. He died in a battle on the Sutjeska River.
Maslesa was the author of many scholarly and publicistic works and was one of the founders of Marxist historiography in Yugoslavia.