When he was a law student, the Germans invaded Yugoslavia during World War II and he joined the resistance movement of Dragoljub Mihailović (Chetniks).
Đorđević was captured by the Germans and was imprisoned, ultimately in Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Austria.
[1] After he was pardoned and released, Đorđević was eventually allowed to commence study at the University of Belgrade, where he was a student of Vaso Čubrilović (one of the members of the Young Bosnia who conspired to assassinate Franz Ferdinand which led to the outbreak of World War I).
[2] A popular undergraduate lecturer and graduate mentor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1992 many of his former students contributed to his Festschrift entitled Scholar, Patriot, Mentor: Historical Essays in Honor of Dimitrije Djordjevic.
[3] In retirement, Đorđević published his autobiography, Scars and Memory: Four Lives in One Lifetime, describing his World War II and post World War II experiences.