Branislav Đurdev vvas born on August 4th, 1908 in Sremski Karlovci. In 1934, he took a degree in history and oriental philology at Belgrade University. After having finished his studies, he became a member of a group of orientalists who were collecting materials in Turkish archives. Thus collected microfilmed materials became the basis of new researches of the history of South Slavic nations under the Turkish rule. In 1950, he was one of the founders of the Oriental Institute in Sarajevo and its first director. When the Sarajevo University was founded, he started lecturing history of South Slavic nations in Turkish times there, what was also his main research sphere.
Branislav Đurdev died in April 1993 in Novi Sad, where he withdrew, ill as he was, from besieged Sarajevo.