Đuro Šurmin (September 4, 1867 – March 22, 1937) was a

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

n literary historian and politician.

Biography

He was born in Sišćani. He studied

Slavic Studies Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...

Classical Studies Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

at the

Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences or the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb ( Croatian: ''Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu'') is one of the faculties of the University of Zagreb. History The Faculty of Philosophy is the oldest fac ...

since 1890, receiving a Ph.D. in 1897 with a thesis titled ''Riječi muškoga roda â-osnova u hrvatskom jeziku'' (Masculine â-stems in Croatian). There he worked as a teaching apprentice in Croatian and

Serbian literature Serbian literature ( sr-Cyrl, Српска књижевност), refers to literature written in Serbian and/or in Serbia and all other lands where Serbs reside. The history of Serbian literature begins with the independent works from the Nema ...

since 1899, becoming a regular professor in 1906, and serving as the dean in the period 1907-1908. In 1908 he was temporarily retired, in 1910 reemployed, and since 1921 permanently retired. He died in Zagreb in 1937.

Political engagement

Šurmin was actively involved in politics. Since 1906 he served as a parliamentarian for the

Croatian People's Progressive Party Croatian may refer to: *Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , ...

, supporting the

Croat-Serb Coalition The Croat-Serb Coalition ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hrvatsko-srpska koalicija, separator=/, Хрватско-српска коалиција) was a major political alliance in Austria-Hungary during early 20th century that governed the Croatian lands, the c ...

until 1917. In 1914-1922 he was the

city councilor A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural council ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

. In the National Council of the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

he belonged to the non-partisan group of politicians who rallied around the newspapers ''Male novine'', serving as a commissioner for commerce, trade and industry. In the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes he was originally a member of the Advanced Democratic Party, then in the period 1919-1924 as member of the Croatian Community, and finally in 1925 founding the uninfluential Croatian People's Party. In 1920 he was elected to the Constituent Assembly and served as the Minister for Social Affairs, and also later as the Minister of Trade and Industry (1924-1925). His political activity in the 1930s was tied with the regime. He was particularly active in various economic bodies, such as being the President of the People's Bank for Savings and Loans in 1925-1935.

Work

His scientific work was in the fields of history of literature, history and philology: * ''Povjest književnosti hrvatske i srpske'' (History of Croatian and Serbian Literature, 1898) * ''Iz zajedničke književne prošlosti Bosne i Slavonije'' (From the Common Literary Past of Bosnia and Slavonia, 1901) * ''Hrvatski preporod'' I-II (Croatian Revival, 1903–1904) * ''Stvaranje Srbije'' (The Creation of Serbia, 1921) * ''Osnovke ugovora u Londonu 1915'' (The Principles of the 1915 Treaty of London, 1928) * ''Vojska i hrvatska politika 1915. god.'' (The Army and Croatian Politics in 1915, 1932) As part of the ''Monumenta historico-juridica Slavorum meridionalium'' project he prepared a collection of medieval, predominantly

Glagolitic The Glagolitic script (, , ''glagolitsa'') is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed to have been created in the 9th century by Saint Cyril, a monk from Thessalonica. He and his brother Saint Methodius were sent by the Byzan ...

monuments, which were published as ''Hrvatski spomenici'' (Croatian Monuments, 1898). His legacy is preserved in the

Croatian State Archives The Croatian State Archives ( hr, Hrvatski državni arhiv) are the national archives of Croatia located in its capital, Zagreb. The history of the state archives can be traced back to the 17th century. There are also regional state archives loca ...

in Zagreb.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Surmin, Duro 1867 births 1937 deaths People from Čazma Croatian politicians Croatian philologists Croatian literary historians