Ignaz Karl Soppron (1821–1894), better known as Ignjat Sopron (), was a journalist, publisher, and printer from

Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; hu, Zimony) is a municipality in the city of Belgrade. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown Belgrade. The developme ...

(then part of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

and

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, today one of the municipalities of

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

, Serbia).

Biography

Born in

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

to an ethnic German family, he learned the art of printing in his hometown, and later in Pest and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. He worked for the Viennese daily newspaper ''Fremden-Blatt'' and attended lectures at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

. In 1851, he was given a

concession Concession may refer to: General * Concession (contract) (sometimes called a concession agreement), a contractual right to carry on a certain kind of business or activity in an area, such as to explore or develop its natural resources or to opera ...

to run the printing business in Zemun. He founded a printing house there, which produced books in Serbian, German, Bulgarian, and Greek. In 1852–53, it also issued a newspaper, ''Srbsko-narodni vestnik'' (Србско-народни вестник, "Serbian National Herald"). Sopron accepted the offer of the government of the Ottoman Vilayet of Bosnia to set up the vilayet's official printing house in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

, and Sopron's Printing House was opened there in April 1866. He started and edited the first newspaper to be published in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

, ''Bosanski vjestnik'' (Босански вјестник, "Bosnian Herald"). Sopron remained in Sarajevo for a year, and having returned to Zemun, he started the newspaper ''Zemunski glasnik'' (Земунски гласник, "Zemun Herald"). He later started and edited two newspapers in German, ''Grenzbote'' (1870–76) and ''Semliner Wochenblatt'' (1880–94), though he kept his pro-Serb orientation. He published works of significant Serb writers, such as

Petar II Petrović-Njegoš Petar II Petrović-Njegoš ( sr-cyrl, Петар II Петровић-Његош, ; – ), commonly referred to simply as Njegoš (), was a Prince-Bishop (''vladika'') of Montenegro, poet and philosopher whose works are widely considered ...

Ljubomir Nenadović Ljubomir Nenadović (14 September 1826 — 21 January 1895) was Serbian writer, poet, translator, diplomat, minister of education and member of the Serbian Royal Academy. Family Ljubomir was born in Brankovina, Valjevo, Principality of Serbia ...

Milovan Vidaković Milovan Vidaković ( sr-cyr, Милован Видаковић; 1780–1841) was a Serbian novelist. He is referred to as the father of the modern Serbian novel. Today, his novels are mostly forgotten, and he is best remembered as a strong opponen ...

Milica Stojadinović-Srpkinja Milica Stojadinovic-Srpkinja ( sr-cyr, Милица Стојадиновић Српкиња, ) (1828–1878) was a Serbian poet, sometimes called "the greatest female Serbian poet of the 19th century". Career As her fame spread beyond the confin ...

, and

Dositej Obradović Dositej Obradović ( sr-Cyrl, Доситеј Обрадовић; 17 February 1739 – 7 April 1811) was a Serbian writer, biographer, diarist, philosopher, pedagogue, educational reformer, linguist, polyglot and the first minister of education ...

. Sopron also wrote literary and historical works, mostly in German, but also in Serbian. With his monograph in German about the history of Zemun, ''Monographie von Semlin und Umgebung'', Sopron became the most significant Zemun city historian.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sopron, Ignjat Serbian newspaper publishers (people) Serbian book publishers (people) Serbian journalists 19th-century journalists Male journalists Businesspeople from Novi Sad Serbian people of German descent 1821 births 1894 deaths 19th-century newspaper publishers (people) 19th-century male writers Writers from Novi Sad