Isak Samokovlija (3 September 1889 – 15 January 1955) was a prominent Bosnian Jewish writer. By profession he was a physician. His stories describe the life of the Bosnian Sephardic Jews.

Biography

Samokovlija was born into a Sephardi Jewish family in

Goražde Goražde ( cyrl, Горажде, ) is a city and the administrative center of Bosnian-Podrinje Canton Goražde of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of Drina river. As of 2 ...

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 ...

at the time of the Austro-Hungarian occupation. While one side of his family came from Spain after the

Expulsion of Jews from Spain The Expulsion of Jews from Spain was the expulsion from Spain following the Alhambra Decree in 1492, which was enacted in order to eliminate their influence on Spain's large '' converso'' population and to ensure its members did not revert to Jud ...

, "his great-grandfather moved to Bosnia from the town of

Samokov Samokov ( bg, Самоков ) is a town in Sofia Province in the southwest of Bulgaria. It is situated in a basin between the mountains Rila and Vitosha, 55 kilometres from the capital Sofia. Due to the suitable winter sports conditions, Sam ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

", which led to "the surname Los Samokovlis in Ladino or Samokovlija in Bosnian. After completing primary school Samokovlija went to Sarajevo. He attended high school with Ivo Andrić, the first Yugoslav to win the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

. After graduating high school in 1910, he received a scholarship from local Jewish charity

La Benevolencija La Benevolencija is a Jewish humanitarian organization based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the Siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth ...

to study medicine in Vienna. Later he worked as a doctor in the towns Goražde and Fojnica (1921–25) before beginning a regular job at Sarajevo's Koševo hospital in 1925. At the beginning of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, he was a department head at the Koševo hospital. In April 1941 he was discharged from service as well as other Jews, but soon he was mobilized as a medical doctor fights against a

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...

epidemic. It was not until 1945, he managed to escape Yugoslavia and hide until the country was liberated. After the end of World War II, he held various positions in the Bosnian and Yugoslav literary circles. From 1948-51 he edited the magazine ''Brazda'', and then, until his death he was an editor at the publishing company Svjetlost. His first short story ''Rafina avlija'' was published in 1927 and two years later his first collection of stories, ''Od proljeća do proljeća'', came out. Several of his stories were made into television films and his book ''Hanka'' was made into a film of the same name directed by

Slavko Vorkapić Slavoljub "Slavko" Vorkapić ( sr-Cyrl, Славољуб "Славко" Воркапић; March 17, 1894 – October 20, 1976), known in English as Slavko Vorkapich, was a Serbian-born Hollywood montagist, an independent cinematic artist, chair ...

in 1955. He did not live to see the film, dying at age 65 in January 1955. He was buried in the old Jewish cemetery on the slopes of

Trebević Trebević ( sr-cyrl, Требевић) is a mountain in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, located to the southeast of Sarajevo, in the territory of East Sarajevo city, bordering Jahorina mountain. Trebević is tall, making it the second shortest ...

mountain, near

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

Bibliography

*''Rafina avlija'' (1927, Rafo's Yard) *''Od proljeća do proljeća'' (1929, From Spring to Spring) *''Nosač Samuel'', (1946, Samuel the Porter) *''Solomunovo slovo'', (1949, Solomun's Letter) *''Hanka'' (Hanka) *''Plava Jevrejka'' (The Blond Jewess) *''On je lud'' (He is Crazy) *''Fuzija'' (Fusion) *''Tragom života'' (Following Life) *''Đerdan'' (The Necklace) *''Priča o radostima'' (A Story of Joy)

References

1889 births 1955 deaths Bosnia and Herzegovina writers Bosnia and Herzegovina Sephardi Jews People from Goražde {{BosniaHerzegovina-writer-stub

Biography

Bibliography

Further reading

References