Muhamed Bekir Kalajdžić (22 October 1892 – 10 September 1963) was a Bosnian writer, bookseller and publisher, who founded the journal '' Biser'' as a teenager. The first issue of the magazine was published 1 June 1912. He was a fighter for the emancipation and preservation of

Bosniak The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...

literary work and their heritage and culture.

Early life

Kalajdžić was born in the city

Mostar Mostar () is a city and the administrative centre of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the historical capital of Herzegovina. Mostar is situated on the Neretva Riv ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, where he grew up and was educated, completed maktab and two years of

trade school A vocational school (alternatively known as a trade school, or technical school), is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational ...

. After being expelled from school twice for behavioral issues, Kalajdžić bought a

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...

and worked towards opening a bookstore, with the aim of collecting and preserving Bosniak, Turkish and Arabic literary works.

''Biser''

In Mostar he lived with a group of young Bosniak writers; Abdurezak Hifzi Bjelevac,

Husein Dubravić Husein Đogo Dubravić (3 May 1880 – 11 September 1961) was a Bosnian comedic writer, historian, teacher, and publisher. He wrote about the history of Persian literature and general history of the Middle Ages. Dubravić revived the Bosnian pol ...

, Salih-beg Bakamović, Mirhab Karišiković, Omer Balić and Muhamed Behlilović. With their assistance, Kalajdžić established the first Bosniak bookstore and print shop in Mostar on 1 December 1911, with a branch in

Trebinje Trebinje ( sr-Cyrl, Требиње, ) is a city and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the southernmost city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and is situated on the banks of the Trebišnjica river in the region of East Her ...

. The group was a strong support system for Kalajdžić as a publisher and young store-owner. On 1 June 1912 he launched the magazine '' Biser'', first as a monthly magazine, and in 1913 in a bimonthly format, intended to be a non-political replacement for the defunct political magazine ''

Behar Behar, BeHar, Be-har, or B'har (—Hebrew for "on the mount," the fifth word, and the first distinctive word, in the parashah) is the 32nd weekly Torah portion (, ''parashah'') in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the ninth in the Boo ...

''. One of the most important moves in Kalajdžić's publishing and editorial work was hiring poet

Musa Ćazim Ćatić Musa Ćazim Ćatić ( sr-Cyrl, Муса Ћазим Ћатић; 12 March 1878 – 6 April 1915) was a Bosnian poet of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Renaissance at the turn of the 20th century. Life Ćatić completed Sharia Law studies in Zagreb. He w ...

who wrote poetry and essays for the paper as well as contributing translations of numerous Turkish and Arabic studies and books for the Muslim Library that Kalajdžić had established. The main theme of these publications was

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

and Bosniak culture, but also works of literature, didactics and textbooks. The

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

interrupted the publishing business from 1914 until 1918, when Kalajdžić started issuing ''Biser'' again to avoid being drafted into the army. All production of the paper ended in early 1919.

Death

Kalajdžić died aged 70 of an illness in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

on 10 September 1963. He was buried the following day in front of a Sarajevo mosque.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalajdzic, Muhamed Bekir 1892 births 1963 deaths Bosnia and Herzegovina Muslims Writers from Mostar Bosnia and Herzegovina writers