Svetislav Simić (; 4 March 1865 — 8 March 1911) was a Serbian diplomat and journalist who was one of the most deserving civil servants for helping and organizing the

Serbian Chetnik Organization The Serbian Revolutionary Organization () or Serbian Chetnik Organization (Српска четничка организација / Srpska četnička organizacija) was a paramilitary revolutionary organization with the aim of liberation of Old Se ...

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

Early life and education

Simić was born on 4 March 1865 in

Užice Užice ( sr-cyr, Ужице, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative centre of the Zlatibor District in western Serbia. It is located on the banks of the river Đetinja. According to the 2022 census, the city proper has a popu ...

, at the time part of the

Principality of Serbia The Principality of Serbia () was an autonomous, later sovereign state in the Balkans that came into existence as a result of the Serbian Revolution, which lasted between 1804 and 1817. Its creation was negotiated first through an unwritten agre ...

. He attended middle school in Užice and

Knjaževac Knjaževac ( sr-cyr, Књажевац, ) is a town and municipality located in the Zaječar District of the Southern and Eastern Serbia, eastern Serbia. As of 2022, the municipality has a population of 25,341 inhabitants, while the town has 16,350 ...

, and high school in

Požarevac Požarevac ( sr-cyr, Пожаревац, ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative centre of the Braničevo District in eastern Serbia. It is located between three rivers: Danube, Great Morava and Mlava and below the hill Čač ...

and

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

. Simić graduated at the

Faculty of Philosophy A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

at the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

and spent one year studying in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Diplomatic career

He worked as a teacher for several years and in 1894 he became secretary of the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

of the

Kingdom of Serbia The Kingdom of Serbia was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Principality was ruled by the Obrenović dynast ...

, and in 1898 was named a

Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

Priština Pristina or Prishtina ( , ), . is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and district. In antiquity, the area of Pristina was part of the Dardanian Kingdom. The heritage of th ...

, at the time still part of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. Along with

Jovan Jovanović Pižon Jovan Jovanović Pižon (; 3 September 1869 – 20 June 1939) was a Serbian diplomat, politician and writer who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Serbia from 18 June 1912 to 27 August 1912. Biography He was born in Bel ...

, he was one of the most deserving civil servants for helping and organizing the

.Биљана Вучетић, Историјски часопис, LVII (2008), 413-426 He helped

Bogdan Radenković Bogdan Radenković ( sr-cyr, Богдан Раденковић; 1874 – 30 July 1917) was a Serb activist, an organizer of the Serbian Chetnik Organization and one of the founders of the Black Hand. He was a leading civilian activist of the Pan ...

make better contact with the

Serbian government The government of Serbia ( sr-cyrl, Влада Србије, Vlada Srbije), formally the Government of the Republic of Serbia ( sr-cyrl, Влада Републике Србије, Vlada Republike Srbije), commonly abbreviated to Serbian Governme ...

. In July 1904, he became a diplomatic agent in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

. After the Bulgarian Declaration of Independence in 1908, he became an ambassador in Sofia and remained in that position until he went to

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

for treatment. He died on 8 March 1911 in

Leysin Leysin is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality of the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in the Aigle (district), Aigle district of Switzerland. It is first mentioned around 1231–32 as ''Leissins'', in 1352 as ''Leisins''. Located ...

, Switzerland.

Journalism career

He was active in journalism all his life. He founded and edited ''Constitutional Serbia'', and also participated in the founding of the Serbian Literary Herald. He was the founder of ''Delo'' and the editor and contributor to many newspapers: ''Odjek'', ''Dnevni List'', ''Javor'', ''Zora'', ''Nastavnik'' and ''Prosvetni Glasnik''. He printed many treatises and pamphlets including; Macedonian Question, Radicals and Our National Policy, Serbs and Albanians, Old Serbia and Albanians. He usually signed himself under the pseudonym ''Pavle Orlović''.

Selected works

References

1865 births People from Užice Serbian diplomats Serbian Chetnik Organization 1911 deaths University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy alumni Serbian journalists People from the Kingdom of Serbia {{DEFAULTSORT:Simić, Svetislav