Delfa Ivanić (6 March 1881 – 14 August 1972) was a Serbian painter, humanitarian and together with

Savka Subotić Savka Subotić ( sr-Cyrl, Савка Суботић; 11 October 1834 – 1918) was a Serbian political activist, philanthropist, and one of the first leading feminists in Vojvodina. She organized the Serbian suffrage movement which helped wome ...

and

Nadežda Petrović Nadežda Petrović ( sr-Cyrl, Надежда Петровић; 11/12 October 1873 – 3 April 1915) was a Serbian painter and one of the women war photography pioneers in the region. Considered Serbia's most famous expressionist and fauvis ...

, one of the founders of the Circle of Serbian Sisters. She was also a translator, writer, editor of magazines and the first Serbian woman to receive

Florence Nightingale Medal The Florence Nightingale Medal is an international award presented to those distinguished in nursing and named after British nurse Florence Nightingale. The medal was established in 1912 by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), f ...

Biography

Delfa Ivanić was born in

Podgorica Podgorica ( cnr-Cyrl, Подгорица; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Montenegro, largest city of Montenegro. The city is just north of Lake Skadar and close to coastal destinations on the Adriatic Sea. Histor ...

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

, 6 March 1881. During the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and involved actions of the Balkan League (the Kingdoms of Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Greece, Greece and Kingdom of Montenegro, Montenegro) agai ...

in 1912, with Walburga, Lady Paget, she established the VI Reserve Hospital for the wounded in

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 ...

and in 1913, a hospital in

Durrës Durrës ( , ; sq-definite, Durrësi) is the List of cities and towns in Albania#List, second most populous city of the Albania, Republic of Albania and county seat, seat of Durrës County and Durrës Municipality. It is one of Albania's oldest ...

, Albania. She founded the Serbian Support Society (Srpsko potporno udruženje) in 1915 in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The society organized the housing of 500 Serbian schoolchildren in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. Her humanitarian work took her to

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

, France,

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

, and

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

. She returned to Belgrade in 1919. Throughout this period, she held lectures on the work of women's humanitarian societies in almost every city she found herself in during the war. She was the first Serbian woman to receive the Red Cross

in 1920. In 1962, she gave the Serbian Medical Society her medal. She worked as a translator, writer and editor of magazines. Delfa Ivanić was also involved in the building of the Center of the Circle of Serbian Sisters in Belgrade, which included a boarding school for girls. She was the president of the Circle from 1941 to its abolition in 1946. She died in Belgrade (at the time in

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

), 14 August 1972.

Selected works

*Uspomene, 2012. *Predavanje dr Keti Širmaherove i naše ženske prilike, article, 1906. *O srpskom narodnom ženskom savezu i njegovim zadacima, article, 1912. *Žena na domu, u društvu i u javnom životu, article, 1912.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ivanic, Delfa 1881 births 1972 deaths Serbian people of Croatian descent Artists from Podgorica 20th-century Serbian painters 20th-century Serbian writers 20th-century Serbian women writers Serbian translators Serbian women artists Serbian magazine editors Circle of Serbian Sisters 20th-century Serbian translators Serbian women magazine editors Florence Nightingale Medal recipients Writers from Podgorica