Miodrag Purković ( sr-Cyrl, Миодраг Пурковић; 16 July 1907 – 12 December 1976) was a Serbian historian and the chairman of the Society of Serbian Writers and Artists Abroad. He was born 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 ...

, at the time part 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 ...

. He finished gymnasium (1924) in his hometown and then moved to

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 ...

where he studied general history, national history and Byzantine history, and Yugoslav literature, at the Faculty of Philosophy 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 ...

between 1924 and 1928. He then moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

for a year, where he worked in the National Library, Sorbonne Library, and Slavic Institute. After this, he focused on his doctoral thesis ''Avinjonske pape i srpske zemlje'', which he defended in 1934 and published in his hometown. His work was very successful, and he was appointed assistant professor of history at the

University of Skopje The Saints Cyril and Methodius University () is a public research university in Skopje, North Macedonia. It is the oldest and largest public university in the country. It is named after the Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries Cyri ...

. In 1941, while a

docent The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...

, he was imprisoned by the Germans due to his status as a

reserve officer A military reserve force is a military organization whose members (reservists) have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional m ...

. As a prisoner of war, he was held at Oflag VI S in

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population of 168 ...

, where he often held lectures on Serbian history to other prisoners. After the capitulation of Germany, he was left without a job for some years. He decided not to return to

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. From January 1947 to January 1948 he was employed as a member of the Civil security services in Osnabrück. He then moved to England, where he from January 1948 to January 1949 held history classes on the Serbian Church in the Seminary for Serb pupils in the Dorchester College near

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 ...

. After this he was employed as the secretary of the Serbian ecclesiastical school municipality "St. Sava" in London, where he died on 12 December 1976. He lived on Lancaster Road, in London in 1972–76.

Work

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References

Sources

* * Ј. Митровић, Библиографија радова Миодрага Пурковића, ИГ 1-2 (1983) 153–164. {{DEFAULTSORT:Purkovic, Miodrag 20th-century Serbian historians Writers from Požarevac University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy alumni Serbian emigrants to the United Kingdom Serbian prisoners and detainees 1907 births 1976 deaths