Svetozar Miletić ( sr-cyr, Светозар Милетић; 22 February 1826 – 4 February 1901) was a Serbian lawyer, journalist, author and politician who served as the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...

between 1861 and 1862 and again from 1867 to 1868.

Family

Miletić's ancestor was Mileta Zavišić, who came to

Bačka Bačka ( sr-Cyrl, Бачка, ) or Bácska (), is a geographical and historical area within the Pannonian Plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east. It is divided between Serbia and Hungary. ...

from Kostajnica (present day Croatia) near the border of

Bosnia 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 led a company of three hundred men and fought against the Ottomans for thirty two years. Because the Ottomans wanted to punish him after they signed a peace treaty with the Austrians, Mileta moved to Bačka and changed his last name to Miletić. Mileta's son Sima, who was educated to be a merchant in

, had fifteen sons and three daughters. Avram Miletić, the oldest of Sima's sons and grandfather of Svetozar Miletić, was a merchant and

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

best known for writing the earliest collection of urban lyric poetry in the

Serbian language Serbian (, ) is the standard language, standardized Variety (linguistics)#Standard varieties, variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the official and national language of Serbia, one of the three official languages of ...

. The second son of Avram Miletić, also named Sima like his grandfather, was a boot-maker and the father of Svetozar Miletić. Svetozar Miletić was the oldest of seven children born to Sima and Teodosija (née Rajić) Miletić in the village of Mošorin in

Šajkaška Šajkaška (Шајкашка) is a historical region in northern Serbia. It is the southeastern part of Bačka, located in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. The territory of Šajkaška is divided among four municipalities: Titel, Žabalj, Novi ...

, the Serbian Military Frontier, on 22 February 1826. His son-in-law Jaša Tomić, who was a publicist and leader of the Serbian radicals in Vojvodina, took up Miletić's mantle at the turn of the century.

Legacy

He is included in The 100 most prominent Serbs. A feature film about Miletić's life titled "Ime naroda" was produced in 2020.

Works

* ''Na Tucindan'' (1860; Before Christmas) * ''Istočno pitanje'' (1863; The Eastern Question) * ''Značaj i zadatak srpske omladine'' (1866, The importance and the task of the Serbian Youth movement) * ''Federalni dualizam'' (1866; Federal dualism) * ''Osnova programa za srpsku liberalno-opozicionu stranu'' (1869; The basic program of the Serbian liberal-opposition party) * ''O obrazovanju ženskinja'' (1871; On the education of women)

Gallery

Petar Dobrović - Svetozar Miletić, 1930.jpg, Portrait of Miletić by Petar Dobrović Svetozar Miletic Litho.jpg, A 1867 lithograph of Miletić by

Josef Kriehuber Josef Kriehuber (14 December 1800 – 30 May 1876) was an Austrian lithographer and painter, notable for the high quality of his lithographic portraits. A prolific yet meticulous artist, he made numerous portraits for nobility, well-known persona ...

Svetozar Miletić Funeral.jpg, Funeral of Miletić 20230429.Ansichten in Novi Sad.-071.4.jpg, Monument to Miletić by Ivan Meštrović in

Споменик Светозару Милетићу у Вршцу.jpg, Bust in

Vršac Vršac ( sr-Cyrl, Вршац, ) is a city in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. As of 2022, the city urban area had a population of 31,946, while the city administrative area had 45,462 inhabitants. It is located in the geographical ...

Svetozar Miletić 1976 stamp of Yugoslavia.jpg, Miletić on a 1976 stamp of Yugoslavia

References

Bibliography