Svetozar Miletić

For the village, see Svetozar Miletić (village).

Svetozar Miletić (Serbian Cyrillic: Светозар Милетић; 22 February 1826 – 4 February 1901) was a Serbian lawyer, journalist, author and politician who served as the mayor of Novi Sad between 1861 and 1862 and again from 1867 to 1868.^[1]

Svetozar Miletić
Светозар Милетић
Miletić c. 1900
27th and 30th Mayor of Novi Sad
In office 24 April 1861 – 28 January 1862
Preceded by	Gavrilo Polzović
Succeeded by	Pavle Mačvanski
In office 23 May 1867 – 30 May 1868
Preceded by	Pavle Stojanović
Succeeded by	Pavle Stojanović
Personal details
Born	(1826-02-22)22 February 1826 Mošorin, Austrian Empire
Died	4 February 1901(1901-02-04) (aged 74) Vršac, Austria-Hungary
Nationality	Serbian
Political party	Serb People's Liberal Party (after 1869)
Occupation	Lawyer journalist politician author

Family

Miletić's ancestor was Mileta Zavišić, who came to Bačka from Kostajnica (present day Croatia) near the border of Bosnia^[2] 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 Novi Sad, had fifteen sons and three daughters. Avram Miletić, the oldest of Sima's sons and grandfather of Svetozar Miletić, was a merchant and songwriter best known for writing the earliest collection of urban lyric poetry in the Serbian language.^[3] The second son of Avram Miletić, also named Sima like his grandfather, was a boot-maker^[4] and the father of Svetozar Miletić.^[5] Svetozar Miletić was the oldest of seven children born to Sima and Teodosija (née Rajić) Miletić in the village of Mošorin in Šajkaška, the Serbian Military Frontier, on 22 February 1826.^[6] 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.^[7]

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

• 
  Portrait of Miletić by Petar Dobrović
• 
  A 1867 lithograph of Miletić by Josef Kriehuber
• 
  Funeral of Miletić
• 
  Monument to Miletić by Ivan Meštrović in Novi Sad
• 
  Bust in Vršac
• 
  Miletić on a 1976 stamp of Yugoslavia

See also

• History of Vojvodina
• Politics of Vojvodina