Jelica Belović-Bernadzikowska facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jelica Belović-Bernadzikowska
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| Born |
Jelica Belović
25 February 1870 Osijek, Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary
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| Died | 30 June 1946 (aged 76) Novi Sad, PR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia
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| Occupation | writer, feminist |
| Spouse(s) |
Janko Bernadzikowski
(m. 1896, unknown) |
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Jelica Belović-Bernadzikowska was a very talented Croatian woman. She was born in Osijek, which was part of Austria-Hungary, on February 25, 1870. She passed away in Novi Sad, Serbia, Yugoslavia, on June 30, 1946.
Jelica was an ethnographer, which means she studied different cultures and people. She was also a journalist, a writer, and a feminist. A feminist is someone who believes in equal rights for women.
She wrote many books and articles. Some of her writings were stories for children. She also wrote about important topics like education. As a journalist, she wrote about theater and music. She also shared her knowledge about handicrafts and traditional clothes. Jelica was even the editor of the first magazine for Serbian women. She used many different pen names, like Ljuba T. Daničić, Hele, and Aunt Jelica.
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About Her Life
Jelica Belović was born in Osijek, Austria-Hungary, on February 25, 1870. Her father, Josip Belović, was Serbian. Her mother, Katenina Fragner, was German. Both of her parents were teachers.
From a young age, Jelica learned many languages. She knew Croatian, French, German, and Italian. When she was five, her father died. Her mother then taught private lessons to support the family.
Jelica went to primary school in Osijek. Then she studied at a secondary school in Đakovo. She also studied at the Institute of Josip Juraj Strossmayer. Later, at the Convent of Mercy School, she started to study and collect handicrafts.
She continued her education at the Teacher Training College of Mercy in Zagreb. She also studied at colleges in Vienna and Paris. In 1891, after finishing her studies, she started teaching in Zagreb.
Her Career and Work
Jelica taught for two years in Ruma and Osijek. During this time, she began writing essays about education. Her writing was noticed by Ljuboje Dlustuš, a regional education secretary. In 1893, he offered her a teaching job in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
At that time, Bosnia-Herzegovina was part of the Ottoman Empire. But it was also an area controlled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Jelica started teaching at a girls' school in Mostar. There, she met Janko Bernadzikowski, a Polish government worker.
They got married in February 1896. They had two children, Vladimir and Jasna. When her husband got a job in Sarajevo, they moved there. Jelica taught at the girls' school in Sarajevo. But in 1898, she was moved to a girls' gymnasium in Banja Luka. This happened because she had problems with her boss.
She became an administrator at the school. However, she often disagreed with her supervisors. She started to feel more connected to the Serbian people she lived and taught among. She learned to write in the Cyrillic script. She also began publishing her work in Serbian magazines. In 1900, Jelica was dismissed from her teaching job.
Writing and Travel
Even after losing her teaching job, Jelica continued to write. She traveled often to collect folk tales and traditional crafts. She published books in Serbian, like Пољско цвеће (Wild flowers, 1899) and Разговор цвијећа (Talk of Flowers, 1901). She also wrote Хрватски народни везови (Croatian folk embroideries, 1906).
Jelica had experienced unfair treatment. Because of this, she was very interested in making life better for women. She wrote many articles about how women's lives were changing. Some of her articles were "Žena Budućnosti" (Women of the Future) and "Moderne Žene" (Modern Women). These appeared in the journal Zora (Dawn) in 1899.
Between 1904 and 1913, she worked with Friedrich Salomon Krauss. She used the pen name Ljuba T. Daničić for this work. They collected information about the social lives of people in rural southern Slavic areas. Jelica was known for being very direct. If she was not allowed to publish under one name, she would simply use another. She used names like Hele, Jelica, Aunt Jelica, and Jasna Belović.
She could speak nine languages! Most of her works were published in Serbian. But she also published some in German.
Museum Work and Exhibitions
In 1907, the government in Zagreb asked her for help. They wanted her to work with their collections for the National Museum of Art and Trade. Jelica created a catalog of textiles for the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb. She also made an ethnographic catalog for another museum in Zagreb.
She wrote articles about textiles and handicrafts for many journals across Europe. She also showed her embroidery and folk costumes at exhibitions. These exhibitions were held in cities like Berlin, Dresden, Munich, Paris, and Vienna. She worked with other experts on these projects.
In 1910, Jelica showed her work at an exhibition of Serb women in Prague. She displayed beautiful textiles from Bosnia-Herzegovina. At this meeting, she got the idea to create a women's almanac. This journal was called Srpkinja (Serbian Woman). It was published in Sarajevo. It was the first almanac written by Serb women for Serb women. Jelica founded it in 1913 and was its editor. She also wrote many articles for it.
Later Life
When the First World War started in 1914, Jelica left Sarajevo. She went back to Osijek and stayed there until 1917. Around this time, her marriage ended. This made her even more active in fighting for women's rights.
She returned to Sarajevo in 1918. There, she became the editor of the newspaper Народна снага (People's power). Later that year, she was hired to teach at a co-ed school in Novi Sad. Novi Sad became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes that same year.
She taught in Novi Sad until she retired in 1936. Even though she published less later in life, Jelica Belović-Bernadzikowska published over 40 manuscripts and books during her lifetime. She died on June 30, 1946, in Novi Sad, Serbia.
