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Great humanist: Draga Ljočić
Stories about the lives of the most famous Serbian women of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, from Princess Ljubica Obrenović to Milunka Savić and Marija Maga Magazinović, are a testimony to a time and often tragic fate of many mothers, wives and daughters. At the time of the creation of the new Serbian state, the price of the social and spiritual stratification of society, the painstaking and slow emergence of the Serbian intelligentsia, was paid the most by women. That is why it was very difficult for a few educated ladies, such as Katarina Ivanović, Milica Stojadinović Srpkinja, Mina Karadžić or Nadežda Petrović, to take and achieve the place that belonged to them in terms of value. Their destinies were presented by the historian Ljiljana Cubric in the book “Memorial – famous Serbian women”.
Apart from being the first woman doctor in Serbia and as a proven patriot, Draga Ljočić will be remembered as a great benefactor of the Serbian people. As the great poet said, “she had to grow and be born”!
In 1855, in the family of a merchant from Sabac, a daughter Draga was born, the first female doctor in the Serbs. From an early age, curious and inquisitive, she showed an interest in natural sciences early on. As an excellent student, she graduated from the Women’s High School in Belgrade, and then spent a year in the high school department at the High School.
On all fronts
Since there was no possibility for her to continue her education as a girl in Serbia at that time, Draga Ljočić went to Zurich, where she enrolled in medical studies.
Only the love for the fatherland was greater than the desire for science. When the First Serbian-Turkish War broke out in 1876, she returned to Serbia to work as a volunteer nurse. And as the war operations in the Second Serbian-Turkish War (1877) only followed those of the First, Draga Ljočić, driven by a strong desire to help her fellow countrymen, remained in Serbia until 1878, when this war ended.
Eager for knowledge, it was only then that he returned to Switzerland, this time to Geneva, where he completed his medical studies with great success. Although she was offered much better and greater opportunities in Switzerland to continue her education, as a great patriot, Draga came to Serbia where she practiced privately. She was the first Serbian woman to become a doctor, at the same time as the first woman in Great Britain.
Deeply aware of the humanity of the vocation she chose and what it entails, as a volunteer nurse she participated in all the wars that Serbia fought, from the First Serbian-Turkish War (1876) to the First World War, when, after crossing Albania, with the Serbian army withdrew to Corfu. During the Serbian-Bulgarian war, in 1885, although a woman, she was the only doctor at the State Hospital in Belgrade. For her merits, Draga Ljočić was awarded high military decorations.
A request to the Minister
Being a successful woman in Serbia at that time was not easy at all. Despite all the merits that Draga gained by participating in the wars, despite the fact that she proved to be an extraordinary expert in the field of medicine, the public of that time did not accept the wife of a doctor. Although she had world-renowned diplomas, Draga was forced to ask the Ministry of the Interior for approval to perform an internship in her homeland, which she loved above all and for which she sacrificed so much.
In the application, she wrote, among other things: “I graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Zurich and passed my doctorate as a doctor of medicine, surgery, midwifery and eye diseases, which I prove with the attached diploma.” Based on this, please Mr. The Minister should give me permission to practice in Belgrade. And if I need any more condition, please, Mr. Just let the minister order, and I will fulfill it. “
Ljočić took additional tests in front of the medical elite of that time and, of course – she shone! But despite that, just because she is a woman, she could not work as a doctor in the civil service. She practiced medicine privately.
On the occasion of Draga’s seventieth birthday, with the desire to pay tribute to all her merits for bringing the Serbian woman out of anonymity, as her famous predecessor, the Society of Women’s Doctors organized a ceremonial academy in her honor in 1925.
Fight for rights
Very humane by nature, Draga Ljočić was one of the founders of the charity associations of the Mother’s Association and the Circle of Serbian Sisters. The injustice that she herself suffered only because she was a woman, she tried to correct as a fiery fighter for women’s equality, demanding the right to vote for women. She expressed her feminist beliefs whenever possible. Thus, at the sessions of the Serbian Medical Association, she constantly advocated for a better relationship with doctors. Together with several famous women from Belgrade, Draga Ljočić founded the Serbian People’s Women’s Union in 1906, which united all women’s associations in Serbia. As she was the first in many ways, Draga Ljočić was also one of the first Serbian suffragettes. She publicly advocated for the need to acquire political rights for women.
She gave birth to five daughters
Draga Ljočić was married to Raša Milošević, one of the founders of the People’s Radical Party. Life with him was full of uncertainty, so because of his activities in the Timok Rebellion, he was arrested and sentenced to death at the time of her birth. That sentence was changed and he was released from prison three years after the verdict due to political changes. They had five daughters. With her courage, struggle, and professional commitment, Draga Ljočić also set an example for her daughter Radmila, who, although fully aware of the life of a doctor in Serbia, decided to follow her mother and complete her medical studies in Zurich.
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