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They ran and stayed to leave a memory of their people throughout their lives: it is written on the tombstone of Ilija Milosavljević Kolarac and his wife Sinđelija. This epitaph was engraved according to the testamentary wish of a great Serbian benefactor who passed away on that day (according to the old calendar, October 6), 1878. The immortality of his name is preserved thanks to the foundation, the Kolarac People’s University, which began to operate on October 19, 1932.
Ilija Milosavljević, one of the richest Serbs of the 19th century, had a passion in his life: commerce, a love: his wife Sinđelija, and a mission: the higher education of his people.
He was born in 1800 in the village of Kolari, about ten kilometers from Smederevo, hence the nickname with which history will remember him. There he studied primary school, which will be his only formal education. He acquired business knowledge by working with renowned merchants in Pancevo, Vrsac and Belgrade. He stayed with the capital’s leading wholesaler, Milutin Radovanović, for the longest time. Chief Milutin calculated well that the young laborer would go far, so he gave him the hand of his daughter Sinđelija. It was a great surprise for the bazaar, and they were even more surprised by their marriage, which did not fit the norms of that time. The couple jointly managed their first independent store, Kolarac emphasized and inscribed the woman’s name everywhere on an equal footing with his own, and at every opportunity he publicly showed how much he loved her and how much he loved her.
Together with Sinđelija as a faithful life partner, he assumed the commercial primacy in Belgrade from the hands of Jewish, Cincarian and Armenian families, who have been engaged in this business for generations. Then, in 1928, they moved to Pancevo, from where Kolarac branches off the commercial network to Vienna. He acquired an unimaginable fortune in money, land, real estate, had his own merchant river fleet, warehouses, warehouses … “He did not know about hunger, or thirst, or sleep when it was necessary to work and earn,” he said. they are friends about the period of your business rise.
And then came the black years, Sinđelija got sick. Kolarac brought the best European doctors to Pancevo, but there was no salvation. He died in 1955 in a hospital in Pest. She was buried in the New Belgrade Cemetery and then Kolarac returned to the Serbian capital. He reduces trade to a minimum and puts energy and wealth at the service of his people. Kolarac was known as a man with broad benevolent hands, especially when it came to helping the poor, schools, gifted students, writers, or any educational endeavor. Along this path, in 1861, he founded the Literary Fund to “publish works in the Serbian language, which spread honesty, patriotism and useful (useful) knowledge among the people.” He bequeathed the fund’s board to publish textbooks and deliver them to poor students, as well as to help “people who write for public education, but cannot publish in the press.”
With an advanced and critical spirit, he did not hesitate to harshly criticize the government. When the Topolska revolt was suppressed in late 1877, aimed at overthrowing Prince Milan Obrenović, Kolarac was imprisoned on charges that he supported the conspiracy. He was sentenced to five years in prison, but was released a few months later.
He returned from prison in very poor health. He died in October 1878. The authorities rejoiced: they calculated that the heirs would seize the property, since Kolarac and Sinđelija had no children, so their names would quickly sink into oblivion. And then the news of the opening of Kolarac’s will rang out like thunder, the first sentence of which read: “I bequeath all my property for the benefit of my people.” Apart from the provisions relating to money earmarked for the Literary Fund, the main item of the will is “to form a fund with all the assets from which a Serbian university will be built in time”, as a donation to the homeland for the achievement of objectives educational.
The legal battle for recognition of the latter lasted three years. Two of his nieces began the procedure for the overthrow of the will, supported by the regime press, who wrote that Kolarac was “appeared or forced”, that the creation of the endowment was a “party-demonstrative thing” and a “danger for the state and the monarchy “… this painful episode was staged in 1881 by a judgment of the Court of Cassation.
Construction of the 4,500 square meter Kolarac Endowment Building was completed in early 1932, and program activity will begin on October 19. In addition to spreading scientific knowledge, the Popular University also organized courses for farmers, artisans, merchants, civil servants … The educational mission continued during decades of socialism, state disintegration and transition. In recent years, it has been frequently heard that due to financial problems, this institution is about to close. To all this came the enviable 2020 and the cancellation of 160 programs, so the number of draft accounts for donations was announced on the Kolarac website, which would allow it to continue working. In the fight for survival the help of the state and the city is also expected. But also the help of all those who, like Ilija Milosavljević Kolarac, believe that the meaning of property lies in giving.
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