Dr Laza Lazarević | Origin of Street Names

Lazar Lazarević (1851 – 1891) was a Serbian physician, scientist, writer, and academic who left a profound mark in Serbian and world medicine and literature during his short life.

Born in Šabac into a merchant family, he started his education in his hometown and later moved to Belgrade to live with his older sister after his father's death. After completing high school, he enrolled in law at the Great School, finishing his studies in the shortest possible time and becoming a graduate lawyer at the age of 20.

However, fate had a completely different role in store for Lazar Lazarević. As an exemplary student of the Great School, he was awarded a state scholarship to study medicine in Paris. Unfortunately, the scholarship was disrupted by the one-year Franco-Prussian War. The following year, Lazarević received the scholarship for medical studies once again, this time in Berlin. However, things did not go smoothly this time either, as the first Serbo-Turkish war broke out (1876) just before he completed his studies. Lazar responded to the call of his homeland for mobilization and left the university. He participated in the wars as a military doctor and earned decorations. Three years later, he returned to Berlin, completed his studies, and shortly after that, he earned his doctorate.

From his return from Germany until the end of his life, Lazar Lazarević worked as a physician and was particularly successful in the fields of neurology and medical diagnostics. This recommendation also led him to become the personal physician of King Milan Obrenović.

Lazar Lazarević's scientific contribution to medical science, at a global level, can be seen in his successful diagnosis of sciatica symptoms - he was the first to determine that nerve stretching, rather than muscle pressure, was the cause of pain in lumbosciatica, contrary to previous beliefs.

Besides medicine, Dr. Lazar Lazarević, a lawyer and physician, was equally successful in literature. Being attached to books from an early age, he started writing in his mature years. With his unique style, characterized by traditional patriarchal values and the psychological background of the main characters, he is considered one of the founders of the realistic movement in Serbian literature.

Among his few short stories, some of the masterpieces of Serbian literature stand out, such as "Prvi put s ocem na jutrenje" (The First Time Going to Matins with Father), "Sve će to narod pozlatiti" (The People Will Make It All Gold), "Verter," "Švabica" (The German Girl), "Školska ikona" (The School Icon), etc.

The culmination of Lazar Lazarević's literary work came three years before the great writer and physician passed away when he was admitted as a regular member of the Serbian Royal Academy.

Despite healing and curing hundreds of people in war and peace, he couldn't save his own life. Dr. Lazar Lazarević died at the age of nearly 40 due to tuberculosis, one of the deadliest diseases of that time. One can only speculate about the scientific and artistic heights he would have reached had he lived longer.

Today, a large number of streets in cities across Serbia bear the name of Dr. Laza Lazarević, as well as many schools and the Clinic for Neuropsychiatric Diseases in Belgrade.