Marija Maga Magazinović | Origin of Street Names

Marija Maga Magazinović (1882 - 1968) was a Serbian artist, ballerina and choreographer, philosopher, humanist, and advocate for women's rights in Serbia in the early 20th century.

She was born in Užice and moved to Belgrade with her family at the age of 14. She received her elementary education in her hometown and had her first encounter with theater in Belgrade, which would later greatly influence her professional calling.

The late 19th century was a time when women in Serbia had the right to attend university lectures but not to take exams and obtain professional titles and degrees. While studying philosophy and inspired by the socialist ideas of Clara Zetkin (popular at the time), Maga Magazinović began advocating for girls' rights to formal and regular education, as well as employment, even as a student.

In her fight, Maga simultaneously studied at the Faculty of Philosophy and the Faculty of Law, while also engaging in translation work, thus proving by personal example that a woman could be an intellectual in patriarchal Serbia.

After completing her philosophy studies, she became the first female librarian in Serbia and, by writing columns in Politika, the first female journalist.

Wanting to pursue a doctorate in philosophy, she went to Munich where her professional career took a different turn. Always interested in dance, Maga Magazinović definitively directed her interests towards theater and stage performance in Munich, attending numerous dance schools, acting courses, and ballet classes.

Inspired by trends and new ideas in European theaters, upon her return to Belgrade, she participated in the establishment of the first rhythmic gymnastics school in the country, which would produce dozens of successful dancers and choreographers in the following decades.

Maga Magazinović elevated the understanding of dance and stage performance in general, relating it to the state of mind and reflecting unconscious personality traits. Throughout her professional career, she met and collaborated with the most successful European choreographers, bringing the latest global trends in this field to Belgrade. She was the author of stage productions for numerous folk performances, ballets, and plays at the National Theater.

It is less known that during the Balkan and World Wars, Maga Magazinović volunteered as a nurse, while her husband, who was German, joined the Serbian army and crossed Albania.

Maga Magazinović presented her precious memories from the war days and life in general in her memoirs titled "My Life."

One of the most deserving figures for the emancipation of women in an extremely patriarchal environment such as Serbia in the early 20th century, Marija Maga Magazinović, seems to have not received enough attention in Serbian history to this day.

However, in remembrance of one of the first feminists in Serbian society, streets in Belgrade and her hometown of Užice are named after Maga Magazinović.