Žanka Stokić | Origin of Street Names

Zivana "Žanka" Stokić (1887 - 1947) was one of the greatest Serbian actresses of all time.

The life journey of the famous stage artist was far more strewn with thorns than stars, and her fate undeservedly tragic.

Born in the vicinity of Veliko Gradište, she lost her father at a very young age. At the age of 14, she was already married to a man with whom, still a child, she was not happy. Fleeing from him, she found refuge in a traveling acting troupe, where sewing and laundry became her responsibilities. It is recorded that her first husband "returned" her with beatings, but the second time, the popular actor Aca Gavrilović took her under his protection, eventually becoming her great love and her "ticket" to the enchanting world of acting that would transform Žanka into one of the greatest Serbian actresses of all time.

It is little known that the great Branislav Nušić wrote many of his works specifically for her, while she herself achieved her greatest fame by performing in plays written by the renowned Ben Akiba. Žanka was his muse, and his famous message on the occasion of the 100th performance of "Gospođa ministarka" (The Minister's Wife) is well-known: "Dear Žanka, today you and I have a small, intimate celebration. Events may change regimes, crises may toy with and topple cabinets, but crises cannot touch you. You remain the minister, always the minister."

Throughout her life, Žanka Stokić was plagued by significant health problems. Being a severe diabetic from a young age, she relied on regular insulin injections. At the onset of World War II, during a general shortage of medication and scarcity, she found herself without the essential medicine. With no other source of income, she reluctantly accepted roles in entertainment theaters such as "Veseljaci" and "Centrala za humor," as well as the entertaining radio program "Šareno popodne" on Radio Belgrade, which was under German control at the time. The communist authorities, interpreting this decision as collaboration, condemned Žanka to 8 years of dishonor and the loss of all civil rights without the right to a defense, "granting" her the privilege of doing socially useful work - cleaning the streets and living on charity. The former darling of Belgrade society was humiliated to the extreme.

She withdrew to her house in Topčider, where she lived with her faithful servant Magda, surviving on the assistance of a few remaining friends. In 1947, she was pardoned, and by the decision of Bojan Stupica from the Agitprop of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, she was allowed to be engaged in the newly established Yugoslav Drama Theatre.

Three days later, emotionally and physically exhausted by illness, Žanka passed away without having the chance to step on the theater stage once again.

She was buried in the Topčider cemetery, and a monument was erected by her servant with the dedication: "To my noble mistress Žanka, I raise this monument, grateful Magda."

It was only in 2009 that Žanka Stokić was politically and legally rehabilitated, thanks to the initiative of the Požarevac League for the Protection of Private Property and Human Rights, supported by the National Theatre in Belgrade.

The name of Žanka Stokić is now carried by a prestigious theater award and streets in the Belgrade neighborhoods of Senjak and Surčin, as well as streets in Niš, Kragujevac, Požarevac, and the village of Rabrovo.