Miodrag Škundrić, March 26, 2023
The magazine “Nova Evropa” addressed current social issues affecting the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, as well as Europe at the time. It was published almost a century ago, and many of the issues it dealt with are still relevant today.
At the initiative of Milan Ćurčin on September 16, 1920, and inspired by the English magazine The New Europe, edited by Robert Seton Watson, a group of prominent intellectuals of the time founded the magazine “Nova Evropa” in Zagreb, driven by the idea of the necessity of reorganizing Europe at the time. The founders were: Jovan Cvijić, Dr. Josip Smodlaka, Ivan Meštrović, Matija Murko, Dr. Ivan Prijatelj, Dr. Nikola Stojanović, Dr. Milan Rešetar, Dr. Leonid Potomec, Julije Benešić, Dr. Tihomir Ostojić, Dr. Kostadin Kumanudi, Laza Popović, Milan Rakić, Dr. Svetislav Popović, Dr. Vojislav M. Jovanović, Miodrag Ibrovac, Dr. Branimir Livadić, and Milan Grol.
The magazine carried liberal-democratic and integral-Yugoslav ideas and values. The publisher and editor of the magazine was Milan Ćurčin, and in some issues, Laza Popović, Marko Kotrenčič, and Leonid Potomec also contributed as editors.
Many prominent figures of that time collaborated with the magazine “Nova Evropa,” such as Ivo Andrić, Vojvoda Živojin Mišić, Isidora Sekulić, Miloš Crnjanski, Slobodan Jovanović, Viktor Novak, Munib Osmanagić, Antun Petričić, Marko Car, and many others.
The magazine was published between the First and Second World Wars in Zagreb. The editor and authors analyzed social, political, scientific, economic, and cultural issues.
“Nova Evropa” was the voice of politically unaffiliated liberal intellectuals, printed in both Latin and Cyrillic scripts, socially and politically engaged, in the spirit of the idea of Yugoslavism. While it was being published, the magazine educated, informed, and entertained. It is considered to have contributed to the democratization of culture by bringing higher cultural values closer to the broader layers of society.
Using a journalistic style of expression, “Nova Evropa” addressed complex scientific, political, and cultural topics in an applied and simplified manner. Criticized equally by the national elites of Belgrade and Zagreb, this magazine became a player in the democratization and exchange of opinions in Yugoslavia. It was an intellectual arena where ideas formed from various philosophical, literary-theoretical, ideological, or daily political standpoints were defended or refuted with arguments.
Symbolically, the last issue of “Nova Evropa” was published on March 26, 1941, just a day before the demonstrations held on March 27, 1941.
We will explore for you what the great thinkers of the early 20th century wrote about social problems, many of which are still relevant today.
Source: Wikipedia
