Vladislav F. Ribnikar was a Serbian journalist, best known for founding Politika, the oldest Serbian daily. He led the newspaper from the day it was founded in 1904 until his death in combat in 1914.
Biography
Vladislav F. Ribnikar was born in Trstenik, Serbia in 1871, the oldest of three sons of a Slovene doctor, Franjo Ribnikar from Carniola and his Serbian wife Milica Srnić from Kostajnica. Vladislav went to school in Jagodina and Belgrade. He studied history of philosophy at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy from 1888 to 1892. After graduation he continued his education in France where he received his master's degree from the Sorbonne in Paris then Berlin to study at the Humboldt University on a state scholarship. The coup d'état in May 1903 which saw the end of the Obrenović dynasty in Serbia stopped him from finishing his PhD The arrival of the Karadjordjevic dynasty to the throne brought democracy and the freedom of the pressfor the first time in Serbia. Vladislav F. Ribnikar influenced by his experience in France and Germany decided to participate in this new elan by founding the first independent Serbian newspaper. The idea to create an independent newspaper, without links to any of the political parties, was a novel idea in Serbia. No one thought that an independent newspaper could survive without help from a political party. Luckily for Vladislav his wife, Milica Čolak-Antić daughter of Lt Colonel Lazar Čolak-Antić descendant of Vojvoda Čolak-Anta Simeonović, was ready to invest her personal fortune into the endeavor. The first issue of "Politika" appeared on 25 January 1904. 2,450 copies of "Politika" appeared on the streets of Belgrade at the time when there were already twelve daily newspapers. In only a few years it managed to become the most important daily in Serbia, Vladislav stayed at the helm of Politika until his death in 1914. His younger brother Darko joined him at Politika, after studying in his native Svilajnac and Belgrade, and graduating in Germany at the universities in Jena and Berlin. As a reserve officer of the Royal Serbian Army Vladislav participated in the 1912–13 Balkan Wars. After the outbreak of the First World War he was once again called back to active duty. He was killed in action on 1 September 1914 on the front in western Serbia, in the Sokolska planina mountain, one day after his youngest brother Darko F. Ribnikar, reserve captain and editor-in-chief of Politika, was killed by an enemy shell. After the death of the Ribnikar brothers in 1914, Vladislav's wife, Milica "Milka" became the pillar of Politika and sold the family jewelry to revive the newspaper. At the same time she sold the family estate on Dedinje to Regent Aleksandar Karadjordjević, the place where the royal residence White Palace was later built. In Trstenik a "Ribnikar Day" is organized in his honor.
Legacy
Vladislav Ribnikar has a street named after him in Trstenik
