Vučko Joksimović

Vučko Joksimović (1868-1916), called the holy martyr of Surdulica, was a professor of mathematics and physics and a school director, killed by the Bulgarian occupiers in January 1916 at Surdulica, in southern Serbia. He was canonized in May 2017 by the Serbian Orthodox Church among those killed by the Bulgarian occupiers in the First World War; he is commemorated on 16 May (29 May by the new calendar).

He was born on 7 January 1868 (new calendar) in the village of Virovo, in the Principality of Serbia, to his mother Jelena and father Petar, and soon became an orphan. He educated himself: he finished primary school working on the farms of wealthier peasants, then the First Belgrade Gymnasium and the Royal Grand School, in mathematics and physics, paying for his studies by waiting in cafes and giving tutoring to the children of rich parents. He was professor of mathematics and physics at the gymnasia of Pirot, Leskovac and Belgrade and director of the Vranje gymnasium, and in 1906-1907 inspector of the people's schools of the Vranje district. He was a reserve officer in the army of the Kingdom of Serbia, took part in both Balkan wars and the First World War, and was a candidate in elections for the Progressive Party. He married the teacher Danica Kraljevački of Sombor and had children: Miodrag, Milica, Svetolik and Petar. His friends included writers such as Radoje Domanović and Borisav Stanković, his pupil. On 2 June 1892, as a student, he was present at the lecture of Nikola Tesla at the Grand School in Belgrade.

During the Bulgarian occupation, the new authorities tried to forcibly Bulgarianise the local Serbs. On 24 January 1916 he was offered, in exchange for his life, to change his surname Joksimović to Joksimov. When he refused, he was taken to the rocks above the Manajle tunnel at Surdulica, where the torture continued. After a new refusal, he was asked to say the "Our Father" in the Bulgarian language; he said it in Serbian. His eldest son, Miodrag, seventeen, was taken to a camp in Bulgaria, in reprisal; he was released after three years, in 1919. When the professor rejected the last offer, two Bulgarian officers stabbed him with bayonets and beheaded him.