8.6.2022.

A literary evening dedicated to our famous writer and doctor Laza Lazarević was held at the Embassy on June 8, 2022. This event was organized with the aim of presenting his work to a wider audience after the unveiling of a memorial plaque in Schumann Street in the center of Berlin, on the building where he lived from 1872 to 1879, during his medical studies at Friedrich Wilhelm University. The gathering was attended by guests from German institutions, cultural and academic circles, professors and students of Slavic Studies, as well as representatives of Serbian diaspora and the media.

Welcoming the guests, Ambassador Snežana Janković spoke about the great contribution of Laza Lazarević as the founder of realism in Serbian literature, but also about the trace he had left in medicine. She stressed that today, 140 years after his stay in Berlin, we are proud to celebrate his work and his humanity, thus illuminating the rich tradition of cultural and educational ties between Serbia and Germany.

Dr. Vesna Cidilko, retired professor of Slavic Studies at Humboldt University, and prof. Gordana Ilić-Marković from the Institute of Slavic Studies at the University of Vienna, spoke about the life and work of Laza Lazarević, as well as the perception of his work in Germany, while their students read excerpts from Lazarević's most famous works in Serbian and German language. On this occasion, for the first time, a translation of the famous short story "Svabica" was presented, which has not been translated into German so far, and the translation was made by prof. G. Ilić-Marković and students of the Institute of Slavic Studies at the University of Vienna.

The guests were also addressed by Wolf von Moltke, the owner of the building where the memorial plaque to Laza Lazarevic was placed, as well as Milan Čobanov, the president of the Central Council of Serbs, who spoke about the plans for organizing an exhibition about Laza Lazarević and other famous Serbian personalities who left trace in Berlin.