Dimitrios Demeter

Dimitrija Demeter or Dimitrije Demeter (; 21 July 1811 – 24 June 1872) was a Croatian poet, dramatist, short story writer and literary critic. One of the most learned people of his time, he played a major role in the movement for the national awakening of the Croatian nation (then under Austro-Hungarian rule) as part of what he and his close friend and colleague Ljudevit Gaj called the Illyrian people by imposing the Croatian language in the local literacy and with the creation of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. His political activism for a Croatian national revival dealt through his participation in many patriotic pamphlets, most notably the Narodne novine and Hrvatski Sokol among many others.

Biography

He was born in a wealthy merchant family of Greek origin. His parents Theodoros and Afrati came to Austria-Hungary at 1790 from the city of Siatista, then under Ottoman rule. He studied philosophy in Graz and medicine in Vienna and Padua. His bust decorates the yard of Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb.