Josipa Glembay (1861 – 1941) was a educator and writer, and today she is respected for leaving a deep mark on the cultural development of Osijek with her aspirations and persistent work. Her life appeared quiet and modest, but at the same time it was filled with tireless, dedicated work in the field of upbringing, education, society, and literature. She was born in Čepin on July 29, 1861. Sources say that she inherited from her father a passion for everything beautiful and worth promoting, as well as a talent for literary creation, and from her mother, a practical spirit and prudent thrift.
We have wasted all those days of life
in which we have not done any good.
If we diligently pay attention to even the smallest
causes throughout our lives, we will constantly protect ourselves from greater evil.
When life around us is turbulent, its waves rise high,
and we feel too weak to resist them; it is wise to step aside and
wait for it to calm down again.
In the light of extraordinary life circumstances, we show best
who we truly are and what we are like.
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If we dedicated just one hour of our lives every day to a good cause, we would do a lot for the common good.
When my students were not listening attentively, I knew I hadn’t touched the right chord of their souls.
Even if we have lost our dearest purpose in life, there are always many other purposes that also deserve to be pursued. We should dedicate ourselves to them and to our lives. give me a new value.
A beautiful female soul is as pure as a spring of water.
Only a content heart can truly make us happy.
Troubles will drive weak-minded people to despair, but those with strong willpower strive to overcome them through work.
The true treasure is neither silver nor gold, but a pure soul and a noble heart.
While working at school, she passed on her aspirations and love for the Croatian people and language to generations of students, helping to transform the once German city of Osijek into a Croatian city. Sources tell us that Josipa didn’t care about rest or entertainment, but used every free moment with a pen in hand. She wrote pedagogical articles, short stories, sketches, travelogues, theater reviews, literary and cultural reviews, and published her works in various newspapers: Školski vjesnik, Hrvatski list, Omladina, etc. She also left us with the following works: Nauka o šarama, Zajednica, učiteljsko društvo za grad Osijek i Kotar osječki, Što sada?, Iskre pod pepelom, and Za narod svoj.
Vo What we can achieve with love
is a lot – without it, nothing.
Success will bear fruit to everything that
was founded on passion and achieved through selflessness.
The dearest to us are always those successes
that we achieved through great struggle.
Through useful work, we forget about worries and
mental pains.
For those who enjoy their work, everything comes easily.
Diligence is a virtue that one should get accustomed to
already in youth.
Through work, everything that the world takes pride in has been accomplished.
Since she possessed not only a noble spirit, but also good organizational skills, in 1911, with the help of her students, she founded a Foundation for supporting poor female students of the Higher Girls’ School in Osijek. The Foundation was renamed the Jubilee Foundation of Josipa Glembay in 1918. In 1921, she established a branch of the Croatian Women’s Society in Osijek. The purpose of this association was primarily charitable: many monetary funds collected through various actions and events were used to help those who needed help the most, who were mostly the poorest. The purpose also extended to work in the cultural and educational field, with a focus on citizens, children, and youth, especially those in need. Women were invited to join the association and expand their knowledge and skills.
Whatever Providence provides for us, it is always for the best, even when it hurts our hearts, tears our souls, and brings us down.
Happiness comes to us when we least expect it, but runs away if we try to force it.
If we want to preserve our happiness, we should not talk about it too much.
Those moments that sometimes seem the hardest to us are actually the first moments of better happiness.
Source: Sparks under the Ashes, Writers and Artists Club, Osijek, 1924.
The life of Josipa Glembay was intertwined with many experiences, which she diligently recorded over the years thanks to her strong and persistent will, in the form of thoughts later condensed into the book of aphorisms, Sparks under the Ashes. In the book’s introduction, she says that these thoughts were often a reminder and encouragement in her life and that she believes There exist individuals who will recognize the truth and presence of those sparks in their own lives.
Life has convinced me that everything, which the human mind has conceived and his hands have created, what we feel, desire, and experience, has always been ignited by a spark of our soul, which our strong and persistent will has fueled into a fire…