HISTORY

THE SECOND VOJVODA IN SERBIAN HISTORY: Stepa Stepanović dedicated his whole life to the homeland, and refused a pension because it was “too big”!

by Serbian Times12. March 2025.12. March 2025.

Stepa Stepanović, due to his merits for the first Allied victory in the “Great War” – the Battle of Cer – became only the second man in Serbia to receive the rank of Voivode. He is also credited with the rapid breakthrough of the Salonika Front and the expulsion of Bulgaria from the war. From his post-war life, this story has remained recorded.

Voivode Stepa Stepanović went into his long-deserved retirement two years after the magnificent breakthrough of the Salonika Front and the end of the First World War. Apart from the family home in Kumodraž where his brothers lived and worked in agriculture, the voivode did not own any other property.

Having refused many gifts and privileges, after his retirement he lived in the house of his father-in-law Veselin Milanović in Čačak.

Contemporaries recorded that Stepa Stepanović did not tolerate any privileges. He lived and worked under the motto “everything is given to the homeland, and nothing is taken from it”. Then perhaps the story of the voivode’s first pension, which was recorded by the newspapers of the time, is not surprising – Stepa Stepanović did not even receive his first pension!

When the postman came to hand it over, the voivode simply sent him back with an order to reduce the pension because it was… too large!

What actually happened?

As a Serbian voivode and distinguished warrior in all previous wars, Stepa Stepanović was entitled to a state pension of 3,000 dinars at the time.

“Rascals! Rascals! They want to ruin the state! Return the money, boy! Let them at least halve it, what would I do with so much money!?” Stepa Stepanović was recorded as saying and sent the confused postman back.

Three thousand dinars was a large sum at that time. For example, a pair of the best oxen could be bought for a thousand dinars, and even seven eggs for one dinar.

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And so the voivode returned the pension. He considered that such a sum was not appropriate for him. He only received it when they halved it.

He lived as a modest man for the rest of his life. He built a tomb for himself in the Čačak cemetery, left his wife money for funeral expenses, and prepared a uniform, shoes and decorations with which he would be buried.

Voivode Stepa Stepanović died on April 27, 1929. They say that the last thing he said was: “Go forward!”