Anica Savić Rebac je bila filozofkinja, književnica i jedna je od naših najvećih intelektualaca.
Kao jedino dete svojih roditelja, inače uglednih Novosađana, Anica je od početka uživala veliku pažnju roditelja koji su svoje živote posvetili tome da njihova ćerka dobije najbolje moguće obrazovanje. Aničin otac je bio književnik i dugogodišnji sekretar Matice srpske, Milan Savić. Kuća Aničinih roditelja je bila mesto okupljanja istaknutih ličnosti s početka 20. veka (Laze Kostića, Sime Matavulja, Uroša Predića i drugih), te je Anica odrastala okružena intelektualcima, što će svakako ostaviti veliki trag u njenom životu i odrediti njen životni put.
Anica je još od ranog detinjstva govorila engleski, nemački i francuski. Sa trinaest godina je prevela poemu „Manfred“ Džordža Gordona Bajrona, te objavljuje svoje pesme u časopisu „Brankovo kolo“. Srednju školu Anica završava u Novom Sadu, maturirajući 1909. godine kao jedina devojka u generaciji. Njena porodica odlučuje da se seli u Beč naredne godine, kako bi Anica upisala klasičnu filologiju. Pred Prvi svetski rat Anica se sa roditeljima vraća u Novi Sad, a uspeva da diplomira tek po završetku rata, na Beogradskom univerzitetu. Aničini roditelji su gotovo sve uložili u njeno obrazovanje i mnogobrojna putovanja, što je dovelo do toga da Anica kasnije, tokom i nakon Drugog svetskog rata, živi u lošim materijalnim uslovima.
1921. godine se udaje za Hasana Rebca i tada se sa roditeljima seli u Beograd. Sa suprugom je jedan period živela i u Skoplju, gde se upoznala sa feministkinjom Rebekom Vest, koja će kasnije u svom putopisu o Jugoslaviji („Crno jagnje sivi soko“) pisati i o Anici i Hasanu, pod pseudonimima Milica i Mehmed. I sama Anica je bila aktivna feministkinja, 1927. sa drugim intelektualkama osniva Udruženje univerzitetski obrazovanih žena, koje se zalagalo za prava i interese visokoobrazovanih žena, koje su uprkos svom obrazovanju i kompetencijama bile opstruisane da napreduju u karijeri (kao što smo videli na primerima Drage Ljočić i Ksenije Atanasijević).
Pored toga, Anica je bila levičarka, pristalica ideja socijalizma i komunizma, i ona i njen suprug su bili i pristalice jugoslovenske ideje. Levičarko ideološko uporitšte Anica je pronalazila u helenskoj i antičkoj kulturi, kojom je bila opčinjena od malih nogu i koja je odredila njen naučni put u životu.
Anica je doktorirala 1932. godine na Filozofskom fakultetu u Beogradu na temu „Pretplatonska erotologija“, a u narednim godinama objavljuje brojne studije, oglede i bavi se prevođenjem. Filozofski fakultet u Beogradu je prima za profesorku tek 1946. godine, ali uz veliko protivljenje članova Univerziteta i ignorisanje Aničinog dotadašnjeg rada i uspeha. Anica je u tom periodu bila jedina profesorka na celom Beogradskom univerzitetu.
Nakon iznenadne smrti supruga 1953. godine, Anica je izvršila samoubistvo, „u punoj lucidnosti intelekta i volje“, kako je napisala u oproštajnom pismu.
Anica Savić Rebac was Serbian philosopher, writer and an intellectual.
Anica was the only child to her parents, born to a prominent Novi Sad family, and her parents gave her great attention and invested a lot in her education. Anica’s father was a writer and long-time secretary of Matica srpska (the oldest cultural-scientific institution of Serbia). Savić’s family home was the place of gathering for prominent figures of the 20th century – writers, artists, painters etc. and Anica grew up in an intellectual setting, which certainly determined her life paths.
At a very early age she spoke English, German and French. At the age of 13 she translated G.G. Byron’s „Manfred“ and published her songs in a literary magazine „Brankovo kolo“. She graduated from high school in Novi Sad in 1909 as the only girl in her school generation. She moved with her family to Vienna the next year, in order to pursue her education there and she enrolled to study classical philology. Prior to WWI Anica and her parents returned to Novi Sad, and she had finished her studies at the University of Belgrade after the war. Anica’s parents have invested almost everything into their daughter’s education and travelling.
In 1921. Anica married Hasan Rebac and moved with her parents to Belgrade. She and her husband have lived in Skopje (Macedonia, FYROM) at one point, and there Anica became friends with British feminist Rebecca West, who later wrote about Anica and Hasan (under aliases Milica and Mehmed) in her travel journal on Yugoslavia – „Black Lamb and Grey Falcon“. Anica herself was a feminist and in 1927 had founded Association of highly educated women, with fellow intellectuals. Their Association advocated for rights of women who, despite being highly educated and competent, were obstructed of progressing in their careers (as we have seen in Draga Ljočić’s and Ksenija Atanasijević’s bios).
Anica was also a leftist, supporter of socialism and communism, and she and her husband were supporters of so called Yugoslav idea. Anica found the leftist ideological stronghold in Hellenic and ancient philosophy with which she was fascinated from an early age.
Anica got her PhD in 1932. at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, and her dissertation subject was Pre-Platonic Erotology. In the coming years she published numerous studies and essays. Only in 1946. was she was admitted to work as a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, but to great objecting by the members of the University and ignoring Anica’s previous work and academic success. At the time Anica had been the only female professor at the whole University of Belgrade.
After the sudden death of her husband in 1953., Anica committed suicide „in lucidity of intellect and will“, she wrote in her suicide note.