Andra Nikolic was a Serbian lawyer, writer, literary historian, and politician. During his rich career, he was Minister of Education, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Justice, and State Counselor, while towards the end of his political career he was elected President of the National Assembly, which he presided over for the rest of his life.
He was born on October 5, 1853. His education was difficult because he lost his father at an early age, and he completed three years of elementary school, high school, and the Faculty of Law in Belgrade. During his schooling, he joined the socialist youth movement of Svetozar Marković. He worked as an intern at the state printing house, after which he was a lawyer’s scribe, and then a full professor in Čačak. Foto: FotoMagacin:Antikvarne Knjige.com.     

At the beginning of his political career, in 1881, he joined the People’s Party and very quickly became a member of the Main Board. He was one of the greatest radical intellectuals and orators, which is why, after the Timočka Rebellion in 1883, he was imprisoned. However, even though he was acquitted, he lost his civil service.
Together with Stojan Protic and Jovan Djaja, he founded the first radical newspaper “Odjek”, at that time the newspaper was considered the main interpreter of the opposition. He spoke German, English, French, and Russian, and he taught Serbian language and literature at the First Men’s High School in Belgrade.
He had an impressive political career. In 1887, during he was the secretary of the Ministry of Education, and he was also appointed as a deputy in the National Assembly. In the period from 1890 to 1909, he was Minister of Education, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of Justice in the governments of Sava Grujic, Nikola Pasic, and Lazar Dokic. He made a great contribution as the Minister of Education, leading the transformation of the Great School at the University of Belgrade.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Nikolic was a member of parliament in Paris, and just before the First World War, he was part of the radical, influential trinity that included Lazar Pacu and Stojan Protic. Towards the end of his political career, he was appointed President of the National Assembly until 1918, when he retired from this position due to illness.

Apart from law and politics, he also dealt with literature. Nikolic sent his literary works to prestigious magazines of the time such as “Otadžbina”, “Rad”, “Delo”, “Odjek” and “Samouprava”. As an excellent connoisseur of the Serbian language, he was also a professor at the Great School, and he also showed his talent in literary criticism.

After a short illness, Andra Nikolic died on September 28, 1918, in Paris, and his remains were transferred to Belgrade in 1926. He was buried with honors near the Church of St. Nicholas in the New Cemetery.