Croats of Serbia

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Croats of Serbia
Hrvati u Srbiji
Хрвати у Србији
Flag of the Croat minority in Serbia and Montenegro.svg
Flag of National Council of Croat Minority in Serbia
Total population
57,900 (2011)[1]
Regions with significant populations
 Vojvodina47,033[1]
Belgrade7,752[1]
Languages
Croatian and Serbian (both standardized varieties of Serbo-Croatian)
Religion
Roman Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
Bunjevci, Šokci
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Croats are a recognized national minority in Serbia, a status they received in 2002.[2] The majority the Bunjevac and Šokac communities identifying themselves as part of the Croatian minority as well.[3] According to the 2011 census, there were 57,900 Croats in Serbia or 0.8% of the country's population.[1] Of these, 47,033 lived in Vojvodina, where they formed the fourth largest ethnic group, representing 2.8% of the population. A further 7,752 lived in the national capital Belgrade, with the remaining 3,115 in the rest of the country.

Language[]

Croatian, a standard variety of the pluricentric language Serbo-Croatian, is listed as one of the six official languages of Vojvodina, an autonomous province located in the northern part of the country which traditionally fosters multilingualism, multiculturalism and multiconfessionalism.[4]

Bunjevac dialect[]

Members of the Bunjevac community in northern Serbia and southern Hungary preserved a Shtokavian–Younger Ikavian dialect of the Serbo-Croatian pluricentric language. Their accent is purely Ikavian, with /i/ for the Common Slavic vowels yat.[5] Its speakers largely use the Latin alphabet. The Bunjevac dialect (bunjevački dijalekt) is also known as Bunjevac speech (bunjevački govor).[6]

There have been three meritorious people who preserved the Bunjevac dialect in two separate dictionaries: Grgo Bačlija[7] and Marko Peić[8] with "Ričnik bački Bunjevaca"[9] (editions 1990, 2018), and Ante Sekulić[10] with "Rječnik govora bačkih Hrvata" (2005).

The Bunjevac speech was officially standardized in Serbia in 2018[11] and approved as standard dialect by the Ministry of Education for learning in schools.[12][full citation needed][13] Theodora Vuković has provided, in 2009, the scientific methodology for the finalization of the standardization proces of the Bunjevac dialect corpus in Serbia.[14]

On March 4, 2021, the municipal council in Subotica has voted in favor of amending the city statute adding Bunjevac speech to the list of official languages in the municipality, in addition to Serbian, Hungarian, and Croatian.[15] This has created a special situation that contradicts the official position, of both the Government of Serbia and Matica srpska, that classified Bunjevac speech as a dialect.[16]

History[]

During the 15th century, Croats mostly lived in the Syrmia region. It is estimated that they were a majority in 76 out of 801 villages that existed in the present-day territory of Vojvodina.[17]

Commemorative plaque in Petrovaradin, suburb of Novi Sad ("To Tomislav, the first Croatian king. Citizens of Petrovaradin.")

According to 1851 data, it is estimated that the population of the Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar, the historical province that was predecessor of present-day Vojvodina, included, among other ethnic groups, 62,936 Bunjevci and Šokci and 2,860 Croats.[18][page needed] Subsequent statistical estimations from the second half of the 19th century (conducted during Austro-Hungarian period) counted Bunjevci and Šokci as "others" and presented them separately from Croats (in 1910 Austro-Hungarian census, 70,000 Bunjevci were categorized as "others").[19]

The 1910 Austro-Hungarian census also showed large differences in the numbers of those who considered themselves Bunjevci and Šokci, and those who considered themselves Croats. According to the census, in the city of Subotica there were only 39 citizens who declared Croatian as their native language, while 33,390 citizens were listed as speakers of "other languages" (most of them declared Bunjevac as their native language).[20] In the city of Sombor, 83 citizens declared Croatian language, while 6,289 citizens were listed as speakers of "other languages" (mostly Bunjevac).[21] In the municipality of Apatin, 44 citizens declared Croatian and 7,191 declared "other languages" (mostly Bunjevac, Šokac and Gypsy).[20][dead link]

In Syrmia, which was then part of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, according to the 1910 census results[22] Croats were a relative or absolute majority in Gibarac (843 Croats or 86.46% out of total population), Kukujevci (1,775 or 77.61%), Novi Slankamen (2,450 or 59.22%), Petrovaradin (3,266 or 57.02%), Stari Slankamen (466 or 48.19%), Hrtkovci (1,144 or 45.43% ) and Morović (966 or 41.67%). Other places which had a significant minority of Croats included Novi Banovci (37.70%), Golubinci (36.86%), Sremska Kamenica (36.41%), Sot (33.01%), Sremska Mitrovica (30.32%), Sremski Karlovci (29.94%) and Ljuba (29.86%).

The birth house of ban Josip Jelačić was bought from private owners by the Serbian state and given as a gift to the Croatian minority

In 1925, Bunjevac-Šokac Party and Pučka kasina organized in Subotica the 1000th-anniversary celebration of the establishment of Kingdom of Croatia, when in 925 Tomislav of Croatia became first king of the Croatian Kingdom. On the King Tomislav Square in Subotica a memorial plaque was unveiled with the inscription "The memorial plaque of millennium of Croatian Kingdom 925-1925. Set by Bunjevci Croats".[23] Besides Subotica, memorial plaques of King Tomislav were also revealed in Sremski Karlovci and Petrovaradin.

In 1990s, during the war in Croatia was persecution of Croats in Serbia during Yugoslav Wars, members of Serbian Radical Party organized and participated in the expulsion of the Croats in some places in Vojvodina.[24][25][26] The President of the Serbian Radical Party, Vojislav Šešelj is indicted for participation in these events.[27] According to some estimations, the number of Croats which have left Serbia under political pressure of the Milošević's regime might be between 20,000 and 40,000.[28]

In 2020 the birth home of ban Josip Jelaćić built in the 18th century and located in Petrovaradin, was bought by the Republic of Serbia from private owners. It was later reconstructed and given as a gift to the Croatian community.[29]

Demographics[]

In the results of census taking is a disagreement between real ethnicity and declared ethnicity.[30] Most citizens who declare that they belong to a specific ethnic/minority group, already come from families with mixed family backgrounds (e.g. mixed marriages between different nationalities/ethnicities, interreligious marriages). The Republic of Serbia is using in Vojvodina a "segregated model of multiculturalism".[31] The national councils receive funds from the state and province to finance their own governing body, cultural, and educational organisations.[32] The amount of money for the national councils, depends on the results of a census in which the Serbian population can register as a member of a nationally recognized minority.[33][34] Today, most members of the Šokci community consider themselves Croats. The Bunjevci in the Serbian Bačka region and southern Hungary, are split between those who declare themselves as a distinct ethnic group with their own language and those who identify themselves as a Croatian sub-ethnic group.[35] The latter are represented in Serbia by the Croat National Council,[36][37] and the former by the Bunjevac National Council.[38][39] Not al Croats in Serbia have Bunjevac or Sokac origins.

The number of Croats in Serbia was somewhat larger in previous censuses that were conducted between 1948 and 1991. However, the real number of declared Croats in the time when these censuses were conducted may have been smaller because the communist authorities counted those citizens who declared themselves Bunjevci or Šokci as Croats. The largest recorded number of Croats in a census was in 1961 when there were 196,409 Croats (including Bunjevci and Šokci) in the Socialist Republic of Serbia (around 2.57% of the total population of Serbia at the time). Since 1961 census, the Croat population in Serbia is in a constant decrease. This is caused by various reasons, including economic emigration, and ethnic tensions of the Yugoslav wars during the 1990s, more specifically the 1991-1995 War in Croatia.[40] During this war-time period, Croats in Serbia were under pressure from the Serbian Radical Party[41][42] and some Serb refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to move to Croatia. In that time, a transfer of population occurred between Croats from Serbia and Serbs from Croatia.[43][44] Based on an investigation by the Humanitarian Law Fund from Belgrade in the course of June, July, and August 1992, more than 10,000 Croats from Vojvodina exchanged their property for the property of Serbs from Croatia, and altogether about 20,000 Croats left Serbia.[45] According to other estimations, the number of Croats who have left Serbia under political pressure of the Milošević's regime might be between 20,000 and 40,000.[28] According to Petar Kuntić of Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina, 50,000 Croats were pressured to move out from Serbia during the Yugoslav wars.[46][47]

Saint Lawrence the Martyr Catholic Church in Sonta
Year Croats %
1948 169,894[48] 2.6%
1953 162,158[48] 2.3%
1961 196,411[48] 2.6%
1971 184,913[48] 2.2%
1981 149,368[48] 1.6%
1991 105,406[48] 1.1%
1991* 97,344 1.2%
2002* 70,602[49] 0.9%
2011* 57,900[50] 0.8%

* - excluding Kosovo[a]

Croats in Vojvodina[]

Linguistic map of Vojvodina according to the 1910 census. Territories with Croatian-speaking inhabitants are colored in orange.
Croats in Vojvodina according to the 2002 census - based on settlement data
Main Croatian settlements in Vojvodina (2002 census)

Croats are the fourth largest ethnic group in the Vojvodina province. According to the 2011 census, there are 47,033 Croats living in Vojvodina.[51]

In the 1990s, during the Milošević regime (1989–1997), it was life-threatening in Serbia to declare to be a Bunjevac Croat: "... to declare themselves as Bunjevac in order to avoid being stigmatised as Croats, thus increasing the number of self-declared Bunjevci in the 1990s."[52]

Croats of Šokci origin constituting the largest part of population in three villages: Sonta (in the municipality of Apatin), Bački Breg and Bački Monoštor (both in the municipality of Sombor).[53][page needed]

Year Croats %
1495 7,500 3.9%
1787 38,161 8.0%
1828 67,692 7.8%
1840 66,362 7.3%
1857 60,690 5.9%
1880 72,298 6.1%
1890 80,404 6.0%
1900 81,198 5.7%
1910 91,366 6.0%
1921 129,788 8.5%
1931 132,517 8.2%
1940 101,035 6.1%
1948 134,232 8.1%
1953 128,054 7.5%
1961 145,341 7.8%
1971 138,561 7.1%
1981 109,203 5.4%
1991 74,226 3.7%
2002 56,546 2.7%
2011 47,033 2.4%

source:[54]
note1: The numbers were adjusted for the present borders of Vojvodina.
note2: Croats are counted together with Bunjevci and Šokci for data before 1991.

Politics[]

The Croat National Council is, according to its Statute, a body of self-government of the Croatian minority in Serbia. On 11 June 2005 the Council adopted the historical coat of arms of Croatia, a checkerboard consisting of 13 red and 12 white fields (the difference with the Croatian coat of arms being the crown on top).[55]

Coat of arms of Croats of Serbia, in official use since 2005

Coat of arms[]

Flag and coat of arms of Croats of Serbia were adopted on 11 June 2005 in a session of the Croat National Council, in Subotica.[55]

Organizations[]

Notable people[]

See also[]

Notes[]

a.   ^ Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia. The Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on 17 February 2008. Serbia continues to claim it as a part of its own sovereign territory. The two governments began to normalise relations in 2013, as part of the 2013 Brussels Agreement. Kosovo is currently recognised as an independent state by 97 out of the 193 United Nations member states. In total, 112 UN member states have recognised Kosovo at some point, of which 15 states later withdrew their recognition.

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d "Official Census 2011 Results". Republički zavod za statistiku. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  2. ^ "Hrvatska manjina u Republici Srbiji". rs.mvp.hr (in Croatian). Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  3. ^ https://hrvatiizvanrh.gov.hr/hrvati-izvan-rh-2463/croatian-national-minority/croatian-minority-in-republic-of-serbia/2506
  4. ^ "Government of Vojvodina". vojvodina.gov.rs.
  5. ^ "Masumi Kameda. Language Ideologies of the Bunjevac Minority in Vojvodina: Historical Backgrounds and the Post-1991 Situation" (PDF). 2014. pp. 95–119.
  6. ^ "Grgo Bačlija: Bunjevački je govor, a ne jezik". Hrvatska Riječ (in Croatian). 2021-03-08. Archived from the original on 2021-07-31.
  7. ^ "In memoriam: Grgo Bačlija (1939. – 2021.)". Hrvatska Riječ. 02-12-2021. p. Hitovi:74.
  8. ^ "Masumi Kameda. Language Ideologies of the Bunjevac Minority in Vojvodina: Historical Backgrounds and the Post-1991 Situation" (PDF). 2014. p. 113 (95–119).
  9. ^ "REČNIK BAČKIH BUNJEVACA".
  10. ^ "Sombor: Predstavljen "Rječnik govora bačkih Hrvata" akademika dr. Ante Sekulića/".
  11. ^ "Odluka o utvrđivanju standarda bunjevačkog jezika: 18/2018-192" Одлука о утврђивању стандарда буњевачког језика: 18/2018-192 [Decision of the National Council of Bunjevci no. 18/2018-192] (in Serbian). Archived from the original on 2021-09-02. Retrieved 2020-07-30 – via Pravno-informacioni sistem RS.
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  15. ^ Tumbas, Nikola (2021-03-04). "Podržan predlog gradonačelnika Bakića da i bunjevački postane službeni jezik u Subotici". Subotica.info (in Serbian). Archived from the original on 2021-03-09. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  16. ^ Bošnjaković, Žarko; Sikimić, Biljana (2013). Bunjevci: Etnodijalektološka istraživanja 2009 (in Serbian). Subotica and Novi Sad: Nacionalni savet bunjevačke nacionalne manjine and Matica srpska. Archived from the original on 2021-09-02. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
  17. ^ Károly Kocsis, Saša Kicošev: Changing ethnic patterns on the present territory of Vojvodina
  18. ^ Dr Dušan J. Popović, Srbi u Vojvodini, knjiga 3, Novi Sad, 1990.
  19. ^ Juraj Lončarević: Hrvati u Mađarskoj i Trianonski ugovor, Školske novine, Zagreb, 1993, ISBN 953-160-004-X
  20. ^ a b "Archived copy". www.talmamedia.com. Archived from the original on 16 December 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  21. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-12-16. Retrieved 2014-02-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  22. ^ A magyar szent korona országainak 1910. évi népszámlálása; Budapest 1912
  23. ^ Mario Bara: Hrvatska seljačka stranka u narodnom preporodu bačkih Hrvata (The Croatian Pesants Party in the national movement of Bačka Croats), p. 63
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  26. ^ Chuck Sudetic (July 26, 1992). "Serbs Force An Exodus From Plain". New York Times. Retrieved January 19, 2011.
  27. ^ Vojislav Seselj indictment
  28. ^ a b Hrvatska nacionalna manjina u Srbiji Archived March 11, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
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  30. ^ Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia (2015). "SELF-EVALUATION SERBIAN OSCE CHAIRMANSHIP" (PDF). p. 78. ... there are problems with "faking" a particular national minority background in order to benefit from affirmative action measures. In this context, the question can be raised whether there are limits to self-identification, i.e. whether belonging to a particular ethnic group can be based solely on one's sentiments or is self-identification limited by objective criteria.
  31. ^ Sara Zarkovic. "The Politics of Multiculturalism in the Northern Autonomous Province of Vojvodina: (Serbian) Youth Discourse on Multiculturalism in Novi Sad". p. 120.
  32. ^ Stjepanović, Dejan (2015). "The Claimed Co-ethnics and Kin-State Citizenship in Southeastern Europe". Ethnopolitics. 14 (2): 152. doi:10.1080/17449057.2014.991151. S2CID 146354988.
  33. ^ Knežević, Aleksandar. "From ethno-statistics to ethno-politics. Is the population census a reliable source of data for ethno-demographic research?" (PDF).
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  40. ^ (in Croatian) Pismo prognanih Hrvata Josipoviću
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  42. ^ Serbia Facing Chauvinism Again, Awakening of rats
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  45. ^ Croats in Serbia which is not in war with Croatia, With head stuck into sand
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  52. ^ Uneven Citizenship: Minorities and Migrants in the Post-Yugoslav Space. Krasniqi, Gëzim; Stjepanović, Dejan. Political Science (2017)
  53. ^ Popis stanovništva, domaćinstva i stanova u 2002, Stanovništvo - nacionalna ili etnička pripadnost, podaci po naseljima, knjiga 1, Republički zavod za statistiku, Beograd, Februar 2003.
  54. ^ Tóth Antal: Magyarország és a Kárpát-medence regionális társadalomföldrajza, 2011, p. 67-68
  55. ^ a b http://www.hnv.org.rs/obiljezja.php Archived 2018-10-17 at the Wayback Machine (in Croatian)
  56. ^ Vanja, koji je rođeni Beograđanin, dijete iz mješovitoga braka, od majke Srpkinje i oca Hrvata iz Istre. Krsno ime mu je Franjo, a kršten je u katoličkoj crkvi u Beogradu. Vanja, who is born in Belgrade, a child of mixed marriage, from a Serb mother and a Croat father from Istria. His baptismal name is Franjo, and he was baptized in the Catholic Church in Belgrade. 2010, https://www.jutarnji.hr/sport/vanja-udovicic-ima-tri-drzavljanstva-a-krsno-ime-mu-je-franjo/2129490/

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