Croats of Serbia
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Bunjevci, Šokci, Serbs, other South Slavs |
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Recognized
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Croats of Serbia or Serbian Croats (Croatian: Hrvati u Srbiji) are the recognized Croat national minority in Serbia. They were recognized as national minority in 2005.[citation needed] According to the 2002 census, there were 70,602 Croats in Serbia or 0.94% of the population. 56,546 of them lived in Vojvodina (constituting 2.78% of the population of the province and the fourth largest ethnic group in the region) and 14,056 in Central Serbia (of which most in Belgrade).
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[edit] Geographic distribution
About two thirds of all Croats in Vojvodina have Bunjevci or Šokci origins.[1] Those of Bunjevci origin constituting the largest part of population in several villages in the Subotica municipality: Bikovo, Gornji Tavankut, Donji Tavankut, Đurđin, Mala Bosna, and Stari Žednik.
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).[2]
About one third of the Croats in Vojvodina are neither of Šokac nor Bunjevac origin[citation needed].
[edit] History
During 17th century, Roman Catholic Bunjevci from Dalmatia migrated to territory of present-day northern Serbia (Vojvodina region), where Šokci had already been living. According to some opinions, Šokci might be a descendants of medieval Slavic population of Vojvodina where their ancestors might lived since the 8th century. According to other opinions, medieval Slavs of Vojvodina mainly spoke ekavian accent, which is today rather associated with standard Serbian. Between 1689, when the Habsburg Monarchy conquered parts of Vojvodina, and the end of the 19th century, a small number of Croats from Croatia[citation needed] also migrated to the region.
Before the 20th century, most of the Bunjevac and Šokac populations living in Habsburg Monarchy haven't been nationally awakened yet. Some of their leaders (like Ivan Antunović, Blaško Rajić, Pajo Kujundžić, Mijo Mandić, Lajčo Budanović, Stipan Vojnić Tunić, Vranje Sudarević, Petar Pekić, etc.) worked hardly to awake their Croatian or Yugoslav national feelings.
According to 1851 data, 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.[3] 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").[4]
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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).[5] In the city of Sombor, 83 citizens declared Croatian language, while 6,289 citizens were listed as speakers of "other languages" (mostly Bunjevac). [2] In the municipality of Apatin, 44 citizens declared Croatian and 7,191 declared "other languages" (mostly Bunjevac, Šokac and Gypsy).[5]
In the 20th century, most of the Šokci and part of the Bunjevci began to consider themselves Croats.
In 1990s, during the war in Croatia, members of Serbian Radical Party organized and participated in the expulsion of the Croats in some places in Vojvodina. The President of the Serbian Radical Party, Vojislav Šešelj is indicted for participation in these events.[6] According to some estimations, the number of Croats which have left Vojvodina under political pressure of the Milošević's regime might be between 20,000 and 40,000.[7]
[edit] Population
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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. Today, most members of the Šokci community consider themselves Croats, while one part of the Bunjevci population see themselves as members of the distinct Bunjevci ethnicity or as Yugoslavs, while other part sees themselves as Croats. Some individuals of Croat origin might also declare themselves as Yugoslavs in the census; it is questionable whether they could be counted as Croats since Yugoslavs are recognized as a separate nationality in Serbia.
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).
[edit] Demographic trends
Since 1961 census, the Croat population in Serbia is in a constant decrease. This is caused by various reasons, including low birth rates among members of Croat ethnicity,[citation needed] economic emigration, and ethnic tensions of the Yugoslav wars during 1990s, more specifically the 1991-1995 War in Croatia.[8] During this war-time period, Croats in Serbia were under pressure from the Serbian Radical Party[9][10] 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.[11][12] 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 Vojvodina.[13] According to Petar Kuntić of Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina, 50,000 Croats moved out from Serbia during the Yugoslav wars.[14][15]
[edit] Census results
Number of Croats in Serbia according to various censuses:
- 1948: 169,864 (2.60%)
- 1953: 173,246 (2.48%)
- 1961: 196,409 (2.57%)
- 1971: 184,913 (2.19%)
- 1981: 149,368 (1.60%)
- 1991: 105,406 (1.08%) or (excluding the territory of Kosovo) 97,344 (1.24%)
- 2002: (excluding the territory of Kosovo) 70,602 (0.94%)
Note: In the 1991 and 2002 censuses, Bunjevci were listed as a separate ethnicity, while Šokci were listed in the category "Others". Before that, from 1948 to 1981, census results listed declared members of these two communities as Croats, due to the order issued by the Yugoslav communist authorities in May 14, 1945.[16] The number of people in Serbia who had declared themselves as members of the Bunjevac nationality was 20,012 in the 2002 census, while the number of declared Šokci was not given separately, but it is estimated between 1,000 and 2,000 people. From 1948 to 1991, the census results are given for the entire territory of Serbia, while the 2002 census results are given for the territory of Serbia that exclude Kosovo.
[edit] Politics
The former Croatian President Stjepan Mesić has urged the Serbian Government to make Croats a recognized minority with a seat in Parliament, as part of the new Constitution of Serbia.
The Croats of Serbia are politically represented by several political parties, including: Democratic League of Croats in Vojvodina, Demokratska zajednica Hrvata (Democratic Union of Croats), Hrvatska bunjevačko-šokačka stranka (Croatian Bunjevac-Šokac Party), Hrvatski narodni savez (Croatian national alliance) and Hrvatska srijemska inicijativa (Croatian Syrmian Initiative).
The Croatian National Council of the Republic of Serbia (Hrvatsko nacionalno vijeće Republike Srbije) is, according to its Statute, a body of self-government of Croat minority in Serbia.
[edit] Language
The Croatian language is one of the official languages of Vojvodina.
[edit] See also
- Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Croats of Montenegro
- Croats in Kosovo
- Croats of Romania
- Croats in Hungary
- Croats
- Demographic history of Serbia
- Ethnic groups of Vojvodina
- Bunjevci
- Šokci
[edit] Notes
- ^ Lazo M. Kostić, Srpska Vojvodina i njene manjine, Novi Sad, 1999.
- ^ Popis stanovništva, domaćinstva i stanova u 2002, Stanovništvo - nacionalna ili etnička pripadnost, podaci po naseljima, knjiga 1, Republički zavod za statistiku, Beograd, Februar 2003.
- ^ Dr Dušan J. Popović, Srbi u Vojvodini, knjiga 3, Novi Sad, 1990.
- ^ Juraj Lončarević: Hrvati u Mađarskoj i Trianonski ugovor, Školske novine, Zagreb, 1993, ISBN 953-160-004-X
- ^ a b [1]
- ^ Vojislav Seselj indictment
- ^ Hrvatska nacionalna manjina u Srbiji
- ^ (Croatian) Pismo prognanih Hrvata Josipoviću
- ^ July 13, 1992 Vreme News Digest Agency No 42, Hrtkovci, The Moving Out Continues, by Jasmina Teodosijevic
- ^ Serbia Facing Chauvinism Again, Awakening of rats
- ^ (Croatian) Oko stotinu protjeranih Hrvata iz Vojvodine stiglo u Hrvatsku 10 August 1995
- ^ (Croatian) Dom i svijet - Broj 220, Kako su Hrvati protjerani iz Vojvodine bolji zivot pronasli u Hrvatskoj, Hrtkovci u Slavoniji
- ^ Croats in Serbia which is not in war with Croatia, With head stuck into sand
- ^ (Serbian) Sedamnaest godina od proterivanja Hrvata iz Hrtkovaca, Zoran Glavonjić
- ^ Anniversary of SRS rally in Vojvodina town
- ^ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/GNOOV_1040-1945.png
[edit] References
- [3] (PDF, English)
- Croats in Vojvodina
- (Croatian) Hrvati Bunjevci traže da se prekinu podjele hrvatske etničke zajednice
- (Croatian) Proslava 250. obljetnice doseljavanja veće skupine Bunjevaca (1686.-1936.)
- (Croatian) Tko su Šokci?
[edit] External links
- (Croatian) Hrvatska riječ weekley
- (Croatian) Zajednica protjeranih Hrvata iz Srijema Bačke i Banata
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