Yugoslavs

Yugoslavs
Jugoslaveni
Југословени

Gavrilo Princip · Josip Broz Tito · Ivo Andrić
Total population
exact figure unknown (over 600,000)
Regions with significant populations
Germany	590,000 (1985)
Switzerland	172,657 (1991)
Serbia	80,721 (2002)
Canada	65,305 (2006)
Slovenia	527 (2002)
Croatia	176 (2001)
Languages
Yugoslavian
Religion
Atheism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Sunni Islam, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism
Related ethnic groups
Other Slavic peoples, especially South Slavs

Yugoslavs (Yugoslavian, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Slovene, Macedonian: Jugoslaveni/Jugosloveni/Jugoslovani, Cyrillic script: Југословени) is a national designation used by some people across the former Yugoslavia and by some of its diasporans, which continues to be used in some of its successor countries.

In socialist Yugoslavia, 1943-1991, official designation for those who wanted to declare themselves that way was with quotation marks, "Yugoslavs" (introduced in census 1971). Quotation marks were added to distinguish the ethnicity from statehood (legal statuses such as citizenship), which was written without quotation marks.

A few years before the dissolution of Yugoslavia, most of those who declared themselves "Yugoslavs" reverted to or adopted traditional nationalities such as Bosniaks, "Muslims" (in the sense of nationality), Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs, Slovenes as well as those which were played down including Janjevci, Bunjevci and Šokci etc) but the designation continues to be used by some.

It was estimated, according to comparison of census statistics (such as declared language), that self-declared Yugoslavs came mostly from within Serbia. It is also suspected that many to have declared themselves as Yugoslavs will have at some time - either previously or later - declared themselves Serbs. In the 2002 census, 49,881 inhabitants of the Serbian province Vojvodina declared themselves as "Yugoslav" (at a time when Serbia was part of the country still called FR Yugoslavia).

Background

One use of the term Yugoslavs is for people who believe that Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, and Montenegrins are one and the same people, and that Slovenes and Macedonians are slightly different linguistically but are an extended and crucial part of the Yugoslav identity, who have cultural differences (mainly religious) because of empires which ruled their tribes in the past. For instance, if one wished to see the impact of Germanic and Hungarian influences on the Yugoslavs, they would look to the (Catholic) Croatian and Slovenian region, the (Muslim) Bosnian region under the Ottoman influence, and the (Orthodox) Serbian region under both Ottoman, Russian and, in the Middle Ages, Greek influence. Those who were raised in the Yugoslav spirit embrace the three different nationalities as one ethnicity who speak one language, and see this as the reason to unite in a similar way that Italy was unified in 1861.

History

Since the late 18th century, when traditional European ethnic affiliations started to mature into modern ethnic identities, there have been numerous attempts to define a common South Slavic ethnic identity. The word Yugoslav itself, means South Slavic.

Before the First World War

The Illyrian movement sought to identify Southern Slavs with ancient Illyrians and to construct the Illyrian literary language which would unite not only Croatian and Serbian, but also Slovenian and Macedonian.

Vladimir Dvorniković, a famous Croatian philosopher, advocated the establishment of a Yugoslav ethnicity as early as 1917 (prior to the establishment of the first Yugoslavia). His views included eugenics and cultural blending to create one, strong Yugoslav nation.

Some Serbian writers contended that all Southern Slavs (or at least those speaking Štokavian dialects) were Serbs, some Croatian writers thought that they were all Croats. Some settled for a common designation of Serbo-Croats.

In the 18th century Hristofor Zhefarovich promoted the idea of unity between South Slavic people, in particular the kinship between Bulgarians and Serbs. This idea was somewhat revived during the late 1940s when Tito and Stalin contemplated extending Yugoslavia to include Bulgaria as well.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the term Yugoslavs started to be used as a synonym for South Slavs, especially to denote those in Austria-Hungary.

World War I

On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne, and his wife, in Sarajevo. Princip was a member of Young Bosnia, a group whose aims included the unification of the Yugoslavs and independence from Austria-Hungary. The assassination in Sarajevo set into motion a series of fast-moving events that eventually escalated into full-scale war.

After the assassination, Princip was captured. During his trial he stated "I am a Yugoslav nationalist, aiming for the unification of all Yugoslavs, and I do not care what form of state, but it must be free from Austria."

Corfu Declaration

During June and July 1917, the Yugoslav Committee met with the Serbian Government in Corfu and on July 20 the Corfu Declaration that laid the foundation for the post-war state was issued. The preamble stated that the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes were "the same by blood, by language, by the feelings of their unity, by the continuity and integrity of the territory which they inhabit undivided, and by the common vital interests of their national survival and manifold development of their moral and material life." The future state was to be called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and was to be a constitutional monarchy under the Karađorđević dynasty.

Before the Second World War

After the First World War, when South Slavic lands were united in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the term Yugoslavs was used to refer to all of its inhabitants, but particularly to those of Southern Slavic origin. In reality and according to Croatian, Bosnian and other Yugoslav nationalists: the hands of power resided in an ethnic Serb majority who ruled the multi-ethnic kingdom from the capital of Belgrade in Serbia and the demographic fact Serbs were the largest ethnic group: 40-45% of the country's population to hold "majority" status.

In 1929, King Alexander sought to resolve a deep political crisis brought on by ethnic tensions by assuming dictatorial powers, renaming the country "Kingdom of Yugoslavia", and officially pronouncing that there is one single Yugoslav nation with three tribes. The Yugoslav ethnic designation was thus for a time imposed on all South Slavs in Yugoslavia. Changes in Yugoslav politics after King Alexander's death in 1934 brought an end to this policy, but the designation continued to be used by some people.

Second Yugoslavia and later

After liberation from Axis Powers in 1945, the new socialist Yugoslavia became a federal country which officially recognized and valued its ethnic diversity. Traditional ethnic identities again became the primary ethnic designations used by most inhabitants of Yugoslavia. However, many people still declared themselves as "Yugoslavs" because they wanted to express an identification with Yugoslavia as a whole, but not specifically with any of its peoples.

The 1971 census recorded 273,077 Yugoslav, or 1.33% of the total population. The 1981 census recorded 1,216,463 or 5.4% Yugoslavs. In the 1991 census, 5.51% (239,777) of the inhabitants of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared themselves to be Yugoslav. 4.25% of the population of the republic of Montenegro also declared themselves Yugoslav in the same census.

The Constitution of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1990 that ratified a Presidency of seven member-Presidents accounted one of the seven to be elected amongst/by the republic's Yugoslavs, thereby introducing the Yugoslavs next to "Muslims" (in the sense of nationality), Serbs and Croats into the Constitutional framework of BH, although on an inferior level. But due to the Bosnian War that erupted in 1992, this Constitution was short-lived and unrealized.

The 1981 census showed that Yugoslavs made up around 8% of the population in Croatia, this to date has been the highest percentage of Yugoslavs within Croatia's borders. The 1991 census data indicated that the number of Yugoslavs had dropped to 2% of the population in Croatia. The 2001 census in Croatia (the first since independence) registered only 176 Yugoslavs.

Just before and after the dissolution of Yugoslavia, most Yugoslavs switched to more conventional ethnic designations. Nevertheless, the concept has survived into Bosnia and Herzegovina (where most towns have a tiny percentage), and Serbia and Montenegro (2003-2006), which kept the name "Yugoslavia" the longest, right up to February, 2003.

Ethnic Credibility

When the term Yugoslav was first introduced, it was meant to unite a common people the same way the Germans united with Bavaria and other regions of Germany. In the book A Short History of the Yugoslav Peoples by Fred Singleton, it states that Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks are one and the same people. "Once the South Slavs had settled in the Balkans they also became separated from each other, partly because of geographical obstacles, and partly because of the historical circumstances of foreign occupations." However due to political instability, a Yugoslav state and ethnicity was never accomplished.

In non-nationalistic terms, Yugoslav should include all peoples, be it of Slavic and Non-Slavic origin: Kosovar Albanians of Kosovo, Hungarians in Vojvodina, ethnic Germans in Slovenia and Dalmatian Italians of Croatia. Tito wanted to annex Albania into his post-WWII Republic, but was unsuccessful in his efforts to include Albania.

Famous Yugoslavs

Yugoslavs have affected world history on many occasions. One prime example is the leader, president for life, and founder of second Yugoslavia, Marshal Josip Broz Tito. First to organize a resistance against Nazi Germany in Yugoslavia, he effectively expelled Nazi occupation in Yugoslavia, co-founded the Non-Aligned Movement, and defied Stalin's Soviet pressure on Yugoslavia. Other prominent figures include writers Ivo Andrić and Meša Selimović and Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip. Princip, also being a prime example of a Yugoslav who impacted world history when he triggered the first World War by successfully assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife in the city of Sarajevo.

Other Yugoslavs include entertainers and singers, such as Lepa Brena, Goran Bregović, Branko Đurić and Mile Kitić, as well as soccer player Asim Ferhatović. In more recent times, Oliver Dulić, Serbia's Speaker in Parliament until June, 2008 revealed his ethnicity as Yugoslav.

See also

• Yugo-nostalgia‎
• Bosniaks
• Montenegrins
• Serbs
• Croats
• Slovenes
• Macedonians (ethnic group)
• Demographics of Yugoslavia
• Demographics of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Demographics of Croatia
• Demographics of the Republic of Macedonia
• Demographics of Montenegro
• Demographics of Serbia
• Demographics of Slovenia