Serbian diaspora

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There are currently 1.5 to 2.5 million Serbs in diaspora throughout the world (those that are not constitutional peoples; like in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina in this case). The Serb diaspora (commonly known as the Serbian diaspora) was the consequence of either voluntary departure, coercion and/or forced migrations or expulsions that occurred in six big waves:

1. To the west and north, caused mostly by the Ottoman Turks
2. To the east
3. To the USA for economic reasons
4. During wartime, particularly World War II and post-war political migration, predominantly into overseas countries
5. Going abroad for temporary work as guest workers who stayed in their new homelands during the turbulent 1960s.
6. Escaping from the uncertain situation (1991-1995) caused by the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the renewal of vicious ethnic conflicts and civil war, as well as by the disastrous economic crises, which largely affected the educated or skilled labor forces.

The existence of Serb diaspora in countries such as Hungary, Romania, Poland, Slovakia and Russia, is the result of historical circumstances – the migrations to the North and the East, due to the Turkish conquests of the Balkans and as a result of politics, especially when the Communist Party came into power, but even more when the communist state of Yugoslavia collapsed into inter-ethnic conflict, resulting in mass expulsions of people from certain regions as refugees of war.

Although some members of the Serbian diaspora do not speak the Serbian language, they are still traditionally regarded as Serbs.

Contents 1 Serb Diaspora in American History 1.1 Serb-American Veterans 2 Serb diaspora organizations 3 External links

[edit] Serb Diaspora in American History

• George Fisher
• Nikola Tesla
• Rod Blagojevich (Governor of Illinois)
• Mitchell Melich (Utah State Senate)
• George Voinovich (US Senator - Ohio)
• Helen Delich Bentley (Former Maryland Congresswoman)
• Melissa Bean (US Congresswoman - Illinois)
• Rose Ann Vuich (First woman elected to California Senate)

[edit] Serb-American Veterans

• Serbian-American volunteers (1917)
• Serb Chetniks Rescue U.S. Pilots during WWII
• Louis Cukela (Major USMC)
• Mitchell Paige (Colonel USMC)
• Lance Sijan (Captain USAF)
• Butch Verich (Commander USN)
• Mele "Mel" Vojvodich (Major General USAF)

[edit] Serb diaspora organizations

• Serbian Unity Congress
• Serbian National Defense Council of America (founded by Mihailo Pupin in 1914)

[edit] External links

• Ministry for Diaspora Republic of Serbia
• All Serbs of the World by V. Grečić and M. Lopušina
• Serb World USA
• Congressional Serbian Caucus in the United States Congress
• SBS Radio Information on Serbian community in Australia.