Croats of Serbia

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Croats of Serbia
Hrvati u Srbiji
Хрвати у Србији

Total population
57,900
Regions with significant populations
 Vojvodina 47,033
Belgrade 7,752
Languages
Croatian, Serbian
Religion
Roman Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
Bunjevci, Šokci, Serbs, other South Slavs
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Croats

Croats of Serbia or Serbian Croats (Croatian: Hrvati u Srbiji, Serbian: Хрвати у Србији / Hrvati u Srbiji) are the recognized Croat national minority in Serbia. They were recognized as national minority in 2002.[1] According to the 2011 census, there were 57,900 Croats in Serbia or 0.8% of the population.[2] 54,789 of them lived in Vojvodina (constituting 2.7% of the population of the province and the fourth largest ethnic group in the region) and the rest in Central Serbia (of which most in Belgrade).

Geographic distribution

Most Croats in Serbia live in Vojvodina, then in Belgrade while in other parts of Serbia (Šumadija and Western Serbia, Southern and Eastern Serbia) lives less number of Croats. Janjevci are Croatian inhabitants of the Kosovo town of Janjevo and surrounding villages, located near Pristina as well as villages centered on Letnica near Vitina (Papare, Vrmez, Vrnavo Kolo).

History

Population

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).

Demographic trends

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.[3] During this war-time period, Croats in Serbia were under pressure from the Serbian Radical Party[4][5] 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.[6][7] 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.[8] According to Petar Kuntić of Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina, 50,000 Croats moved out from Serbia during the Yugoslav wars.[9][10]

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.[11] 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.

Politics

Croats in Vojvodina according to the 2002 census - based on settlement data
Croats in Vojvodina (2002 census)
Ethnic map of Subotica municipality (census 2002)

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 Croat National Council (Хрватски национални савет, Hrvatski nacionalni savet; Hrvatsko nacionalno vijeće) is, according to its Statute, a body of self-government of Croat minority in Serbia.

Language

The Croatian language is one of the official languages of Vojvodina.

Organizations

  • Croatian Community in Belgrade “Tin Ujević”

Notable Croats of Serbia

  • Aljoša Vučković, actor
  • Milan Štrljić, actor
  • Iva Štrljić, actress (by father)
  • Milan Štrljić, actor
  • Neda Arnerić, actress (by father)
  • Anja Alač, actress (by father)
  • Ana Bebić, singer from Metković, residing in Belgrade
  • Vanja Udovičić, water polo player
  • Marija Omaljev, actress.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "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. 
  2. ↑ "Official Census 2011 Results". Republički zavod za statistiku. Retrieved 3 February 2013. 
  3. ↑ (Croatian) Pismo prognanih Hrvata Josipoviću
  4. ↑ July 13, 1992 Vreme News Digest Agency No 42, Hrtkovci, The Moving Out Continues, by Jasmina Teodosijevic
  5. ↑ Serbia Facing Chauvinism Again, Awakening of rats
  6. ↑ (Croatian) Oko stotinu protjeranih Hrvata iz Vojvodine stiglo u Hrvatsku 10 August 1995
  7. ↑ (Croatian) Dom i svijet - Broj 220, Kako su Hrvati protjerani iz Vojvodine bolji zivot pronasli u Hrvatskoj, Hrtkovci u Slavoniji
  8. ↑ Croats in Serbia which is not in war with Croatia, With head stuck into sand
  9. ↑ (Serbian) Sedamnaest godina od proterivanja Hrvata iz Hrtkovaca, Zoran Glavonjić
  10. ↑ Anniversary of SRS rally in Vojvodina town
  11. ↑ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/GNOOV_1040-1945.png

References

External links

Croatian diaspora
Americas
Europe
Oceania
whole Serbia
Vojvodina
Kosovo1
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