Prosvjeta

Serbian Cultural Society Prosvjeta

Prosvjeta headquarters in Zagreb
Formation	1944
Type	non-governmental organization
Headquarters	Zagreb
Membership	2,200
Official language	Serbian
President	Čedomir Višnjić
Budget	800,000 €
Website	prosvjeta.net

Serbian Cultural Society "Prosvjeta" (abbreviated: SKD "Prosvjeta" or СКД "Просвјета") is the central cultural, educational and scientific institution of the Serbs in Croatia, with the aim of preserving and developing national identity.

Prosvjeta is managed by principles of multiculturalism and interculturalism, and their own cultural awareness. In accordance with their understanding of national identity of Serbs in Croatia, Prosvjeta affirms its value in two ways: as part of Croatian culture and as part of the Serbian people culture as a whole.

History

Establishment

Prosvjeta was established on 18. November 1944 in the period of World War II in the town of Glina.^[1] First president of Prosvjeta was professor Dane Medaković from Zagreb.^[1] It was established as one among few Serb institutions, first of which was Serb MP's club of State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Croatia.^[1] As it became expected that Allies of World War II will win in the war and Yugoslav Partisans together with them, Communist Party of Yugoslavia wanted to satisfy Prečani Serbs population in future Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.^[1] Prečani Serbs firstly constituted majority, and towards the end of war huge part of Partisan forces, while in 1945 they constituted 45% of membership of Communist Party of Croatia.^[1] Primary task of organization in initial phase was to fight illiteracy in rural areas.^[1] Other ambitious plans included intention for establishment of Museum of Serbs of Croatia, library, student dormitory, and development cooperation with Croatian Writers' Association, Croatian Painters' Association, Music Association and Association for Cultural Cooperation with Soviet Union.^[1]

In 1971, after Croatian Spring, organization work was suspended together with work of Matica hrvatska.^[2] Initiative for reactivation of Prosvjeta work came in 1990, and it was implemented in 1993.^[2]

Central Library of Serbs of Croatia

Središnja knjižnica Srba u Hrvatskoj
Централна библиотека Срба у Хрватској
(Central Library of Serbs of Croatia)

Established	26 January 1996 (26 January 1996)[3]
Location	Zagreb, Croatia
Collection
Items collected	Serbian literature, Cyrillic alphabet literature, Croatian literature, Western literature, 20th-century Marxist philosophy
Size	23,000 books and publications [4]
Access and use
Access requirements	Open to general public (for use of material outside the library membership required)
Other information
Director	Velimir Sekulić
Staff	2
Website	Централна библиотека Срба у Хрватској

In 1996 the Central Library of Serbs of Croatia was established. This library operates as a central national library of Serbs of Croatia (one of 10 central ethnic community libraries in Croatia) financed by Ministry of Culture .^[5] Its task is to obtain, process and disseminate Serbian library materials and to inform the public.^[6]

Library history

Prosvjeta began its first library activities during World War II in Yugoslavia within Yugoslav Partisans. On January 4, 1948 Prosvjeta established its first central library in Zagreb as a capital of People's Republic of Croatia. At that time the library possessed 40,000 books and publications. In 1953 a decision was made to transfer the library. Its stock was deposited in Museum of Serbs of Croatia, National and University Library in Zagreb and Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts.^[4]

During the period of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia until the beginning of the Breakup of Yugoslavia there were no initiatives for special libraries for Serbs of Croatia since general libraries had an adequate number of titles from Serbian literature.^[7] In the years before, during and after the Croatian War of Independence inter-ethnic relations in Croatia were significantly disrupted. This, among other things, resulted in the mass removal and destruction of literature that conflicting sides considered inappropriate or subversive.

In 1995 Prosvjeta as its main annual priority declared the establishment of the library,^[3] which was opened the day before Saint Sava day, on 26. January 1996.^[3] In its initial stock the library had 6,200 books, most of those from city libraries.^[3] The initial idea of the Government Office for Minorities was to place the central library for Serbs of Croatia in the village of Gomirje where Gomirje Monastery was placed but since Prosvjeta took the initiative the library was finally placed in Zagreb.^[3] In the following years the library took about 15,000 Serbian literature titles from city libraries in Zagreb and Zagreb County.^[3] In this way, titles from that area were protected from recycling. Some of the titles were also sent to local committees and institutions like Gymnasium Vukovar.^[3]

Activities

Drama Studio "EHO"

Drama Studio "EHO" was founded in 2002 and today operates under the supervision of actress Svetlana Patafta.^[8][9]

Prosvjeta Publishing House

Prosvjeta Publishing House has two bookstores in Zagreb, one of them at Petar Preradović Square.^[10]

Subcommittees

Prosvjeta has sub-committees in the following settlements in Croatia

Garešnica

Daruvar

Okučani

Buje

Donje Dubrave

Karlovac

Krnjak

Ogulin

Vojnić

Korenica

Udbina

Vrhovine

Beli Manastir

Bijelo Brdo

Dalj

Darda

Jagodnjak

Kneževi Vinogradi

Osijek

Pakrac

Moravice

Gomirje

Rijeka

Vrbovsko

Biskupija

Kistanje

Knin

Dvor

Glina

Mali Gradac

Petrinja

Sisak

Gvozd

Split

Virovitica

ZAGREB

Map of the Croatia with location of Prosvjeta local subcommittees.

Bobota

Borovo

Trpinja

Vera

Bršadin

Vukovar

Negoslavci

Pačetin

Markušica

Mirkovci

Ostrovo

Subcommittees in Slavonia not named on first map.

County	Local Subcommittees
Bjelovar-Bilogora	Daruvar[11] Moslavina Garešnica[12]
Brod-Posavina	Okučani-Rajić[13]
Istria	Bujština[14]
Karlovac	Donje Dubrave[15] Karlovac[16] Krnjak[17] Ogulin[18] Vojnić[19]
Lika-Senj	Korenica[20] Udbina[21] Vrhovine[22]
Osijek-Baranja	Beli Manastir[23] Bijelo Brdo[24] Dalj[25] Darda[26] Jagodnjak[27] Kneževi Vinogradi[28] Osijek[29]
Požega-Slavonia	Zapadna Slavonija[30]
Primorje-Gorski Kotar	Gomirje[31] Srpske Moravice[32] Rijeka[33] Vrbovsko[34]
Šibenik-Knin	Biskupija[35] Kistanje[36] Knin[37]
Sisak-Moslavina	Dvor[38] Glina[39] Mali Gradac[40] Petrinja[41] Sisak[42] Vrginmost[43]
Split-Dalmatia	Split[44]
Virovitica-Podravina	Virovitica[45]
Vukovar-Syrmia	Bobota[46] Borovo[47] Bršadin[48] Markušica[49] Mirkovci[50] Negoslavci[51] Ostrovo[52] Pačetin[53] Trpinja[54] Vera[55] Vukovar[56]
Zagreb	Zagreb[57]

References