Serbs in Dubrovnik
Encyclopedia
The Serbs of Dubrovnik
made up 4.01% of the town's population according to the 2001 Croatia
n population census. Their number before the Croatian War of Independence
was higher - in the 1991 census, 4,765 (6.7%) people in Dubrovnik municipality declared as Serbs. Historically, a number of notable Dubrovnik Catholics
came to espouse a Serb national ideology and political goals since the mid-19th century.
enforced a single state religion of Roman Catholicism. Orthodoxy was given equal status with Catholicism in 1848, by which time there were hundreds of Orthodox immigrants from Herzegovina
in the city who maintained their religious affiliation with the Serb Orthodox Church. The Eparch of Dalmatia Josif Rajačić
dispatched the first Orthodox priest to Dubrovnik, Georgije (Đorđe) Nikolajević, in 1833.
The cultural and political movement of Serbs in Dubrovnik was started around this time, notably by Nikolajević's 1838 article in the newspaper Srbsko-Dalmatinski Magazin (published in Zadar
by Božidar Petranović
), where he claimed the entire Ragusan Slavonic literary corpus for Serbian literature. In 1841, Medo Pucić
, a writer from an old Catholic noble family, became acquainted with pan-Slavists
Ján Kollár
and Pavel Jozef Šafárik
, and started to espouse a Serb national sentiment. Matija Ban
, another Catholic from Dubrovnik, was influenced by pan-Slavists and romantic nationalists
Michał Czajkowski and František Zach
in Istambul, so much that he moved to Belgrade
in 1844 in an attempt to promote his idea that Serbian patriotism must extend beyond Serb Orthodoxy and the borders of the Principality of Serbia. In Serbia, Ban's group of enthusiasts worked with Serbia's minister of the interior Ilija Garašanin
, the author of Načertanije
, to enter the upper reaches of Serbian political life. They were not, however, met with uniform acceptance - Jovan Sterija Popović
and others, with support of the Church in Serbia, protested against their ideas and by extension against Vuk Karadžić's notion that Serbian language and nationality extended beyond Orthodoxy.
During the Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas
(1848-1849), the Serbian government was involved on the side of the South Slavs in Serbian Vojvodina
, and at the same time Matija Ban traveled to Croatian lands and advocated for pan-Slavic as well as pro-Serbian ideas, claiming the Kingdom of Dalmatia
should be unified with the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
, but also describing the language of Dubrovnik as Serbian. By 1850, the revolution was over and Ban, particularly because he had acquired Serbian citizenship in 1844, became suspicious to the Austrian police in Dubrovnik, who started to monitor him. At that point, he was summoned to Belgrade where Garašanin suspended all of his operations and ordered him to permanently return to Belgrade. He hesitated, but was persuaded by Prince Aleksandar and others to comply. He did however leave his family in Dubrovnik and published two more issues of the journal Dubrovnik in Ljudevit Gaj
's publishing house in Zagreb in 1851 and 1852.
Three decades later, in the 1880s a sizable group of Ragusan intellectuals independently developed a Serb-Catholic feeling, but at that point it was a political movement that was openly hostile to the Croats
and whose leaders cooperated with the pro-Italian Autonomist Party
(i.e. it was not pan-Slavic).
Following the 1878 Congress of Berlin
, the Habsburg Empire occupied Bosnia and created the Austro-Hungarian Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which prompted a confrontation between the Serb and Croat national ideologies, and the new "Serb-Catholic" circle of Dubrovnik increasingly broke with the pan-Slavic tradition of its founders, Pucić and Ban. The same year, Serbia obtained independence.
In the preparation for the Imperial Council election of 1879, the Serb Party of Dalmatia
severed ties with the People's Party, which marked a significant shift in Dalmatian politics at the time. Subsequently, in 1890, a coalition of the Autonomist Party
and the Serb Party won the municipal election in Dubrovnik, where the Autonomists were considered to be "Serb-Catholics".
In 1904/1905, a cultural society "Croatian and Serbian People's Home" from Cavtat (south of Dubrovnik) promulgated pan-Slavic ideas.
In 1908 all Serbian unions, clubs and newspapers in the city were closed and forbidden by Austrian authorities, which led to massive emigration of Serbian-oriented high society from the city of Dubrovnik.
After World War I, in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
those Serbs who were left in Dubrovnik opted for the Yugoslav national unity, in contrast to Croats in the city who opted for the particular Croatian nationalism which had lad to the establishment of Banovina of Croatia
in 1939. Those circumstances intensified emigration. During the Independent State of Croatia
(1941-1945), the city completely reoriented itself to Croatian culture.
n population census. Their number before the Croatian War of Independence
was higher - in the 1991 census, 4,765 (6.7%) people in Dubrovnik municipality declared as Serbs.
Dubrovnik is both a Town and a Municipality. As the municipality borders changed a lot, depending on what census one looks at, it is more accurate to deal with data from just the town itself.
The Geographical Journal, Vol. 47, No. 4 (Apr., 1916), p. 241-261. The Geographical Journal is currently published by The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers).
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
made up 4.01% of the town's population according to the 2001 Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n population census. Their number before the Croatian War of Independence
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
was higher - in the 1991 census, 4,765 (6.7%) people in Dubrovnik municipality declared as Serbs. Historically, a number of notable Dubrovnik Catholics
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
came to espouse a Serb national ideology and political goals since the mid-19th century.
History
Before the 19th century, the presence of Orthodox Serbs in the city of Ragusa/Dubrovnik was minute because the Republic of RagusaRepublic of Ragusa
The Republic of Ragusa or Republic of Dubrovnik was a maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik in Dalmatia , that existed from 1358 to 1808...
enforced a single state religion of Roman Catholicism. Orthodoxy was given equal status with Catholicism in 1848, by which time there were hundreds of Orthodox immigrants from Herzegovina
Herzegovina
Herzegovina is the southern region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. While there is no official border distinguishing it from the Bosnian region, it is generally accepted that the borders of the region are Croatia to the west, Montenegro to the south, the canton boundaries of the Herzegovina-Neretva...
in the city who maintained their religious affiliation with the Serb Orthodox Church. The Eparch of Dalmatia Josif Rajačić
Josif Rajacic
Josif Rajačić was a metropolitan of Sremski Karlovci, Serbian patriarch, administrator of Serbian Vojvodina and baron.-Life:...
dispatched the first Orthodox priest to Dubrovnik, Georgije (Đorđe) Nikolajević, in 1833.
The cultural and political movement of Serbs in Dubrovnik was started around this time, notably by Nikolajević's 1838 article in the newspaper Srbsko-Dalmatinski Magazin (published in Zadar
Zadar
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...
by Božidar Petranović
Božidar Petranovic
Božidar Petranović was an outstanding Serbian author, scholar, literary historian, and journalist of the 19th century...
), where he claimed the entire Ragusan Slavonic literary corpus for Serbian literature. In 1841, Medo Pucić
Medo Pucic
Medo Pucić, also known as Orsat Pucić, was a writer and politician from Dubrovnik, at the time in the Austro-Hungarian Kingdom of Dalmatia, who was the first Catholic native of Dubrovnik to declare himself a Serb, believing that the religion was irrelevant for ethnic affiliation, contrary to the...
, a writer from an old Catholic noble family, became acquainted with pan-Slavists
Pan-Slavism
Pan-Slavism was a movement in the mid-19th century aimed at unity of all the Slavic peoples. The main focus was in the Balkans where the South Slavs had been ruled for centuries by other empires, Byzantine Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Venice...
Ján Kollár
Ján Kollár
Ján Kollár was a Slovak writer , archaeologist, scientist, politician, and main ideologist of Pan-Slavism.- Life :...
and Pavel Jozef Šafárik
Pavel Jozef Šafárik
Pavol Jozef Šafárik Pavol Jozef Šafárik (Safáry / Schaffáry/ Schafary/ Saf(f)arik / Šafarík/ Szafarzik, Czech Pavel Josef Šafařík, German Paul Joseph Schaffarik, Serbian Павле Јосиф Шафарик, Latin Paulus Josephus Schaffarik, Hungarian Pál József Saf(f)arik) Pavol Jozef Šafárik (Safáry /...
, and started to espouse a Serb national sentiment. Matija Ban
Matija Ban
Matija Ban was a Serbo-Croatian poet, dramatist, and playwright, born in the city of Dubrovnik, who became known as one of the first Catholics from Dubrovnik who expressed a Serb nationality...
, another Catholic from Dubrovnik, was influenced by pan-Slavists and romantic nationalists
Romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs...
Michał Czajkowski and František Zach
František Zach
František Aleksandr Zach was a Czech-born soldier and military theorist, best known for being the first acting General and Chief of the General Staff to the Principality of Serbia from 1876 to 1877....
in Istambul, so much that he moved to Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
in 1844 in an attempt to promote his idea that Serbian patriotism must extend beyond Serb Orthodoxy and the borders of the Principality of Serbia. In Serbia, Ban's group of enthusiasts worked with Serbia's minister of the interior Ilija Garašanin
Ilija Garašanin
Ilija Garašanin was a Serbian politician and statesman, serving as Interior Minister and Prime Minister ....
, the author of Načertanije
Nacertanije
Načertanije is a document drawn up by the Serbian politician Ilija Garašanin in 1844, aimed at uniting the Serbian people, living under the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires. It represents the first formalization of the political program of Serbia....
, to enter the upper reaches of Serbian political life. They were not, however, met with uniform acceptance - Jovan Sterija Popović
Jovan Sterija Popovic
Jovan Sterija Popović was a Serbian playwright, poet and pedagogue who taught at the Belgrade Higher School. Sterija was recognized by his contemporaries as the one of the leading Serbian intellectuals...
and others, with support of the Church in Serbia, protested against their ideas and by extension against Vuk Karadžić's notion that Serbian language and nationality extended beyond Orthodoxy.
During the Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas
Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas
From March 1848 through July 1849, the Habsburg Austrian Empire was threatened by revolutionary movements. Much of the revolutionary activity was of a nationalist character: the empire, ruled from Vienna, included Austrian Germans, Hungarians, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Ruthenians,...
(1848-1849), the Serbian government was involved on the side of the South Slavs in Serbian Vojvodina
Serbian Vojvodina
The Serbian Vojvodina was a Serbian autonomous region within the Austrian Empire...
, and at the same time Matija Ban traveled to Croatian lands and advocated for pan-Slavic as well as pro-Serbian ideas, claiming the Kingdom of Dalmatia
Kingdom of Dalmatia
The Kingdom of Dalmatia was an administrative division of the Habsburg Monarchy from 1815 to 1918. Its capital was Zadar.-History:...
should be unified with the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia or Croatia Slavonia was an autonomous kingdom within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was part of the Hungarian Kingdom within the dual Austro-Hungarian state, being within the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen or Transleithania...
, but also describing the language of Dubrovnik as Serbian. By 1850, the revolution was over and Ban, particularly because he had acquired Serbian citizenship in 1844, became suspicious to the Austrian police in Dubrovnik, who started to monitor him. At that point, he was summoned to Belgrade where Garašanin suspended all of his operations and ordered him to permanently return to Belgrade. He hesitated, but was persuaded by Prince Aleksandar and others to comply. He did however leave his family in Dubrovnik and published two more issues of the journal Dubrovnik in Ljudevit Gaj
Ljudevit Gaj
Ljudevit Gaj was a Croatian linguist, politician, journalist and writer. He was one of the central figures of the Croatian national reformation, also known as the Illyrian Movement.-Origin:...
's publishing house in Zagreb in 1851 and 1852.
Three decades later, in the 1880s a sizable group of Ragusan intellectuals independently developed a Serb-Catholic feeling, but at that point it was a political movement that was openly hostile to the Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
and whose leaders cooperated with the pro-Italian Autonomist Party
Autonomist Party
The Autonomist Party was a political party in the Dalmatian political scene, that existed for around 70 years of the nineteenth century and until World War I. Its goal was to maintain the autonomy of the Kingdom of Dalmatia within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as opposed to the unification with the...
(i.e. it was not pan-Slavic).
Following the 1878 Congress of Berlin
Congress of Berlin
The Congress of Berlin was a meeting of the European Great Powers' and the Ottoman Empire's leading statesmen in Berlin in 1878. In the wake of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, the meeting's aim was to reorganize the countries of the Balkans...
, the Habsburg Empire occupied Bosnia and created the Austro-Hungarian Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which prompted a confrontation between the Serb and Croat national ideologies, and the new "Serb-Catholic" circle of Dubrovnik increasingly broke with the pan-Slavic tradition of its founders, Pucić and Ban. The same year, Serbia obtained independence.
In the preparation for the Imperial Council election of 1879, the Serb Party of Dalmatia
Serb People's Party (Dalmatia)
Serb People's Party was an ethnic Serb political party in the Kingdom of Dalmatia during the time of Austria-Hungary.Following the Dalmatian parliamentary election, 1876, the People's Party was in power. In 1878, led by Sava Bjelanović, the Serb members of the party left and founded the Serb Party...
severed ties with the People's Party, which marked a significant shift in Dalmatian politics at the time. Subsequently, in 1890, a coalition of the Autonomist Party
Autonomist Party
The Autonomist Party was a political party in the Dalmatian political scene, that existed for around 70 years of the nineteenth century and until World War I. Its goal was to maintain the autonomy of the Kingdom of Dalmatia within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as opposed to the unification with the...
and the Serb Party won the municipal election in Dubrovnik, where the Autonomists were considered to be "Serb-Catholics".
In 1904/1905, a cultural society "Croatian and Serbian People's Home" from Cavtat (south of Dubrovnik) promulgated pan-Slavic ideas.
In 1908 all Serbian unions, clubs and newspapers in the city were closed and forbidden by Austrian authorities, which led to massive emigration of Serbian-oriented high society from the city of Dubrovnik.
After World War I, in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
those Serbs who were left in Dubrovnik opted for the Yugoslav national unity, in contrast to Croats in the city who opted for the particular Croatian nationalism which had lad to the establishment of Banovina of Croatia
Banovina of Croatia
The Banovina of Croatia or Banate of Croatia was a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1939 and 1943 . Its capital was at Zagreb and it included most of present-day Croatia along with portions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia...
in 1939. Those circumstances intensified emigration. During the Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
(1941-1945), the city completely reoriented itself to Croatian culture.
Population
The Serbs of Dubrovnik made up 4.01% of the town's population according to the 2001 CroatiaCroatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n population census. Their number before the Croatian War of Independence
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
was higher - in the 1991 census, 4,765 (6.7%) people in Dubrovnik municipality declared as Serbs.
Dubrovnik is both a Town and a Municipality. As the municipality borders changed a lot, depending on what census one looks at, it is more accurate to deal with data from just the town itself.
| Ethnic Composition of Dubrovnik | |||||||||||||
| Year | Serbs Serbs The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in... |
% | Montenegrins | % | Yugoslavs Yugoslavs Yugoslavs is a national designation used by a minority of South Slavs across the countries of the former Yugoslavia and in the diaspora... |
% | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | 1,419 | 9.12% | 208 | 1.34% | - | - | 15,562 | ||||||
| 1953 | 1,966 | 10.25% | 347 | 1.81% | 399 | 2.08% | 19,172 | ||||||
| 1961 | 2,744 | 11.90% | 460 | 1.99% | 328 | 1.42% | 23,059 | ||||||
| 1971 | 3,405 | 10.92% | 533 | 1.71% | 1,266 | 4.06% | 31,182 | ||||||
| 1981 | 3,721 | 8.46% | 507 | 1.15% | 4,950 | 11.25% | 43,990 | ||||||
| 1991 | 4,342 | 8.73% | n/a | n/a | 1,026 | 2.06% | 49,728 | ||||||
| 2001 | 1,219 | 4.01% | 215 | 0.71% | - | - | 30,436 | ||||||
| note1:Dubrovnik town is part of the Dubrovnik Municipality. The Municipality has changed borders in different censuses. note2: Some people declaring themselves as Yugoslavs were Serbs. A certain amount of all nationalities declared themselves as such in certain censuses. data source: Until 1991, Yugoslav Population Census; 2001 and onwards, Croatian population census |
|||||||||||||
Organisations
- Zadruga Srpkinja Dubrovkinja - founded in 1887
- Srpska dubrovačka akademska omladina - founded in 1900
- Srpska Zora - founded in 1901
- Gimnastičko-sokolsko društvo Dušan Silni - founded in 1907 and headed by Mate Gracić
- Matica srpska - founded in 1909, thanks to Konstantin Vuković
- Pasarićeva štamparija
- Štamparija Mata Gracića
- Savez srpskih zemljoradničkih zadruga
- Srpska štedionica
- Dubrovnik - a Serb newspaper
The Geographical Journal, Vol. 47, No. 4 (Apr., 1916), p. 241-261. The Geographical Journal is currently published by The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers).
Notable individuals
- Medo PucićMedo PucicMedo Pucić, also known as Orsat Pucić, was a writer and politician from Dubrovnik, at the time in the Austro-Hungarian Kingdom of Dalmatia, who was the first Catholic native of Dubrovnik to declare himself a Serb, believing that the religion was irrelevant for ethnic affiliation, contrary to the...
- Niko PucićNiko PucicNiko Pucić de Zagorien was a writer and politician from Dalmatia. He was born in Dubrovnik in 1820. He was the brother of Medo Pucić, another well-known politician....
- Mato VodopicMato VodopicMato Vodopić was the bishop of Dubrovnik from July 3, 1882 until his death in 1893, and wrote poems for some special occasions, and was a storyteller and collector of folk ballads...
- Ivan StojanovićIvan StojanovićIvan Stojanović was a Catholic priest who wrote the book 'Dubrovacka literature' , arguing that the people of Dubrovnik were Roman Catholic by religion, but by language Serbian...
, a Catholic priest - Valtazar Bogišić
- Lujo Vojnović
- Ivo VojnovićIvo VojnovicIvan "Ivo" Vojnović was a Croatian and Serbian writer from Dubrovnik. He is often nicknamed "The last great Dubrovnik writer".-Biography:...
- Milan RešetarMilan RešetarMilan Rešetar was a Serb-Catholic, linguist, Ragusologist, historian and literary critic.After the gymnasium in Dubrovnik, he attained studies of classic Philology and Slavistics in Vienna...
- Matija BanMatija BanMatija Ban was a Serbo-Croatian poet, dramatist, and playwright, born in the city of Dubrovnik, who became known as one of the first Catholics from Dubrovnik who expressed a Serb nationality...
- Milan MilišićMilan MilišicMilan Milišić was a poet and playwright from the former Yugoslavia of Yugoslavian ethnicity. He wrote several volumes of poetry and translated, among others, J. R. R...
- Antun FabrisAntun FabrisAntun Fabris , sometimes misspelled Anton, was a prominent Dalmatian Serb journalist and politician from Dubrovnik, Austria-Hungary. He was a Roman Catholic....
- Pero BudmaniPero BudmaniPero Budmani , like many intellectual Dubrovnik, was a prominent member of the Serb-Catholic circle, linguist and philologist who bravely followed Vuk Stefanović Karadžić's language reforms...
- Luko ZoreLuko ZoreLuko Zore , Luko involved into a Serb-Catholic circle, with all the big intelectuals of the XIX cenrury in Dubrovnik and Montenegrin philologist and Slavist, and was one of the leading opposition fighting against the foreign forces of Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy in Dubrovnik.At that time...
- Marko CarMarko CarMarko Car was a Serbian writer, politician and activist from the Bay of Kotor...
- Stijepo KobasicaStijepo KobasicaStijepo Kobasica, 1882–1944, Serbian journalist, author and politician from Dubrovnik. He was the editor of Srpski Glasnik.- Early life :Kobasica was born at Dubrovnik, in Dalmatia in 1882, at that time a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire...
- Marko MuratMarko MuratMarko Murat was an ethnic Serbian painter. His works were exhibited at the 1900 World's Fair in Paris and the 1911 World's Fair in Rome....