.gif)
Svetozar Miletic (Sombor)
Encyclopedia
Backa
Bačka is a geographical area within the Pannonian plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east of which confluence is located near Titel...
region in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
. It is situated in the Sombor
Sombor
Sombor is a city and municipality located in northwest part of Serbian autonomous province of Vojvodina. The city has a total population of 48,749 , while the Sombor municipality has 87,815 inhabitants...
municipality, in the West Bačka District
West Backa District
West Bačka District is a northern district of Serbia. It lies in the region of Bačka, in the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It has a population of 215,916...
. The village is ethnically mixed and its population numbering 3,169 people (2002 census).
Name
The village was named after Svetozar MiletićSvetozar Miletic
Svetozar Miletić was an advocate, politician, mayor of Novi Sad, and the political leader of Serbs in Vojvodina. He was the oldest of seven children born to Sima and Teodosija Miletić in the village of Mošorin in Šajkaška, the Serbian Military Frontier, on February 22, 1826...
, a political leader of Serbs in Vojvodina from second half of 19th century.
In Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
, the village is known as Svetozar Miletić (Светозар Милетић), in Croatian
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
as Svetozar Miletić or Lemeš, in Bunjevac
Bunjevac language
The Bunjevac dialect or Bunjevac language is a Štokavian dialect used by members of the Bunjevci community. The speakers live in parts of the autonomous province of Vojvodina in Serbia as well as in southern parts of Croatia. The speech has an exclusive Serbo-Croatian Ikavian reflex of the Common...
as Svetozar Miletić or Lemeš, in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
as Milititsch, and in Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
as Nemesmillitics. Before 1925, in Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
, Croatian
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
and Bunjevac
Bunjevac language
The Bunjevac dialect or Bunjevac language is a Štokavian dialect used by members of the Bunjevci community. The speakers live in parts of the autonomous province of Vojvodina in Serbia as well as in southern parts of Croatia. The speech has an exclusive Serbo-Croatian Ikavian reflex of the Common...
the name Lemeš (Лемеш) was used for the village.
The origin of the village name in Hungarian comes from the Hungarian word nemes (a noble
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
), while for the word militics it is believed that it comes from Latin militis (a soldier
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
). Local Bunjevci
Bunjevci
Bunjevci are a South Slavic community and ethnic group living mostly in the Bačka region of Serbia and southern Hungary...
people have shortened and transformed the name Nemesmilitics into Lemeš. During the administration of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes the village name was changed into Svetozar Miletić
Svetozar Miletic
Svetozar Miletić was an advocate, politician, mayor of Novi Sad, and the political leader of Serbs in Vojvodina. He was the oldest of seven children born to Sima and Teodosija Miletić in the village of Mošorin in Šajkaška, the Serbian Military Frontier, on February 22, 1826...
(in 1925).
Demographics
According to the 2002 census, ethnic groups in the village included:- Hungarians = 1,455 (45.91%)
- CroatsCroatsCroats 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...
= 581 (18.33%) (*) - SerbsSerbsThe 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...
= 549 (17.32%) (*) - BunjevciBunjevciBunjevci are a South Slavic community and ethnic group living mostly in the Bačka region of Serbia and southern Hungary...
= 217 (6.85%) (*) - YugoslavsYugoslavsYugoslavs is a national designation used by a minority of South Slavs across the countries of the former Yugoslavia and in the diaspora...
= 149 (4.70%) (*) - others.
(*) Total number of South Slavs
South Slavs
The South Slavs are the southern branch of the Slavic peoples and speak South Slavic languages. Geographically, the South Slavs are native to the Balkan peninsula, the southern Pannonian Plain and the eastern Alps...
(Croats, Serbs, Bunjevci, Yugoslavs) that live in the village is 1,496 (47.21%).
Historical population
- 1961: 3,990
- 1971: 3,860
- 1981: 3,685
- 1991: 3,292
- 2002: 3,169
- 2011: 2,738
Famous persons
- Gaja AlagaGaja AlagaGaja Alaga was a Croatian theoretical physicist who specialised in nuclear physics.He was born in noble family of Bunjevac Croats in the village of Lemeš in northwestern Bačka in Kingdom of SHS .He was an academician of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts since 1968...
(1924–1988), theoretical physicist - Stevan Horvat (1932), Greco-Roman style wrestler, Olympics silver medalist in 1968
- Đuro Kanjurski (1853–1920), professor of Syriac, Chaldean and Arab language at Royal University in Budapest
- Grgo Knezi (1892–1944), priest, biologist
- Petar Knezi (1859–1929), priest and writer
- Tereza Kočiš (1932), gymnast that participated on several Olympics
- Mirko VidakovićMirko VidakovicMirko pl. Vidaković was Croatian botanist and dendrologist and the expert for the genetics of the forest trees.-Biography:Vidaković was born in Lemeš, Bačka, to a family of Bunjevci Croats...
(1924–2002), botanist - dr Pajo Vidaković (1879–1942), priest, ethnologist, author of textbooks, writer