pzc GEOGRAPHICA ANNONICA

No7; p 27-30

icant Serbian population to move towards . Up until the Turkish Occupation Changing Serbian Ethnic – when the Serbian ethnic area reached its largest extent in present-day Hungary – there was a growth in the number and ratio Patterns in the 20th Century of the Serbian-speaking population of or- thodox religion, which contributed to their Within the Borders of gradual ethnic expansion. As a result of these migration processes, their ethnic pat- terns mark three well-defined, connected Present-day Hungary1 territories of various sizes. Since the 18th century - in parallel with Bottlik, Z* the more intensive migration of the towards the further South - then after World War I due to the options, then the lin- Abstract The main aim of the present paper uring the last three centuries the guistic assimilation to a smaller extent, the is to show the time - space dynamics of history of Serbs living in the cen- Serbs’ ethnic areas have gradually been de- the Serbian ethnic territory during the Dtre of the Balkans has been rath- creasing in present-day Hungary. This can 20th century in the present-day area of er stormy and burdened with wars. This be seen from sources since the beginning of Hungary, and also the changes and present shows in the considerable changes of their the 18th century – though sometimes insuf- state of their population number, their pro- ethnic territory as well. During the ad- ficient– and data from regular censuses. portion and linguistic-(ethnic) boundaries vancing of the Ottoman Army, the Serbs The bloody events of World War I and on regional and settlement level.In the last found themselves in the front line which the following peace treaties created a com- chapter we try to highlight the connection resulted in the relocation of their ethnic pletely new situation. Whereas approxi- between the ethnicity and the minority territories mainly to North and West. This mately half million Hungarian-speaking self-government system of the Serbian process lasted until the 18th century, dur- communities living in one block in Bácska minority in Hungary, too. ing which a considerable number of Serbs became part of the newly formed Kingdom settled down in Hungary and in various of Serbs-Croats and Slovenes (later Yugo- Key words ethnic geography, Serbian parts of Croatia, where having enjoyed a slavia), the majority of the Serbian settle- minority, Hungary, minority self-govern- special legal status, they became residents ments also became part of the new state. It ment bodies of the so-called military frontier zone. is only a couple of communities with signif- Meanwhile, due to their continous migra- icant Serbian population along the Dan- tion, a reduction of their original territo- ube (in the vicinity of ), to the ries can be observed in Kosovo, Methohila East of county and South-East and in the territories of the later Sandžak Hungary forming part of our research, (Jelavich, B. 1996). that stayed within the borders of present- After World War I, following the estab- day Hungary. (Figure 1.) lishment of the Kingdom of Serbs-Croats After the withdrawal of the Serbian and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), the Ser- Army and the exploitation of the possi- bian ethnic area expanded mainly with- bilities of options, Serbs mainly living in in the territories of the new state, where- the Eastern part of and in as outside the borders – in Hungary and the Tisza-Maros region, left the country in Romania – a considerable number of Serbs large numbers and moved to the other side found themselves in minority (Mihajlović, of the borders (Urosevics, D. 1969; Oltvai, 1919). Their more rapid regression can still F. 1991). Therefore only a small number of be seen. This process is primarily due to Serbs are still inhabitants of the 93.030 sq. the repatriations and options within the km present-day Hungary. borders of present-day Hungary. The drastic drop in their numbers is The disintegration of Tito’s Yugosla- demonstrated by data from 1920 and even via from 1991, then its entire collapse better from 1930, since it was due to the significantly rearranged the Serbian eth- options given that a significant number nic settlement pattern. As a result, on the of Serbs in Hungary could move to the independent territories of the former Yu- newly established SHS Kingdom 8later goslavia – Croatia, Bosnia and in the au- Yugoslavia)(Popović, D.I. 1957). (Figure tonomus Kosovo within until 1989 2.) As a result their numbers were 5443 – the number and proportion of Serbs in 1941 and there are only 36 settlements have drastically dropped, whereas in Ser- on the studied area where the ratio of Ser- bia, above all in Voivodina, the opposite bian native speakers is at least 1%. Among can be seen. these it is just Lórév where they are in ab- solute majority with a ratio of 69%. Their 1910-1990 number is also significant in Szigetcsép The first smaller Serbian minority groups where 14% of the population is of Serbian in Hungary could already be traced in the mother tongue. Their ratio is more than * Zsolt Bottlik, Research Fellow, Geographical , however, it was the advancing 10% in four settlements (, , Research Institute of Hungarian Academy of of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire to North Százhalombatta, Újszentiván) and they Sciences, Department of Human Geography and North-West that caused the first signif- live in diaspora with a ratio of 1-10% in 13 27 GEOGRAPHICA ANNONICA pzc Century Within th the Borders of Present-day Hungary Present-day of the Borders Changing Serbian Ethnic Patterns in the 20 Figure 1 The ratio of Serbs in Hungary and their bigger settlements according to their mother tongue in 1910; Source: Hungarian census data 1910 (mother tongue - native language)

other settlements. Due to their big loss- in favour of the existence of the minori- area as well, therefore their settling process es it is only in the case of Battonya where ty groups with smaller numbers and ratio could cause the breaking up of the minor- their numbers exceed 1000 inhabitants. living in Hungary. It is especially true of ity communities, providing more opportu- The population of the other 11 larger Ser- the Serbian minority with more than nities for the Hungarian assimilation pres- bian groups is between 100 and 350. 5000 persons. Only the years preceding sure, eg., in case of the former settlements During and after World War II the eth- the change of regime bring some altera- in the vicinity of Budapest and with nic settlement pattern of the Serbs already tion and bigger publicity to these minori- a significant number of Serbs (Kocsis, K. living sporadically in present-day Hunga- ties. The reason for the decrease in number 1989). On the other hand, the economical- ry does not show a significant change. The and ratio of Serbian minority and also that ly more underdevelopped territories urge ethnic data in the 1949 census do not in all of their ethnic area is due to the weaken- the younger generation to migrate causing cases show the real situation, however, the ing of their national self-awareness which not only the decrease of their number and data referring to religion provide a more re- was caused by their assimilation. ratio but the disasterous ageing of the eth- liable picture. Based on the above mentioned The Serbs’ strong identity-conscious- nic population (eg., in East Baranya). data, the number of Serbs living in Hungary ness, the above-mentioned assimilation Studying the data from 1990 it becomes decreased only by 284 in eight years. Accord- processes and their numbers are partly re- obvious that the once so significant Serbian ing to census data, their ratio in their settle- lated to the geographical environment of presence has reduced. Although their ap- ments shows an average 2-3% change. There their settlements. The question is whether pearance in new settlements manifests it- existed 12 settlements with more than 100 their place of residence is the urban region, self in a slight change, the significant de- Serbs. The biggest settlement was Battonya which is the primary source of the main so- crease since the end of World War II is due with 485 Serbs and there were four settle- cial-economic modernization, or is it the to the linguistic assimilation. It can be ments with more than 300 Serbs (Magyarc- severely underpriviledged peripheral areas, seen that from the 18th century the ratio sanád, Lórév, Pomáz and Deszk). which offer worse living conditions. The of the Serbs undergoes a gradual decrease, The proletarian internationalism of aformentioned urban territories are obvi- there are less settlements where they are the period following World War II was not ously the majority of Hungarians’ target in majority, in fact , by 1990, with the ex- ception of Lórév, it falls below 25% in all  PPP their settlements (Hoóz, I.-Kepecs, J.-Klin-  ger, A. 1985). The greatest loss, over 10%, is in Lórév and Battonya, whose settlements  are the most important in the Serbian eth-  nic territory. In the case of Pomáz, Csobán- ka, Lippó, Szigetcsép and Százhalombat-  ta the loss is 5-10%. This process requires the usage of the which      might in a while result in the Serbian moth- Figure 2 Changes in the number of Serbs in present-day area of Hungary (1773-2001) er tongue being pushed into the back- 28 pzc GEOGRAPHICA ANNONICA Bottlik, Z. Bottlik, ground. Studying the position of the Ser-  bian communities shows that they live in a rather scattered settlement pattern. They  do not form bigger groups and apart from  their more significant numbers in Pest and Csongrád counties there are only small-  NPUIFSUPOHVF OBUJPOBMJUZ er scattered settlements in Baranya, Bács-  Kiskun, Békés, Fejér and Tolna counties. Except for Lórév (53%) their numbers are  very low. Their ratio reaches the 5% limit in  only 3 settlements (Battonya 5.5%, Újszen- tiván 5.0% and Deszk 5.3%). In another  21 settlements their share in population  is below 5%. The biggest Serbian minority        group lives in Battonya. In the present-day Figure 3 Changes in numbers of Serbian population in the last twenty years Hungary there are only 4 settlements with * accoring to the qualifications of the commune councils a population of over 100 persons (Lórév, Pomáz, Szigetcsép, Hercegszántó). more than 100 persons, out of which two most double - could achieve. The Serbian mi- are in Budapest (7th and 2nd districts). nority self-governments were set up mainly Present-day Serbian The chart based on the census data also along the , in the Tisza-Maros re- ethnic patterns shows in what ratio the listed Serbs or peo- gion and East Baranya county, these terri- The present-day ethnic pattern of the ple of Serbian origin live in towns and vil- tories are basically their traditional settle- Serbs living in Hungary can be recon- lages. According to the data the majority ment areas. It is worth mentioning that in structed based on the last census carried reside in towns which means contact with 16 districts in Budapest the Serbs managed out in 2001. Although it was not obligato- the majority Hungarian population, there- to form self-governments. ry to answer questions referring to ’eth- fore they are more exposed to the increas-  nicity’, it was possible to give a multiple ing assimilation pressure. 5PUBMJOWJMMBHFT (maximum three) choice of answers. With According to data after World War II and  5PUBMJOUPXOT regard to the situation of the mainly spo- especially from the last twenty years it can  radically living minorities in Hungary, be stated that the linguistic assimilation of who are subject to an increasing assimila- the Serbs living in Hungary is at a rather ad-  tion pressure, this census provides ques- vanced state. It can also be established that  tions – among the usual ones asking about the most settlements with Serbian popu- mother tongue and ethnicity – finding out lation can be found in Baranya and Tolna  about language spoken within the family counties. Due to the size of these settle-  DVMUVSBM NPUIFS MBOHVBHF OBUJPOBMJUZ and with friends and also about cultural af- ments, the share of the Serbs in the popu- BċOJUZ UPOHVF VTFE filiation with ethnic minorities. lation is lower than, for example, in the big- Number of Serbian inhabitants The summary data (Figure 3) show that ger villages of the earlier mentioned other Figure 4 in present-day Hungary in 2001 the least number of Serbs (3388 persons) two territories with Serbian populations. considers Serbian their mother tongue, (This is especially true for the settlements It can be stated that with the growth which could be mostly related to their ad- in the Tisza-Maros region.) of the Serbian population in Hungary, vanced linguistic assimilation. Possibly Beside the official census data, the de- their political activity has been intensify- due to their assimilation most Serbs (5279 gree of their political activity can also pro- ing, since even in settlements where – ac- persons) do not use their mother tongue, vide information on the number of Serbs cording to census data - their number and but still kept some of the Serbian cultural and the territorial structure of their set- ratio were not significant there still was heritage. Comparing these data to those of tlements. This mainly shows in the exist- a demand for setting up self-government the censuses carried out in 1980 and 1990 ence and the type of minority self-govern- bodies (Kocsis, K. 2003). Therefore self- it shows that a considerably bigger number ments formed. ( Figure 5). governments seem to be a means of ex- of Serbs consider ethnic Serbs (3814 per- It was the third time in 2002 - after pressing their identity and cultural affini- sons) than those who chose Serbian as 1994 and 1998 – that minorities living in ty, the importance of which is crucial since their mother tongue (Figure 4). Hungary2, including the Serbs, had the op- although the Serbs are definitely a grow- According to the latest data the 3388 portunity to exercise their rights and elect ing population in Hungary, their linguis- Serbian native speakers live rather scat- their own minority self-government bod- tic assimilation and the regression of their tered in Hungary, but mainly in their old ies in accordance with the Act LXXVII of ethnic areas have been obvious even 10 settlements. This assumes a 14% increase 1993. Through these official bodies they years before the last census. compared to the data of the last century. can assert their interests and deal with This is due to the above mentioned pos- issues of concern. According to the law, References sibility for multiple choice answers and based on the weight of the proportion of Czirfusz J. 1958: A pécsváradi járás not to real demographical processes. The the minority group in concern, minority délszláv települései in.: Baranyai 5% threshold is reached only in Lórév (on self-governments3 can be formed indirect- Művelődés 98-102 pp. ), where the 175 Serbians ly or directly. Minority self-governments Hadrovics, L. 1942: A magyarországi szerb form the absolute majority of the popula- on the national level can be formed by mi- kérdés balkáni gyökerei Budapest tion. Their share in the population exceed nority representatives within 120 days fol- Hoóz, I.-Kepecs, J.-Klinger, A. 1985: A 1% in 10 settlements (Szigetcsép, Deszk, lowing the elections of self-governments. Baranya megyében élőnemzetiségek Battonya, Hercegszántó, Újszentiván, Me- The self-government elections of 2002 demográfiai helyzete (MTA Regioná- dina, Lippó, Magyarcsanád, Vécse, Mag- are considered to be successful for the Serbs. lis kutatások központja; Pécs) Állami yarbóly). Their biggest communities live 43 self-government bodies were formed, Gorkij könyvtár, Budapest p. 433 in Szeged (299 persons) and Battonya (225 which is only one less than what the Roma- Jenei, K. 1976: A délszláv betelepülés persons). There are six settlements with nians - whose population in Hungary is al- előzménye és folyamata Fejér meg-

29 GEOGRAPHICA ANNONICA pzc Century Within th the Borders of Present-day Hungary Present-day of the Borders

Changing Serbian Ethnic Patterns in the 20 Figure 5 The ratio of Serbs (2001) and their minority self-governments (2002) in present-day Hungary; Source: Census data 2001 (ethnicity - nemzetiség) and A Magyar Köztársaság helységnévkönyve (Gazetteer of the Hungarian Republic) 1st January, 2003, Hungarian CentralStatistical Office, Budapest

yében (szerk.: Farkas Gábor) In:VEAB Danyi, D.-Dávid, Z. (szerk.) 1960: Az első 2 The law applies to the 13 autochthons mi- Értesítő Veszprém magyarországi népszámlálás (1784- norities (i.e. those non-Hungarian mi- Jelavich, B. 1996: A Balkán története I.-II. 1787) norities who have been living in Hun- köt. Osiris Kiadó 2000, Budapest KSH könyvtára, Budapest p. 389 gary for at least a hundred years, such Ilustrovana istorija Srba (1994), Srbi pod A Magyar Korona országaiban az 1881. év as Germans, Romas, Slovaks, Croats, turskom austrijskom i mletačkom elején végrehajtott népszámlálás főbb Serbs, Romanians, Slovens, Rutheni- vlašći Beograd eredményei megyék és községek szerint ans, Ukrainians, Poles, Greeks, Arme- Kocsis, K. 1989: Magyarország jelenlegi részletezve 1-2. kötet nians and Bulgarians) and therefore it etnikai térszerkezetének sajátosságai - 1882 Magyar Királyi Központi Statisztikai does not apply to the newly established in: Földrajzi Közlemények XXXVII. 4. Hivatal, Budapest communities with significant popula- sz. pp. 283-305. A Magyar Korona országai 1910. évi nép- tion such as the Arabs, Russians and Kocsis, K. 2003: Contributions to the Ge- számlálás főbb demográfiai ered- Chinese. ographical Study of Minority Self-Gov- ményei 3 Local minority self-government bod- ernment in Hungary In.: Geografický Magyar Királyi Központi Statisztikai Hiv- ies can be formed where more than Časopis 55/3 pp. 179-192 atal, Budapest half of the representatives in the body Mihajlović, S. 1919: Istorijska Karta Ba- Magyarország 1920. évi népszámlálásának are elected as candidates of a minori- ranje eredményei 1922 ty group. Indirectly formed minority Oltvai, F. 1991. A Csongrád vármegyei Magyar Statiztikai Közlemények Új self-government can be set up if at least szerb optánsok ügye (1922-1930). In: folyam. 69. köt. Budapest 30% of the local government body was Zombori I. (szerk) A szerbek Magyar- Magyarország 1941-es népszámlálásának elected as minority representatives and országon, Móra Ferenc Múzeum, Sze- eredményei (Anyanyelv, nemzetiség, they can form a local government body ged, pp. 137-198 nyelvismeret) 1947 Budapest of at least 3 members representing each Popović, D.I. 1957: Srbi u Vojvodini I-III., Magyarország 1980-as és 1990-es nép- minority. According to the law, direct- Matica Srpska, számlálásának eredményei községek ly elected minority governments can be Sarosácz, Gy. 1973: Magyarország délszláv szerint established as well by those represent- nemzetiségei In: Népi kultúra- népi tár- (Anyanyelv, nemzetiség) 1992 KSH, - atives who collected signatures from at sadalom 7.köt 369-390 pp. pest least 5 electors. After the collection of Taba, I 1941: Baranya megye népessége a Magyarország 2001-es népszámlálásának 50 or more valid notes in settlements XVII. század végén, Pécs p. 63. eredményei községek szerint (Anyan- with less than 1300 inhabitants three Urosevics, D. 1969: A magyarországi dél- yelv, nemzetiség) 2003 KSH, Budapest elected minority representatives are al- szlávok története; Hazafias Népfront és lowed to form a minority self-govern- a Magyarországi Délszlávok Demokra- Endnotes ment. In settlements with a population tikus Szövetsége, Budapest 1 The study was sponsored by a PRO REN- number between 1,300 and 10,000 it is Statistical Books OVANDA Cultura Hungariae Founda- five. tion

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