Position of Minorities in Vojvodina Province

Geogaphica Timisiensis, vol. 18, nr.1-2, 2009 (pp. 19-36) ● POSITION OF MINORITIES IN VOJVODINA PROVINCE Branislav S. DJURDJEV Andjelija IVKOV-DŽIGURSKI Aleksandra DRAGIN University of Novi Sad,Faculty of Sciences, Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management Abstract: The paper discusses the position of minorities in Vojvodina Province (Northern part of Serbia Republic). Strengthening of ethnic awareness and process of democratization has contributed to a broader list of nationalities appearing with each new census. However, the changes in number and share of certain nations are evident. The position of nations has been analyzed on the basis of their representation in the school system and the data of the unemployed according to their nationalities. The main sources used were the census results, current data, as well as the results of the questionnaires. Rezumat: Articolul prezintă poziţia minorităţilor în Provincia Vojvodina (nordul Republicii Serbia). Întărirea conştiinţei entice şi procesul democratizării au contribuit la lărgirea listei minorităţilor de la un recensământ la altul. Modificările în ponderea unor minorităţi sunt evidente. Poziţia naţiunilor a fost analizată pe baza reprezentării în sistemul şcolar şi a datelor despre structura etnică a şomerilor. Principalele surse au fost: recensămintele, înregistrările curente şi chestionarele. Key words: Vojvodina Province, Serbia, ethnic structure, national minorities, demographic transition Cuvinte cheie: Provincia Vojvodina, structură etnică, minorităţi naţionale, tranziţie demografică During the last three centuries the Vojvodina Province has changed several masters, like Turks, Austrians, Hungarians, Yugoslavs, and Serbs. Each of them were fulfilling this area with their own or loyal nationality. Ethnic complexity of the Serbian Province of Vojvodina is observed through a large number of nationalities, the number of people, and their share in the total population, and what is more important in their distribution and mutual relations. Similar ethnic variety in Europe can only be encountered in the area of Caucasus. Ethnic heterogeneity is evident on municipal and settlement level, thus the symmetry in spatial distribution of certain nationalities is difficult to ascertain for most of them because there are no “ethnic cores” likewise in other parts of the world, where nations live in ethnically “pure” settlements. Industrial centres, settlements in their vicinity as well as the settlements near the state and provincial borders have ethnically the most heterogeneous population. The development of the ethnic structure in the area of the present Vojvodina in the period between the 1921 and 2001 censuses may be divided into several phases. The first 20 ● Position of minorities in Vojvodina Province one was connected with the period of Austrian-Hungarian domination by the year 1918. Its main feature was the increase in the absolute number of all ethnic groups. In the period between 1899 and 1913 the territory of the present Vojvodina, predominantly the Banat region was subjected to large emigrations. It has been estimated that between 100,000 and 150,000 people emigrated from this territory, mainly to the United States and other transatlantic countries. More than a half of the emigrants were Germans, whereas the members of other ethnic communities participated less frequently in the emigration process. After the First World War (1914-1918), the population of all ethnic groups increased, with the exception of Germans and Hungarians, since there was a large emigration of state officials and brainpower to their countries of origin. Extreme increase in number was registered with Croats, as the result of the fact that Bunjevci started declaring as Croats, i.e. they converted into Croats. The Second World War brought large consequences to the ethnic structure of the population of Vojvodina Province (Ivkov, 2005). New Yugoslav legislation accused Germans for collaboration with the Nazi army and in accordance with the decision of communistic government (from November 21, 1944) all their properties were taken away (except from Germans who participated in anti-Nazi movement during the war). According to 1948 census only 29589 Germans lived in Vojvodina Province which was only 8.8% of their number in 1921 census (Djurdjev, 1986; Djurdjev 1994). 1. CENSUS DATA COLLECTION ABOUT NATIONALITIES IN 20TH CENTURY The first population census in the former Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, on January 31st, 1921, did not include the question about nationality. Ethnic structure was reconstructed on the basis of mother tongue and religion. The results extracted three groups: a) Nations (Serbs or Croats, Slovenes, Czechs, Ruthenians, Little Russians, Polish, Russians, Hungarians, Germans, Arnauts, Turks, Romanians, Italians, English, French) b) others and c) unknown The data on the number of Macedonians and Montenegrins were not possible to obtain because neither those two nationalities existed at that time, nor the Macedonian language was officially recognized. The 1931 census first introduced the questions about the mother tongue, religion and nationality. Everyone could freely declare their nationalities and mother tongues. Since the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes changed its name into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929, the country’s policy grouped all the Yugoslav nationalities from the published results under the title Yugoslav nationalities, speaking Yugoslav language, for nationalities outside the group the precise data on nationality were given. After the Second World War, the republics were formed associated with one main nationality, except for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. Constitutive nation together with Croats in Croatia were also Serbs. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, apart from Serbs and 20 Branislav ĐURĐEV, Andjelija IVKOV-DŽIGURSKI, Aleksandra DRAGIN ●21 Croats, Moslems became a constitutive nation in 1971. It was the first time Macedonians and Montenegrins declared freely their nationalities. The most of changes within the classification were in declaration of Moslems, although the changes were significantly influenced by the emergence of new modalities in declaring. In the first post war census in 1948, nationality was considered a subjective criterion, and the answer was given according to freely declared nationality of population. It was presupposed that Moslems of Yugoslav ethnic origin give one of the following answers: “Serb-Moslem”, “Croat-Moslem”, etc. or “undeclared-Moslem”. The data processing grouped the “Serb-Moslems” into Serbs group, the “Croat-Moslems” into Croats group, and the “undeclared-Moslems” were in a separate group. For the people who declared their regional belonging, the solution was found for each case separately, e.g. Dalmatians were grouped into Croats, Šumadinci into Serbs, etc. whereas “Bosnians” were grouped according to their personal names into Serbs, Croats, or “undeclared-Moslems”. Those who could not be grouped according to their names in the previous groups were grouped as “others and unknown nationality”. In the 1953 census, the people who declared as Moslems, as well as others of Yugoslav origin who failed to directly declare nationality were grouped in “Yugoslavs- undeclared”. The people who were not of Yugoslav origin were grouped in the “nationally undeclared” category (Bubalo Živković, Đurđev, Dragin, 2008). The 1961 census brought new changes in the name of the Moslem group of Yugoslav origin. The people of Yugoslav origin who felt as Moslems, in the sense of either national or ethnic, but not religious belonging, declared themselves as “Moslems (in the sense of national or ethnic belonging)”. In the same census, the citizens of Yugoslavia who failed to declare their national or ethnic belonging were categorized as “Yugoslavs- undeclared nationally”. Also, the citizens who declared regional belonging were grouped in the same category. In the 1971 census, Moslems were categorized within the modality “Moslems in the sense of nationality”, and the citizens who declared regional belonging within the modality: “declared in the sense of regional belonging”. In the 1981 census, the citizens who declared as Moslems to the questions about nation, nationality, or ethnic group, were grouped into category Moslems. The special features of the censuses in 1971 and 1981 were groupings of the population in two basic groups “declared nationality” and “undeclared nationality”. The group “undeclared nationality” was divided into three subgroups in 1971: “undeclared”, “declared as Yugoslavs”, “declared in the sense of regional belonging”; in 1981 it was subdivided into: “undeclared and undecided”, “declared as Yugoslavs”, or “declared in the sense of regional belonging” (Republic Statistical Office, Belgrade 2003). The same principle was applied in the 1991 census concerning the question of nationality. Compared to the previous censuses in Yugoslavia, it is evident that in the 1991 census there was a change in the formulation of the term ethnic belonging. This time the new term was introduced – nationality (nacionalnost), different from the previous term ethnic group (narodnost) (in 1948, 1953, 1961), nationality or ethnic origin (1971), nation, nationality or ethnic group (1981). The classification of national, i.e. ethnic origin was broadened with three new modalities: Bunjevac, Šokac and Egyptian. 22 ● Position of minorities in Vojvodina Province Table 1 Census classification of national and ethnic structure after the Second

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