Bunjevci Croats in Backa

The Subotica Tamburitza Orchestra (Suboticki tamburaski orkestar) is the top quality orchestra of tamburitzans, founded in 1976. It is interesting that the original name was planned to be "Tamburaski orkestar Tumbas Pere - Hajo", but the then political structures of ex-Yugoslavia did not permit this name.

It is interesting that for the preparation of their costumes Croatian women in Backa used silk material from Lyon, France.

One of the symbols of Bunjevci Croats is a very beautiful song Kolo igra, tamburica svira, composed in the 19th century. The song is very popular.

Josip Andric (1894-1967) is a figure with a wide range of interests.

• In music he created about 700 songs, an opera Duzijanca for tamburitza Croatian Bunjevci in Backa, performed for the first time in Subotica in 1953,
• collected almost 2000 folk songs, he was conducting already at the age of 15.
• In literature, among the plenty of his books and brochures let us mention his history of Slovak music, the first ever written: Povijest Slovacke glazbe, HKD Sv. Jeronima Zagreb, 1944.
• And also the first grammar of the Slovak language: Slovnica Slovackog jezika, HKD Sv. Jeronima Zagreb, 1942.

In his weekly "Obitelj" (Family) Josip Andric wrote articles against Hitler already in the thirties of the 20th century. During WW2 he was arrested by Gestapo, but after three months of prison, upon intervention of the Slovak government, he had been released.

We owe him our first information about the glory of the Irish early Christian civilization, the fact that not only the British, but also the Francs received the Christian religion from them. He belonged to the Croatian Bunjevci and Sokci. During many years, and especially since 1991, they have been going through the process of almost complete ethnic and cultural extinction, with a rate and violence unknown in Europe after 1945. Only in the period between 1971 and 1991 (before the Greater Serbian aggression!) the number of the Bunjevc and Sokci Croats dropped from 140,000 to 74,000. It should be noted that, according to Jovan Erdeljanovic, in 1930 in the region of the so called Vojvodina (the name imposed in 1945 during Communist Yugoslavia) there were 400,000 Croats, see [Sekulic, Backi Hrvati]. In this region the Croats had no any national minority rights until 2002.

The name of "Vojvodina" (Serbain name for "dukedom") has been imposed in 1945, although the Croats in Backa never had "vojvoda". In the period of 1930 - 1941 the Croats in Backa were using the name of Backa Hrvatska (information by Dr Ante Sekulic, see [Sekulic, Backi Hrvati]). It is interesting that near the town of Subotica there is a village called Hrvatski Majur (= Croatian estate). According to Blasko Rajic (a priest and General Vicar of the Backa Bishopric), in the period of 1918 - 1924 Subotica had 100,000 inhabitants, out of which 80,000 were Croats, 2,000 Serbs, 1,500 Hungarians, and the rest were Jews, Germans and others (see [Sekulic, Backi Hrvati]).

Aleksa Kokic (1913 - 1940) is a well known priest and a poet born in Subotica as a Bunjevci Croat. In his verses explained us the following:

These verses have been carved on a marble tablet in Subotica (in Pucka kasina) in 1936, on the occasion of 250 years of the arrival of Bunjevci Croats to Backa.

Albe Vidakovic (1914 - 1964), born in the town of Subotica in Backa, was an important composer of Croatian church music. He also collected Croatian musical folklore. The Institute for Church Music in Zagreb is named after him.

He belonged to Bunjevci Croats around the city of Subotica. Bunjevci Croats are recognizable by their beautiful ikavian dialect and folklore which is very close to that of Croatian north-east. When he was born, Subotica was the city with the second largest number of Croats after Zagreb, our capital. Even more interesting is the fact that in the period 1900-1904 Subotica was the largest Croatian city, with more Croats than Croatian capital Zagreb!

Near the town of Subotica there is a village called Mala Bosna (Small Bosnia).

One of the oldest Croatian football clubs was FC Backa, founded in Subotica in 1901, playing in the then Croatian league.

I adore the art of straw weaving of the slamarke among the Bunjevci Croats in Backa. At the 1976 international exhibition of naive art in Moscow Ana Milodanovic (from Zednik) won the gold medal with her work with straw weaving. Also, Kata Rogic (from Djurdjin) had exceptional honour to present her work to Pope Paul the VIth. See [Zelic].

It is interesting that Bunjevci Croats have two different names for grandmothers: majka for mother's mother, and nana for father's mother.

In 1928 Ivan Mestrovic sent four recommendation letters to his influential friends in Croatia in which he asked to help the Croatian Youth Society BUNJEVAC from the city of Subotica to visit the land of their grandparents - south of Croatia and BiH. As he stated, Bunjevci Croats in Backa have preserved the character of their grandparents in their ikavian speech and customs. See "Marulic", 5/1998, 908-911.

Ivan Mestrovic carved the bust of Ante Evetovic Miroljub, poet and priest in Subotica. It was placed in front of the Subotica cathedral in 1936, removed during the Hungarian occupation in 1940, and placed there again in 1996. Mestrovic also carved the bust of Ambrozije Boza Sarcevic, lawyer and cultural worker.

Ivan Saric, constructor of airplanes had been flying in Subotica already in 1913 (only 10 years after brothers Wright).

Among outstanding Bunjevci Croats we mention also Gaja Alaga, theoretical physicist of international reputation.

We would like to illustrate the position of Croats in the present Backa. An important poet Jakov Jaso Kopilovic (1918 - 1997), born as a Bunjevac Croat in the city of Subotica, refused to change his nationality for membership in the Serbian Academy of Sciences (SANU, Belgrade), as it has been offered to him. Information by his closest relatives, and by prof. Joja Ricov, his personal friend (Joja Ricov is a poet, laureate of international prize "Golden Partenopa" and "Knight of Art for 1997", conferred by The Universal Academy "Neapolis" for fine arts, sciences and literature in Naples, Italy; member of Sindicato Libero Scrittori Italiani di Roma; a close friend of Italian Nobel prize winner Salvatore Quasimodo).

LIPA NAŠA Lipa naša od salaša do salaša kao snaša Lipa naša bunjevačka arendaška njiva Bačka Lipa naša dužijanca dar kolača Lipa naša uzduž lanca žar kosača J. Kopilović

In order to split and divide the Croatian community in Backa, the regime of Milosevic invented a new national minority in 1997, called "Bunjevci", giving them all national minority rights, and persuading them to deny their Croatian identity by police terror and forced mobilization to Kosovo. It must be said that the brutal methods employed by Milosevic are very successful. In 1997 new birth certificates have been issued for the Croats in the region Backa and Srijem in which their nationality has been simply changed to Serbian, i.e. old birth certificates have been falsified. Those Croats who refused to change their national name never had, and still do not have any national minority rights in Backa. For comparison, the Serbs in Croatia have their schools, while this right has been denied to a still relatively large Croatian community in Backa. Contrary to the Croats, a very small community of only several thousand Ukrainians in the Danube region has the usual national minority rights - schools, admission to radio, TV, press, state support. In October 1999 the authorities in Belgrade refused to issue visa for Cardinal Franjo Kuharic, retired Zagreb Archbishop, who planned to visit Croatian Catholics living in Backa. It was only by the end of 2002 that the situation began to improve a little - a few Croatian classes for children were opened, and cultural societies of Bunjevci Croats.

Those wishing to learn more about the history of Backa Croats (Bunjevci and Sokci) may consult the following references (especially books written by dr. Ante Sekulic, a leading expert for the history and culture of Croats in Backa):

• Academician Ante Sekulic (born in Tavankut in Backa):
  • Rjecnik govora Backih Hrvata, Institut za hrvatski jezik i jezikoslovlje, Katolicki institut za kulturu, povijest i duhovnost "Ivan Antunovic", Zagreb 2005, ISBN: 953-6637-26-X
  • Backi Hrvati - Narodni zivot i obiccaji, Zbornik za narodni zivot i obicaje Juznih Slavena 52, JAZU (now HAZU), Zagreb, 1991 (519 pages)
  • Rasprave o jeziku backih Hrvata, Matica hrvatska, Zagreb, 1997 (291 pages)
  • Umjetnost i graditeljstvo backih Hrvata, Matica hrvatska, Zagreb, 1998 (171 pages) Serbianism in Podunavlje (the Danube region) 1918-1995
  • Hrvatska preporodna knjizevnost u ugarskom podunavlju do 1918., Sekcija DHK i Hrvatskog centra PEN-a za proucavanje knjizevnosti u hrvatskom iseljenistvu, Zagreb 1994, ISBN 953-6260-01-8
  • Knjizevnost podunavskih Hrvata u XX. stoljecu, Sekcija DHK i Hrvatskog centra PEN-a za proucavanje knjizevnosti u hrvatskom iseljenistvu, Zagreb 1996, ISBN 953-6260-03-4
  • Pavlinski prinosi hrvatskoj knjizevnosti, Sekcija DHK i Hrvatskog centra PEN-a za proucavanje knjizevnosti u hrvatskom iseljenistvu, Zagreb 1997, ISBN 953-6260-04-2
  • Karmelicanski prinosi hrvatskoj knjizevnosti, Sekcija DHK i Hrvatskog centra PEN-a za proucavanje knjizevnosti u hrvatskom iseljenistvu, Zagreb 2001, ISBN 953-6260-07-7
• Petar Pekic: Povijest Hrvata u Vojvodini, Matica hrvatska, Zagreb, 1930.
• The Croatian Bunjevci, by Evetovic-Pekic-Sokcic, Croatian Almanac, 1986
• Duzijanca
• Klasje nasih ravni, Subotica
• Hrvatska rijec
• Bozicni obicaji kod backih Hrvata - Bunjevaca
• Naco Zelic: Protiv zaborava, Hrvatsko kulturno prosvjetno drustvo "Matija Gubec" Tavankut (1946.-1996.), Zagreb, 2000., ISBN 953-6526-20-8
• Zlata Gvozdic-Filjak, Juraj Loncarevic: Srijemska kalvarija Hrvata, Znanje, Zagreb, 1995
• Stojan Kujundzic: Nasi mladenci, Hrvatsko akademski drustvo, Subotica, 2004.
• Marija Maftej-Dulic: Bozicni obicaji kod backih Hrvata - Bunjevaca
• Zvonik, katolicki list
• Stranica za duhovna zvanja Suboticke biskupije
• Demokratski savez Hrvata u Vojvodini (DSHV)
• Mi, doljepotpisani pripadnici Bunjevackog roda... (o dijalektalnom ikavskom govoru bunjevacko-sokackih Hrvata)
• Matija Gubec - Tavankut
• Leksikon podunavskih Hrvata - Bunjevaca i Sokaca, Hrvatsko akademsko drustvo (HAD), Subotica, 2004,
  • 1. dio (AB), 60 str.
  • 2. dio (B), 77 str.

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