Bunjevci Croats in Bačka

Ivan Antunović (1815-1888), Bunjevci Croat and bishop in Kalocsin Hungary, was oustanding Croatian writer.

Ivan Antunović, source Klasje naših ravni, Subotica 2001.

The Catholic Insitute for Culture, History and Spirituality in Subotica is bearing his name (Katolički institut za kulturu, povijest i duhovnost Ivan Antunović iz Subotice). Andrija Anišić objavio je 2013. svoju doktorsku disertaciju o naučavanju Ivana Antunovića o vjerskoj i moralnoj obnovi obitelji.

An important Croatian politician, general and nobleman, ban (governor) Josip Jelačić (1801-1859) was born in the town of Petrovaradin. It is little know that there is the so called Russian branch of the family of Jelačić's, about which Stjepan Radić, Croatian politician and martyr, wrote an interesting article "The Russian branch of our Jelčić's". The descendants of the Russian branch live, among others, in France, under the name of Iellatchitch.

Pere Tumbas - Hajo (1891-1967), conductor, composer, and the famous tamburitza player, was very active among Bačka Croats in Subotica, which was his birthplace. His greatest success was the sensational triumph at the "International folklore festival" in Langolen in Wales (Great Britain) in 1952, where his reduced 4 member orchestra (normally 7 players) and 8 dancers won the first prize, among 16 best folklore groups of the world (including the Russian balalaika group and Spanish flamenco players). The administrative authorities in Belgrade never gave him opportunity again to show his brilliant tamburitza play outside of ex-Yugoslavia. Despite this, the Croatian Tamburitza society from Pittsburgh, directed by Walter Kolar, performed throughout the USA many songs arranged or composed by Hajo. In the journal The Tamburitzan, directed by Walter Kolar (Pittsburgh), Hajo has been represented as the most famous tamburitzan.

Pere Tumbas Hajo with his orchestra and dancers in Great Britain in 1952.

Pere Tumbas Hajo. Many thanks to Mr. Naco Zelić for the above two photos.

The Subotica Tamburitza Orchestra (Subotički tamburaški orkestar) is the top quality orchestra of tamburitzans, founded in 1976. It is interesting that the original name was planned to be "Tamburaški 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 Bačka 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.

Dužijanca is an important family feast of thanksgiving to fields, celebrated each year among Bunjevci Croats in Bačka.

Inspired by this traditional feast, Josip Andrić composed a unique opera Dužijanca for tamburitza. It was performed for the first time in Subotica in 1953.

Videos:

• Dužijanca 1
• Dužijanca 2
• Dužijanca u Zagrebu

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

• In music he created about 700 songs, an opera Dužijanca for tamburitza Croatian Bunjevci in Bačka, 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: Slovačka glasba, Hrvatsko-slovačko družtvo, Zagreb 1944.
• And also the first grammar of the Slovak language, ever written outside of Slovakia: Slovnica Slovačkog jezika, Hrvatsko-slovačko društvo, Zagreb 1942.
• he was an editor in chief in HKD Sv. Jeronima (Croatian Literary Society of St. Jerome) in Zagreb since 1921 till 1946.

Dr. Josip Andrić, photo from Klasje naših ravni, Subotica, 2001.

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 the intervention of the Slovak government, he had been released.

An article about Josip Andrić in Hrvatska riječ, Subotica

Josip Andrić: Bunjevačka elegija (video)

Slovačka glasba

Dedication to dear friend prof. Vojmil Rabadan for the happy new 1945.

Many thanks to sister Berislava Grabovac of the Mary's Court in Lužnica near Zagreb for permission to take the photos of this book.

We owe to Josip Andrić 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 Šokci. 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 Šokci Croats dropped from 140,000 to 74,000. It should be noted that, according to Jovan Erdeljanović, in 1930 in the region of Vojvodina there were 400,000 Croats, see [Sekulić, Bački Hrvati]. In this region the Croats had no any national minority rights until 2002.

More about Josip Andrić can be seen in [Matija Evetović, pp. 563-565].

Bust of Josip Andrić with Croatian Coat of Arms and tamburica.
(from the title page of Josip Andrić 1894-1967, Zbornik, published by St. Jerome in Zagreb)

Medal of Dr. Josip Andrić, awarded by Croatian Composers' Society

Croatian Coat of Arms in the city of Sombor, the City Hall, 1808, and


the Coat of Arms of Slavonia, and

the Coat of Arms of Dalmatia.

The ceiling of the City Hall of Sombor with the Coat of Arms of the the city of Sombor in the middle,
surrounded with Coats of arms of the United Kingodm of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia
(bottom right, left, and up on the right respectively; missing on the photo, up on the left, Erdely's Coat of Arms)

More information about Croatian Coats of Arms.

According to Blaško Rajić (a priest and General Vicar of the Bačka 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 [Sekulić, Bački Hrvati]).

Blaž Raić: Narodno blago, Subotica 1912, 134 pp.

Blaž Raić: Narodno blago, Subotica 1923.

Blaško Rajić: Bunjevčice, illustrated by Zdenka Sertić, distinguished Croatian painter,
HKD Sv. Jeronim, Zagreb 1937.

According to the 1910 recension, Subotica then had 94,610 inhabitants, while Croatia's capital Zagreb had 79,038! See [Prćić, p. 21]. The same source (on p. 133) provides the following data, for which the city of Subotica can be proud of:

• in 1747 it had first high school (precursor of future gymnasium)
• the first printing house in 1844
• the first tennis play was organized
• in 1878 the first cinema play was organized
• in 1899 the first soccer club (Bacska) was founded
• in 1901 had the first airplane flight
• in 1910 had the first permanent cinema.

The first opera for children in history was composed by Franjo Štefanović, a Croatian composer educated in the city of Zagreb. Its title was "Šumska kraljica" (Forest Queen). The corresponding text (to which the opera was composed) was written by Mihvol Peitz. Premiered in 1921 in the city of Petrovaradin, it is still popular among children. Information by Zov Srijema, prosinac 2016, str. 4-5 (Glasilo Zajednice protjeranih Hrvata iz Srijema, Bačke i Banata).

Aleksa Kokić (1913 - 1940) is a well known priest and a poet born in Subotica as a Bunjevci Croat.

In his verses, he explained us the following:

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

100. obljetnica rođenja Alekse Kokića (video)

Albe Vidaković (1914 - 1964), born in the town of Subotica in Bačka, 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 composed three Glagolitic masses, inspired by Croatian Glagolitic singing.

Collegium Musicum Catholicum - Albe Vidaković (video):
Agnus Dei iz mise Caeciliane
Ulomak sa koncerta u subotičkoj katedrali sv.Terezije Avilske 14.06.2009., Collegium Musicum Catholicum - mješoviti zbor, Kornelije Vizin - orgulje, Miroslav Stantić - dirigent.

Live performance of Albe Vidaković's Fantazija i Fuga (video) by organist Marija Lončar Strohm

Albe Vidaković 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! For more information see [Jasna Ivančić].

Nikola Andrić (1867-1942) was born in the city of Vukovar. He was a philologist, writer, editor, and translator, mainly from French, German and Russian (about 60 novels). Besides his native Croatian, he was fluent in seven languages. In 1911 he published his linguistic work Branič jezika hrvatskoga (Defender of Croatian language). For more details see www.matica.hr.

Nikola Andrić published an important monograph [Hrvatske narodne pjesme] (Croatian folk poems), which contains a relatively large collection of groktalice [PDF], today almost completely forgotten type of poems. The name of groktalica is very little known. Since I had opportunity to listen to groktalica singinig by late Mrs. Cecilija Milanković (1926-2000) from Subotica when she visited Zagreb on several occasions around 2000, I decided to add a few lines about these very tender and poetic songs. According to her own words, even in Subotica a very few people know this way of singing.

Cecilija Milanković: Two blowballs, source Klasje naših ravni, Subotica 2001.

Groktalice, according to academician Ante Sekulić, are poems of balladic content accompanied by singing (Groktalice su pjesme baladičnog sadržaja praćenog pjevanjem, see [Lipe Riči, p. 4]).

They were published in above mentioned monograph by [Nikola Andrić], and the poems had been collected by Ive Prćić during many years.

The origin of the name of groktalica is the following: for the one who sings nice (lipo piva) in Bačka it is said that his voice is trembling, i.e. grokti in Croatian. It is interesting that in some parts of Slavonia (i.e., on the North-East of Croatia) the groktalice are also known under the same name.

 
Bacska, i.e., Bačka football club in Subotica, founded in 1901.
Note that it was designed according to Croatian Coat of Arms.
This photo is appearing on the cover page of [Dražen Prćić] and on nogomet.lzmk.hr.

The oldest Croatian football clubs was FC Bačka, 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 Bačka. At the 1976 international exhibition of naive art in Moscow Ana Milodanović (from Žednik) won the gold medal with her work with straw weaving. Also, Kata Rogić (from Ðurđin) had exceptional honour to present her work to Pope Paul the VIth. See [Zelić] and Slamarska sekcija iz Tavankuta.

Bunjevci Croats from Bačka and their Christmas traditions expressed in straw and cakes

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 Meštrović 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 Bačka have preserved the character of their grandparents in their ikavian speech and customs. See "Marulić", 5/1998, 908-911.

Ivan Meštrović carved the bust of Ante Evetović 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. Meštrović also carved the bust of Ambrozije Boža Šarčević, lawyer and cultural worker.

Ivan Sarić, constructor of airplanes had been flying in Subotica already in 1913 (only 10 years after brothers Wright, and three years after Slavoljub Penkala in Zagreb).

Among distinguished Bunjevci Croats we mention also Gaja Alaga, theoretical physicist of international reputation, and a member of Croatian Nobility from Bačka. 

Paško Rakić (1933) is outstanding international expert in neurobiology. He was born in Ruma, Srijem, and his parents come from the region of Lika in Croatia (this information by the courtesy Tomislav Žigmanov). Professor at Yale, USA, educated at the University of Belgrade (M.D. and Ph.D.), he wrote the following: Both [science and art] want to find some meaning or order in the large picture of chaos. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of other national institutions, recipient of numerous honours throughout the world, including Croatia.

"I consider Pasko to be one of the most brilliant neuroscientists not just of this generation but in the history of neuroscience," says Susan Hockfield (Nat. Med. 11, 110; 2005), former provost of Yale and now president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "What he's contributed to neuroscience is really on the order of Cajal or Golgi [Nobel Prize winners, 1906].", see Nature Medicine. His wife Patricia Goldman Rakic, who tragically died at the car accident in 2003, was also outstanding neouroscientist. Both of them are founding editors of the prestigeous scientific journal Cerebral CORTEX, Oxford. Professor Pasko Rakic maintains a fruitful collaboration with his colleagues in Croatia.

Neuroscience in Croatia - PDF, with more detailed information about Paško Rakić and Krešimir Krnjević. The source of this short biography is here.

Ivan Gutman, born in the city of Sombor, is distinguished Croatian expert in Mathematical Chemistry, prolific author of more than 1200 scientific articles, a member of editorial boards of numerous professional journals, professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Kragujevac. He has two PhD's: in Chemistry (from the University of Zagreb) and in Mathematics (from the University of Belgrade). Among his monographs we mention   

• A. Groavac, I. Gutman, N. Trinajstić: Topological Approach to the Chemistry of Conjugated Moleculs, 
• Xueliang Li, Ivan Gutman: Mathematical Aspects of Randić-type Molecular Structure Descriptors, Mathematical Chemistry Monographs, University of Kragujevac, 2006

Professor Gutman is a member of the Intenational Academy of Mathematical Chemistry, of the Academy of Nonlinear Sciences in Moscow and of Academia Europaea.

Professor Ivan Gutman lecturing about the history of Chemistry for high school students in the town of Tavankut, in the region where Bunjevci Croatians live.

Stevan Horvat (1932-2018) was distinguished Croatian wrestler, twice the world champion in the category up to 55 kg: in 1963 in Helsingborg, Sweden, and in 1966 in Toledo, USA. Subsequently he was instructor and coach of national wrestling teams of Japan, USA, Guatemala, Honduras, Slavador and the Netherlands. More information can be seen in the Leksikon podunavskih Hrvata - Bunjevaca i Šokaca, part 9 (H), pp. 62 and 63. In 2012 a bust was unveiled in his honour at the University of Novi Sad. The meaning of his second name, Horvat, is just - Croat.

According to Olympedia, Horvat was most proud of the Pierre Coubertin Fair Play prize he received in 1966, one of the first athletes to be awarded this, for refusing the gold medal at the World Championships after two of his strongest opponents had been disqualified.

Following his sporting career, Horvat graduated from the Zagreb University of Physical Education in 1972, where he also obtained the title of Magisterium. In 1975, he began teaching at the University of Physical Education in Novi Sad, where he taught martial arts until his retirement.

Rajko Ljubič is a film director from Subotica, and author of numerous documentaries and short movies that deal with the life of the Bunjevci and Šokci Croats. He donated many of his flms to the Catholic Institute for Culture, History and Spirituality "Ivan Antunović" (Katolički institut za kulturu, povijest i duhovnost Ivan Antunović ) in Subotica.

We would like to illustrate the position of Croats in the present Bačka. An important poet Jakov Jašo Kopilović (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 Bačka, 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 Bačka 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 Bačka. For comparison, the Serbs in Croatia have their schools, while this right has been denied to a still relatively large Croatian community in Bačka. 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 Bačka. 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.

Jakov Jašo Kopilović

Pasionska baština Hrvata u Podunavlju, IX, Zagreb - Subotica, 2013, 500 pp.

Additional information and here
(Passion Heritage of Croatians in the Danube Region)

According to personal information by Mr. Naco Zelić, during a short period from 1952 till the end of 1958, about 5000 (five thosand) of Croatian pupils were attending Croatian schools in Bačka: there were four primary schools in the city of Subotica, and three in the towns of Ðurđin, Tavankut and Žednik. In the years arround 2015, this number has been reduced to only one primary school in Subotica, with less than 150 pupils, where approximately 30 pupils are inscribed each school year.

The Bunjevci Croatians have published a relatively rich collection of books: until 2017, about 1400 titles in various fields have appeared (information by the courtesy of Mr. Naco Zelić).

Ivo Martinović - Sudbine protjeranih Hrvata iz Vojvodine: video

Zlatko Pinter:

• Hrvati iz Srijema, Banata i Bačke u vrtlogu devedesetih – Progon i etničko čišćenje, Zajednice protjeranih Hrvata iz Srijema, Bačke i Banata, Zagreb 2020.
• Progon i stradanje Hrvata u Vojvodini tijekom Domovinskog rata, Hrvatski memorijalno-dokumentacijski centar Domovinski rat, Zagreb 2021.
• Krvavi tragovi velikosrpske ideologije na kraju XX. stoljeća, Fakultet Hrvatskih studija Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb 2022.

Zlatko Pinter: Srpsko svojatanje hrvatske baštine, Laudato TV

Lijepom našem Vukovaru (To Our Beautiful Vukovar, video), 2012.
Podvikuje Bunjevačka Vila (Bunjevci Fairy Singing), interpreted by Antonija Piuković and Hajo Orchestra;
fantastic fashion show inspired by Croatian national costumes, from the village of Komletinci near Vinkovci

Very important role in Croatian Christmas family tradition has the day of Materice (materitse), which is celebrated on the third Sunday of Advent, and is dedicated to all Mothers. The following Sunday, just before Christmas, is called Oci (otsi) or Očići (ochichi), and is dedicated to all Fathers.

Photo taken between the two World Wars in the village of Kukujevci in Eastern Srijem.
The suit of the man contain Croatian Coat of Amrs. Photo by Hrvatska matica iseljenika, Zagreb.
The costume below, also nicely decorated with Croatian Coat of arms, is from the same village.
Between the two World Wars, the village had a vast Croatian majority of 89%.

The man is wearing Croatian Coat of Arms on his suit.

Prof.dr. Luka Štilinović, objavljeno u Živjeti zajedno, br. 1/2001, župskom listiću župe Utrine u N. Zagrebu.








Napisao prof.dr. Luka Štilinović. Zahvaljujemo profesoru Štilinoviću na dopuštenju za objavu. D. Ž.
Dr. Luka Štilinović je ugledni profesor Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, rodom iz Subotice (1935.).

Robert Frangeš Mihanović (1872-1940), born in Srijemska Mitrovica (at that time a part of Austria-Hungary), was distinguished Croatian sculptor. He was one of the founders of Croatian Artists's Society (1897),  Lado folklore society (1904), and the Art Academy (1907), all of them in Zagreb. His best known work is equestrian statue of King Tomislav in Zagreb, placed on the square named after the King, near the Central Railway Station. He carved busts of numerous persons, including Antun and Stjepan Radić.

Brothers Radić: Antun on the left, and Stjepan.
Relief carved by Robert Frangeš Mihanović.

• Tatijana Gareljić:  Robert Frangeš Mihanović, kipar (Srijemska Mitrovica 2. 10. 1872. – Zagreb 12. 1. 1940.)
• Robert Frangeš-Mihanović (HAZU)
  
• Hrvatski biografski leksikon