Serbs in Romania

The Serbs are an ethnic minority in Romania. According to the 2002 census, there were 22,518 Serbs in Romania or 0.1% of the population (the 1992 census recorded 29,408 Serbs, or 0.1% of the population). [http://www.clubafaceri.ro/info_articole/articol/1294] Serbs mostly live in western Romania, in the Romanian part of the Banat region, where they constitute absolute majority in two communes and relative majority in one other.

Location

In the Caraş-Severin County, the Serbs constitute absolute majority in the commune of Pojejena (52.09%) [http://www.edrc.ro/recensamant.jsp?regiune_id=1832&judet_id=1909&localitate_id=1965] and a plurality in the commune of Socol (49.54%) [http://www.edrc.ro/recensamant.jsp?regiune_id=1832&judet_id=1909&localitate_id=1974] . Serbs also constitute absolute majority in the municipality of Sviniţa (87.27%) [http://www.edrc.ro/recensamant.jsp?regiune_id=1407&judet_id=1579&localitate_id=1638] , in the Mehedinţi County. The region where these three municipalities are located is known as "Clisura Dunării" in Romanian or "Banatska Klisura" ("Банатска Клисура") in Serbian.

Religion

Most of the Serbs in Romania are Orthodox Christians; the vast majority belong to Serbian Orthodox Church Eparchy of Timişoara, while those living in the Sviniţa are Old Believers. [http://www.edrc.ro/recensamant.jsp?regiune_id=1407&judet_id=1579&localitate_id=1638] There is a prominent but mostly historical Roman Catholic minority.

History

Banat, Pomorišje and Transylvania

Serb population in Romania was larger in the past. Although most of the Serbs lived in Banat, there was also a Serb population living in what is now Arad County of Romania (an area known as "Pomorišje" in Serbian), and in the former Principality of Transylvania, where they served as soldiers of Transylvanian rulers.

In the beginning of the 18th century, the population of Timişoara, the main city of Romanian Banat, numbered 600-700 inhabitants, of which 446 were Serbs, 144 Jews, and 35 Armenians.

In 1720, the population of Arad, the capital of present-day Arad County, numbered 177 Romanian, 162 Serbian, and 35 Hungarian families. After the Tisa-Mureş section of the Military Frontier was abolished, many Serbs from Pomorišje left the region and immigrated to Russia (notably to Nova Serbia and Slavo-Serbia) in 1752.

When the Treaty of Versailles (1919) defined the border between Romania and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, about 65,000 Serbs were left on the Romanian side of border.

During the early 1950s, the Romanian Communist regime, having taken Soviet side in the Informbiro crisis and entering a period of hostility towards the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, ordered a sizable part of the Serb community to be deported to the Bărăgan Plain ("see Bărăgan deportations"). They were allowed to return to their homes after 1956.

Wallachia

Ottoman pressure traditionally forced members of several South Slavic communities to seek refuge in Wallachia - although under Ottoman rule as well, the latter was always subject to less requirements than regions to south of the Danube.

These groups are, however, hard to distinguish one from another in early Wallachian references, as the term "Serbs" is regularly applied to all Southern Slavs, no matter where they might have originated. This only changed in the 19th century, through a transition made clear by an official statistic of 1830, which reads "census of how many Serbs are resident here in the town of Ploieşti, all of them Bulgarians" (Giurescu, p.269).

Serbs-proper probably constituted the vast majority of mercenary troops known as "seimeni", given that their nucleus is attested to have been formed by "Serb "seimeni" (as it was during their revolt in 1655), and that the rule of Prince Matei Basarab had witnessed the arrival of a large group of Serb refugees.

erbian monasteries in Romania

List of Serbian Orthodox monasteries in Romania:
*Sveti Đorđe monastery (Манастир светог Ђорђа / Manastir svetog Đorđa). According to the legend, it was founded in 1485 by the Serbian despot, Jovan Branković. It was rebuilt in the 18th century.
*Šemljug monastery (Манастир Шемљуг / Manastir Šemljug). It was founded in the 15th century.
*Sveti Simeon monastery (Манастир светог Симеона / Manastir svetog Simeona).
*Bazjaš monastery (Манастир Базјаш / Manastir Bazjaš).
*Bezdin monastery (Манастир Бездин / Manastir Bezdin).
*Zlatica monastery (Манастир Златица / Manastir Zlatica).
*Kusić monastery (Манастир Кусић / Manastir Kusić).
*Sveti Đurađ monastery (Манастир свети Ђурађ / Manastir sveti Đurađ).

Notable people

erbs born on present-day Romanian territory

* Jovan Nenad (?-1527), self-proclaimed "emperor", ruler of Bačka, northern Banat, and a part of Srem, born in Lipova (northern Banat).
* Dositej Obradović (1742–1811), writer and translator, born in Ciacova (Banat).
* Sava Tekelija (1761–1842), politician and public worker, born in Arad.
* Ivan Tabaković (1898–1977), painter, born in Arad.
* Milan Tabaković, architect, born in Arad.

Romanian citizens of Serb ethnicity

* Miodrag Belodedić (b.1964), football player, played for Romanian national team, Steaua Bucharest and Red Star Belgrade, born in Socol.

Krashovani

The Krashovani are a population speaking the Serbian Torlakian dialect, inhabiting Caraş-Severin County, where they constitute the majority of population in the municipalities of Caraşova (84.60%) and Lupac (93.38%).

The Krashovani's origin can be traced back to the region around the Timok River in eastern Serbia, from where they migrated to Banat in the 14th century. However, their Roman Catholic religion has more recently set them apart from Orthodox Serbs, and most of the Krashovani nowadays declare themselves as Croats in censuses.

ee also

*Minorities of Romania
*Raci
*Serbs of Vojvodina

References

*Milojko Brusin, "Naša razgraničenja sa susedima 1919-1920", Novi Sad, 1998.
*Constantin C. Giurescu, "Istoria Bucureştilor. Din cele mai vechi timpuri pînă în zilele noastre", Bucharest, 1966, p.73, 268-270.
*Dr. Aleksa Ivić, "Istorija Srba u Vojvodini", Novi Sad, 1929.
*Miodrag Milin, "Vekovima zajedno", Temišvar, 1995.
*Victor Neumann, "Istoria evreilor din Banat", Bucharest, 1999.
*Dr. Dušan J. Popović, "Srbi u Vojvodini", knjige 1-3, Novi Sad, 1990.
*Milan Tutorov, "Mala Raška a u Banatu", Zrenjanin, 1991.

External links

* [http://www.rastko.org.yu/antropologija/ljcerovic_srbi_ro.html Srbi u Rumuniji od ranog srednjeg veka do današnjeg vremena]
* [http://www.divers.ro/files/sirbii.html "Sîrbii", on "Divers" online]