Re: Hungarians of Vojvodina
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From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, 17 May 1999 20:49:18 +0300 (EET DST)
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Subject: Re: Hungarians of Vojvodina
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: William McKinney <[email protected]>
Re: Hungarians of Vojvodina
Dear Alessandro Michelucci,
I quote from The World Directory of Minorities, London: Minority
Rights Group International, 1997, p. 253-254:
"The 1991 census recorded 345,376 Hungarians, most of whom lived in
the Vojvodina in northern Serbia. Before 1918, the Vojvodina was a
part of the kingdom of Hungary and had a majority Hungarian
population. Hungarians in the Vojvodina are mainly Roman Catholic, but
there are communities of Calvinists, Methodists and Unitarians.
Hungarians suffered discrimination after the First World War, when
many of their properties were seized under the guise of land reform.
Hungarian atrocities against Serbs in the Second World War were
avenged by the murder of possibly as many as 30,000 Hungarians after
1945.
By the terms of the 1974 constitution, the Vojvodina acquired rights
of autonomy analogous to those given to Kosovo. Under the communist
regime, Hungarians had substantial collective rights, including more
than 200 Hungarian-language elementary and secondary schools, a daily
newspaper, and regular radio and television transmissions broadcast
from Novi Sad. After the abolition of the Vojvodina autonomy in 1989,
several attempts were made to bring editoral policy in
Hungarian-language media under stronger supervision from Belgrade. In
1992, a new education law was passed by the Serbian parliament
restricting teaching in Hungarian.
With the outbreak of war in Yugoslavia, a large number of refugees
entered the Vojvodina, thus affecting the ethnic composition of many
communities. By April 1992, there were already 62,000 refugees in the
Vojvodina; more recent reports suggest an influx of up to 150,000
Serbs. Hungarian political leaders have claimed that refugees have
been compulsorily billeted in Hungarian villages as part of a
deliberate attempt to change their ethnic balance. It is also alleged
that a disproportionate number of Hungarians were conscripted after
1991 into the federal army. Although at least 50,000 Hungarians
emigrated to Hungary after the outbreak of war, there is little
evidence of a sustained campaign of intimidation against the Hungarian
minority.
The principal Hungarian minority organization is the Democratic
Community of Hungarians of the Vojvodina, which has published several
ambitious plans for Hungarian territorial autonomy in the region."
Another interesting fact is noted in the following, taken from:
Kocsis, Karoly, and Eszter Kocsis-Hodosi, Hungarian Minorities in the
Carpathian Basin: A Study in Ethnic Georgraphy. Toronto/Buffalo:
Matthias Corvinus Publishing, 1995.
"The fact that 43.4% of the Hungarians live in settlements where they
are in minority...has had a negative influence on the change in the
population of Hungarians in Vojvodina, their identity consciousness
and their exposure to linguistic assimilation."
Sincerely,
William McKinney
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European Centre for Minority Issues
William McKinney
Librarian
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D-24939 Flensburg, Germany
e-mail: [email protected]
http://www.ecmi.de
Tel: +49 461 1414970
Fax: +49 461 1414969
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