Serbophobia
Encyclopedia
Anti-Serb sentiment is a generic term used to describe a sentiment of hostility or hatred
towards Serbs
, Serbia
or Serbian Orthodoxy
(Serbian Orthodox Christians). The term Serbophobia has been used to describe the said sentiment, but the description has been controversial.
According to those who use the term, Serbophobia can range from individual hatred to institutionalised persecution. Its opposite is Serbophilia
.
Serbophobia is often claimed to be particularly widespread among Croats, Bosniaks and Kosovo's Albanians as a reaction to alienation of Serbs during the wars with those ethnic groups.
Escalation of anti-Serb sentiment has sometimes resulted in persecution of Serbs on religious
, political
and ethnic grounds.
" under Ottoman law, but were however referred to as Giaour
. Many converted to Islam in viyalets where Islam was more powerful, notably in the Sandzak
and Bosnia
region, others converted in order to be more successful in the Ottoman Empire
society and many were forced as part of Turkification
or Islamisation and avoided persecution. The Janissaries were infantry units that served directly under the Sultan in the households and bodyguarding the higher people within the Ottoman Turkish government, they were composed of Islamicized Christian boys taken from the conquered countries through the Devşirme (Blood tribute) system, trained and schooled to serve the Ottoman Empire
. Serbs, together with Greeks
and Bulgarians
were favored by the Sultans.
, who fought a guerilla war with the Ottoman Empire
were ethnic Serbs
(Serbian Orthodox Christian) who fled from Ottoman Turkish rule and settled in Bela Krajina and Zumberak
.
Serbs
in the Roman Catholic Croatian Military Frontier were out of the jurisdiction of the Serbian
Patriarchate of Peć
and in 1611, after demands from the community, the Pope establishes the Eparchy of Marča (Vratanija) with seat at the Serbian-built Marča Monastery and instates a Byzantine
vicar
as bishop sub-ordinate to the Roman Catholic bishop of Zagreb, working to bring Serbian Orthodox Christians into communion with Rome which caused a power-struggle between the Catholics and the Serbs
over the region. In 1695 the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Lika
-Krbava
and Zrinopolje was established by metropolitan Atanasije Ljubojevic and was certified by Emperor Josef I in 1707. In 1735, the Serbian Orthodox people protested in the Marča Monastery and became part of the Serbian Orthodox Church
until 1753 when the Pope restored the Roman Catholic clergy. On June 17, 1777 the Eparchy of Križevci
was permanently established by Pope Pius VI
with a see at Križevci, near Zagreb
, thus forming the Croatian Greek Catholic Church which would after World War I include other people; Rusyns and Ukrainians of Yugoslavia
.
Catholic Croats of Turopolje
and Gornja Stubica
celebrate the Đurđevdan (Jurjevo), a Serbian tradition maintained by Uskoks descendants (adjacent to White Carniola
, where Serbs formed communities
in 1528).
believes that the hatred of Serbia by the Albanian people was caused by the initial policy of the 1912 Serbian government that had planned to divide all Albanian inhabited territory between itself and Greece. Tucović stated that Serbian occupation of Albania
in the Balkan wars
pushed the Albanian people to feel hatred
of everything Serbian.
He concluded that Serbia wanted the sea
and the colony, but left without getting the sea, and from the colony created a blood enemy.
who had converted to Islam
and went through a process of Albanisation
.
At the end of the 19th century, writer Branislav Nušić
recorded that the Serb poturice (converts to Islam) of Orahovac
began talking Albanian and marrying Albanian women.
When Dr Jovan Hadži Vasiljević (l. 1866-1948) visited Orahovac in World War I
, he could not distinguish Orthodox from Islamicized and Albanized Serbs. They spoke Serbian, wore the same costumes, but claimed Serbian
, Albanian
or Turk
ethnicity. The Albanian starosedeoci (old urban families) were Slavophone; they did not speak Albanian but a Slavic dialect (naš govor, Our language) at home.
In the 1921 census the majority of Muslim Albanians of Orahovac were registered under the category "Serbs and Croats".
Mark Krasniqi
, the Kosovo Albanian ethnographer, recalled in 1957: "During my own research, some of them told me that their tongue is similar to Macedonian rather than Serbian (it is clear that they want to dissociate themselves from everything Serbian). It is likely they are the last remnants of what is now known in Serbian sources as Arnautaši, Islamicised and half-way Albanianised Slavs."
. Croatian writers Antun Gustav Matoš
and Miroslav Krleža
had casually described some political and cultural figures as "Serbophobes" (Krleža in the four volume "Talks with Miroslav Krleža", 1985., edited by Enes Čengić), meaning that they perceived an anti-Serbian animus in a person's behavior.
and Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg
in 1914 led to angry Croats and Muslims in Sarajevo to engage in violent anti-Serb demonstrations during the evening of June 28 and much of the day on June 29, and this led to a deep division along ethnic lines. The crowd directed its anger principally at Serb shops and at residences of prominent Serbs. The mob attacked the cluster of structures near the New Serbian Orthodox Church, threw stones at the metropolitan's residence and sacked the Serbian Orthodox School. Other smaller groups stoned the building that housed the Serb cultural society Prosvjeta, sacked a Serb bank, and trashed the officies of the newspaper Srpska riječ. They singled out shops of Serb merchants including the family business of the assassin Neđeljko Čubrinović, and attacked Serb residences. Two Serbs were killed that day by crowd violence. That night there were anti-Serb riots also in other parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the aftermath of Sarajevo assassination anti-Serb sentiment ran high throughout the Habsburg Empire.
Taking advantage of an international wave of revulsion against this act of "Serbian nationalist terrorism", Austro-Hungary gave Serbia an ultimatum which led to World War I
.
An example of Serbophobia is the jingle
"Alle Serben müssen sterben" (All Serbs Must Die), which was popular in Vienna
in 1914 (also occurring as: Serbien muß sterbien).
and Ravna Gora
) dedicates a section to Serbophobia during World War II
.
Prior to and during the extermination campaign on the Serbs during World War II, mass propaganda was initiated by the Germans
and their Croatian collaborators as to dehumanize and justify the slaughter just as had been done to the Jews
previously.
During World War II the persecution of Serbs manifested itself in:
Serbs were persecuted by Croatian authorities during World War II
by the Croatian Ustaša along with Jews and Roma in the Independent State of Croatia
. The number of murdered Serbs is estimated in a wide range, from at least 300 000 to 800 000.
At least 80 000 people, of which the majority were Serbs, died in the Jasenovac concentration camp between 1941 and 1945.
During World War II
, hundreds of thousands of Serbs
were Catholicized by the Fascist Croatia
n Ustaše regime.
Serbophobia is mentioned.
Cadik Danon, the then-Chief Rabbi
of Yugoslavia
et al. in an open letter to the American Jewish Committee
in 1995, during the bombing of Republika Srpska by NATO during Bosnian War
, wrote of a background of "... unrestrained anti-Serbian propaganda
, raging during all this war, following the Nazi model, but much more efficient means and in a much more sophisticated and more expensive way.... Even American Jews were not able to withstand this propagandistic poison,... they did not recognize the Nazis and racist nature of the Serbophobic dogma. They did not identify Serbophobia as a twin sister of anti-semitism
...."
The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia submitted to the International Court of Justice
in 1997 claims that acts of genocide against Serbs had been incited by anti-Serb sentiment and rhetoric communicated through all forms of the media.
Persecution may refer to death, beating, torture, confiscation or destruction of property, or destruction or desecration of monasteries and churches in Goražde, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in Kosovo.
Persecution of Serbs by Kosovo Albanian extremists occurred during and after the 1998-1999 Kosovo War
.
Serbophobia has been claimed to occur in many Hollywood films including: Behind Enemy Lines and Harrison's Flowers, where the Serbs are exaggeratedly portrayed as rapists and terrorists.
Current United States
Vice President Joe Biden
is on record as speaking in an anti-Serb manner. During the 1999 NATO attack on Slobodan Milosevic's Serbia, he appeared on Meet the Press (9 May 1999) and called for "a Japanese-German style occupation of that country, while his son publicly praised the Albanians' resolve in expelling the "degenerate thugs" from Kosovo". Due to these statements, during his official visit to Belgrade
in 2009 he was met with heavy criticism branding him racist from media and public figures alike as well as numerous protests against his visit.
calling for the extermination of Serbs. The slogan originates from a poem of the Slovene politician Marko Natlačen
published in 1914, at the beginning of the war of Austria-Hungary against Serbia.
It was popularized before World War II by Mile Budak
, the chief architect of the Ustaše
ideology against Serbs, and during World War II there were mass hangings of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia
, as part of the Holocaust
and the Ustaše's persecution of the Serbs.
In present-day Croatia, Croatian neo-Nazis
, extreme nationalists and people who oppose return of Serbian refugees often use the slogan. Graffiti
with the phrase is common, and has been observed by the press when it was painted on a church in 2004, 2006, on another church in 2008, and in 2010, when a banner with the slogan appeared in the midst of the tourist season at the entrance to Split, a major tourist hub in Croatia, during a Davis Cup tennis match between the two countries. It was removed by the police within hours and otherwise ignored. The police later apprehended the author of the banner and charged him with a felony.
victimization of late 1980s and 1990s as described, for example, by Christopher Bennett. According to him, Serbian nationalist politicians have made associations to Serbian "martyrdom" in history (from the Battle of Kosovo
in 1389 to the genocide during World War II) to justify Serbian politics of the 1980s and 1990s; these associations are allegedly exemplified in Slobodan Milošević
's Gazimestan speech
at Kosovo Polje
in 1989. The reaction to the speech as well as the use of the associated term Serbophobia is a matter of heated debate even today. In late 1988, months before the Revolutions of 1989
, Milošević accused critics of his regime and political tactics like the Slovenia
n leader Milan Kučan
of “spreading fear of Serbia”. According to political scientist David Bruce Macdonald, the term was popularised in the 1980s and 1990s during the re-analysis of Serbian history. The term was often likened to anti-Semitism
, and expressed itself as a re-analysis of history where every event that had a negative effect on the Serbs was likened to a "tragedy". Often associated with the politics of Serbian victimization of late 1980s and 1990s.
's catalogue lists following books written about serbophobia:
Hatred
Hatred is a deep and emotional extreme dislike, directed against a certain object or class of objects. The objects of such hatred can vary widely, from inanimate objects to animals, oneself or other people, entire groups of people, people in general, existence, or the whole world...
towards Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
or Serbian Orthodoxy
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Christian churches, ranking sixth in order of seniority after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Russia...
(Serbian Orthodox Christians). The term Serbophobia has been used to describe the said sentiment, but the description has been controversial.
According to those who use the term, Serbophobia can range from individual hatred to institutionalised persecution. Its opposite is Serbophilia
Serbophilia
A Serbophile is a person who has a strong positive predisposition or interest toward the government, culture, history, or people of Serbia. This could include Serbia itself and its history, the Serbian language, Serbian cuisine, literature, etc...
.
Serbophobia is often claimed to be particularly widespread among Croats, Bosniaks and Kosovo's Albanians as a reaction to alienation of Serbs during the wars with those ethnic groups.
Escalation of anti-Serb sentiment has sometimes resulted in persecution of Serbs on religious
Religious persecution
Religious persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group of individuals as a response to their religious beliefs or affiliations or lack thereof....
, political
Political repression
Political repression is the persecution of an individual or group for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing their ability to take political life of society....
and ethnic grounds.
Islamization in the Ottoman Empire
As Christians, the Serbs were regarded as a "protected peopleDhimmi
A , is a non-Muslim subject of a state governed in accordance with sharia law. Linguistically, the word means "one whose responsibility has been taken". This has to be understood in the context of the definition of state in Islam...
" under Ottoman law, but were however referred to as Giaour
Giaour
Giaour, Gawur or Ghiaour written gâvur in modern Turkish, is an offensive ethnic slur used by Muslims in Turkey and the Balkans to describe all who are non Muslim, with particular reference to Christians like Greeks, Armenians, Bulgarians, Serbs and Assyrians...
. Many converted to Islam in viyalets where Islam was more powerful, notably in the Sandzak
Sandžak
Sandžak also known as Raška is a historical region lying along the border between Serbia and Montenegro...
and Bosnia
Bosnia (region)
Bosnia is a eponomous region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging to the southern borders of the Pannonian plain, with the rivers Sava and Drina marking its northern and eastern borders. The other eponomous region, the southern, other half of the country is...
region, others converted in order to be more successful in the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
society and many were forced as part of Turkification
Turkification
Turkification is a term used to describe a process of cultural or political change in which something or someone who is not a Turk becomes one, voluntarily or involuntarily...
or Islamisation and avoided persecution. The Janissaries were infantry units that served directly under the Sultan in the households and bodyguarding the higher people within the Ottoman Turkish government, they were composed of Islamicized Christian boys taken from the conquered countries through the Devşirme (Blood tribute) system, trained and schooled to serve the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. Serbs, together with Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
and Bulgarians
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
were favored by the Sultans.
Catholicization in the Military Frontier
A large part of the Habsburg unit of UskoksUskoks
The Uskoks were Croatian Habsburg soldiers that inhabited the areas of the eastern Adriatic and the surrounding territories during the Ottoman wars in Europe. Etymologically, the word uskoci itself means "the ones who jumped in" in Croatian...
, who fought a guerilla war with the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
were ethnic Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
(Serbian Orthodox Christian) who fled from Ottoman Turkish rule and settled in Bela Krajina and Zumberak
Žumberak
Žumberak or Gorjanci is a range of mountains or hills between Croatia and Slovenia. The highest peak is Sveta Gera on the border between Croatia and Slovenia, being tall....
.
Serbs
Serbs of Croatia
Višeslav of Serbia, a contemporary of Charlemagne , ruled the Županias of Neretva, Tara, Piva, Lim, his ancestral lands. According to the Royal Frankish Annals , Duke of Pannonia Ljudevit Posavski fled, during the Frankish invasion, from his seat in Sisak to the Serbs in western Bosnia, who...
in the Roman Catholic Croatian Military Frontier were out of the jurisdiction of the Serbian
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
Patriarchate of Peć
Patriarchate of Pec
The Patriarchate of Peć is a Serbian Orthodox monastery located near Peć. The complex of churches is the spiritual seat and mausoleum of the Serbian archbishops and patriarchs....
and in 1611, after demands from the community, the Pope establishes the Eparchy of Marča (Vratanija) with seat at the Serbian-built Marča Monastery and instates a Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
as bishop sub-ordinate to the Roman Catholic bishop of Zagreb, working to bring Serbian Orthodox Christians into communion with Rome which caused a power-struggle between the Catholics and the Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
over the region. In 1695 the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Lika
Lika
Lika is a mountainous region in central Croatia, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by the Malovan pass...
-Krbava
Krbava
Krbava is a region of mountainous Croatia. It can be considered either located east of Lika, or indeed as the eastern part of Lika. The town of Udbina is the central settlement of the Krbava karst field....
and Zrinopolje was established by metropolitan Atanasije Ljubojevic and was certified by Emperor Josef I in 1707. In 1735, the Serbian Orthodox people protested in the Marča Monastery and became part of the Serbian Orthodox Church
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Christian churches, ranking sixth in order of seniority after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Russia...
until 1753 when the Pope restored the Roman Catholic clergy. On June 17, 1777 the Eparchy of Križevci
Eparchy of Križevci
The Eparchy of Križevci, sometimes referred to as the Croatian Greek Catholic Church or the Croatian Byzantine Catholic Church, is a recognized sui iuris Catholic Church listed in the Annuario Pontificio among the Eastern Catholic Churches of Constantinopolitan or Byzantine tradition as the Church...
was permanently established by Pope Pius VI
Pope Pius VI
Pope Pius VI , born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi, was Pope from 1775 to 1799.-Early years:Braschi was born in Cesena...
with a see at Križevci, near Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, thus forming the Croatian Greek Catholic Church which would after World War I include other people; Rusyns and Ukrainians of Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
.
Catholic Croats of Turopolje
Turopolje
Turopolje is a region in Croatia situated between the capital city Zagreb and Sisak. The administrative center of the region Turopolje is the town of Velika Gorica.-Overview:...
and Gornja Stubica
Gornja Stubica
Gornja Stubica is in the Krapina-Zagorje county in Croatia. According to the 2001 census, there are 5,726 inhabitants in the area. An absolute majority of them which are Croats....
celebrate the Đurđevdan (Jurjevo), a Serbian tradition maintained by Uskoks descendants (adjacent to White Carniola
White Carniola
White Carniola is a traditional region in southeastern Slovenia on the border with Croatia and is the most southern part of the historical and traditional region of Lower Carniola. Its major towns are Metlika, Črnomelj, and Semič, and the principal river is the Kolpa, which also forms part of the...
, where Serbs formed communities
Serbs in Slovenia
The Serbs in Slovenia are an ethnic group living in Slovenia. In the 2002 census, 38,964 people of Slovenia declared themselves of Serb ethnicity, which corresponds to 1.98% of the total population of Slovenia, making them the second largest ethnic group in the country, after the Slovenes.-...
in 1528).
Balkan Wars
Serbian socialist Dimitrije TucovićDimitrije Tucovic
Dimitrije Tucović was a prominent leader and theorist of the socialist movement in the Kingdom of Serbia...
believes that the hatred of Serbia by the Albanian people was caused by the initial policy of the 1912 Serbian government that had planned to divide all Albanian inhabited territory between itself and Greece. Tucović stated that Serbian occupation of Albania
Serbian occupation of Albania
Albania declared independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912 and achieved full recognition the following year. This chapter of Albanian history was shrouded in controversy and conflict as the larger part of the self-proclaimed region had found itself controlled by the Balkan League states: Serbia,...
in the Balkan wars
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...
pushed the Albanian people to feel hatred
Hatred
Hatred is a deep and emotional extreme dislike, directed against a certain object or class of objects. The objects of such hatred can vary widely, from inanimate objects to animals, oneself or other people, entire groups of people, people in general, existence, or the whole world...
of everything Serbian.
He concluded that Serbia wanted the sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
and the colony, but left without getting the sea, and from the colony created a blood enemy.
Albanization
The term Arnauti or Arnautaši was coined by ethnographers for "Albanized Serbs"; SerbsSerbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
who had converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and went through a process of Albanisation
Albanisation
Albanisation is a term used to describe a linguistic or cultural assimilation to the Albanian language and Albanian culture.- In Kosovo :The term is used in reference to Kosovo....
.
At the end of the 19th century, writer Branislav Nušić
Branislav Nušic
Branislav Nušić was a Serbian novelist of Aromanian descent, playwright, satirist, essayist and founder of modern rhetoric in Serbia. He also worked as a journalist and a civil servant.- Biography :...
recorded that the Serb poturice (converts to Islam) of Orahovac
Orahovac
Orahovac is a town and municipality in western Kosovo, in the District of Đakovica.-Name:Its Serbian name stems from the Serbian word orah , meaning "walnut"....
began talking Albanian and marrying Albanian women.
When Dr Jovan Hadži Vasiljević (l. 1866-1948) visited Orahovac in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he could not distinguish Orthodox from Islamicized and Albanized Serbs. They spoke Serbian, wore the same costumes, but claimed Serbian
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
, Albanian
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
or Turk
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
ethnicity. The Albanian starosedeoci (old urban families) were Slavophone; they did not speak Albanian but a Slavic dialect (naš govor, Our language) at home.
In the 1921 census the majority of Muslim Albanians of Orahovac were registered under the category "Serbs and Croats".
Mark Krasniqi
Mark Krasniqi
Mark Krasniqi was born on October 19, 1920 in Glavičica , near Peć, in the Kongdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes . He finished his elementary school in Peć and attended high school in Prizren, finishing it in 1941...
, the Kosovo Albanian ethnographer, recalled in 1957: "During my own research, some of them told me that their tongue is similar to Macedonian rather than Serbian (it is clear that they want to dissociate themselves from everything Serbian). It is likely they are the last remnants of what is now known in Serbian sources as Arnautaši, Islamicised and half-way Albanianised Slavs."
Early 20th century in Croatia
The term was used in the literary and cultural circles since before World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Croatian writers Antun Gustav Matoš
Antun Gustav Matoš
Antun Gustav Matoš was a Croatian poet, short story writer, journalist, essayist and travelogue writer. He is considered the champion of Croatian modernist literature, opening Croatia to the currents of European modernism, and one of the greatest Croatian literary figures of all time.-Life:Matoš...
and Miroslav Krleža
Miroslav Krleža
Miroslav Krleža was a leading Croatian and Yugoslav writer and the dominant figure in cultural life of both Yugoslav states, the Kingdom and the Republic . He has often been proclaimed the greatest Croatian writer of the 20th century.-Biography:Miroslav Krleža was born in Zagreb, modern-day...
had casually described some political and cultural figures as "Serbophobes" (Krleža in the four volume "Talks with Miroslav Krleža", 1985., edited by Enes Čengić), meaning that they perceived an anti-Serbian animus in a person's behavior.
Sarajevo assassination
Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of AustriaAssassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot dead in Sarajevo, by Gavrilo Princip, one of a group of six Bosnian Serb assassins coordinated by Danilo Ilić...
and Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg
Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg
Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg ; 1 March 1868 – 28 June 1914) was a Czech aristocrat, the morganatic wife of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. Their assassination sparked World War I.- Early life :...
in 1914 led to angry Croats and Muslims in Sarajevo to engage in violent anti-Serb demonstrations during the evening of June 28 and much of the day on June 29, and this led to a deep division along ethnic lines. The crowd directed its anger principally at Serb shops and at residences of prominent Serbs. The mob attacked the cluster of structures near the New Serbian Orthodox Church, threw stones at the metropolitan's residence and sacked the Serbian Orthodox School. Other smaller groups stoned the building that housed the Serb cultural society Prosvjeta, sacked a Serb bank, and trashed the officies of the newspaper Srpska riječ. They singled out shops of Serb merchants including the family business of the assassin Neđeljko Čubrinović, and attacked Serb residences. Two Serbs were killed that day by crowd violence. That night there were anti-Serb riots also in other parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the aftermath of Sarajevo assassination anti-Serb sentiment ran high throughout the Habsburg Empire.
Taking advantage of an international wave of revulsion against this act of "Serbian nationalist terrorism", Austro-Hungary gave Serbia an ultimatum which led to World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
An example of Serbophobia is the jingle
Jingle
A jingle is a short tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. The jingle contains one or more hooks and lyrics that explicitly promote the product being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television...
"Alle Serben müssen sterben" (All Serbs Must Die), which was popular in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 1914 (also occurring as: Serbien muß sterbien).
World War II
Miloš Acin-Kosta in his book Draža Mihailović i Ravna Gora (Draža MihailovićDraža Mihailovic
Dragoljub "Draža" Mihailović was a Yugoslav Serbian general during World War II...
and Ravna Gora
Ravna Gora
Ravna Gora is a Slavic toponym meaning flat hill. The name may refer to:-Serbia:* Ravna Gora , a highland in Serbia* Ravna Gora , a village near Ivanjica* Ravna Gora , a village near Vlasotince-Serbia and Montenegro:...
) dedicates a section to Serbophobia during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
and their Croatian collaborators as to dehumanize and justify the slaughter just as had been done to the Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
previously.
During World War II the persecution of Serbs manifested itself in:
- World War II persecution of SerbsWorld War II persecution of SerbsThe Serbian Genocide refers to the attempt in extermination made towards ethnic Serbs in 1939-1945 by predominantly ethnic Croat Fascists and Nazi occupational forces....
- Jasenovac concentration campJasenovac concentration campJasenovac concentration camp was the largest extermination camp in the Independent State of Croatia and occupied Yugoslavia during World War II...
Serbs were persecuted by Croatian authorities during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
by the Croatian Ustaša along with Jews and Roma in the Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
. The number of murdered Serbs is estimated in a wide range, from at least 300 000 to 800 000.
At least 80 000 people, of which the majority were Serbs, died in the Jasenovac concentration camp between 1941 and 1945.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, hundreds of thousands of Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
were Catholicized by the Fascist Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n Ustaše regime.
1980s
In the 1986 draft Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and ArtsMemorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts was a draft document produced by a 14-member committee composed by members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts from 1985 to 1986, presided by Kosta Mihailović...
Serbophobia is mentioned.
1990s
1991 Dalmatian anti-Serb riotsCadik Danon, the then-Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
of Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
et al. in an open letter to the American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world...
in 1995, during the bombing of Republika Srpska by NATO during Bosnian War
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
, wrote of a background of "... unrestrained anti-Serbian propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
, raging during all this war, following the Nazi model, but much more efficient means and in a much more sophisticated and more expensive way.... Even American Jews were not able to withstand this propagandistic poison,... they did not recognize the Nazis and racist nature of the Serbophobic dogma. They did not identify Serbophobia as a twin sister of anti-semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
...."
The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia submitted to the International Court of Justice
International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands...
in 1997 claims that acts of genocide against Serbs had been incited by anti-Serb sentiment and rhetoric communicated through all forms of the media.
- Croatian "Patriotic Song" which read as follows: Dear mother, I'm going to plant willows, We'll hang Serbs from them. Dear mother, I'm going to sharpen knives, We'll soon fill pits again.
- The publishing in a newspaper of, "Each Muslim must name a Serb and take oath to kill him."
- The radio broadcast of "public calls for the execution of Serbs".
Persecution may refer to death, beating, torture, confiscation or destruction of property, or destruction or desecration of monasteries and churches in Goražde, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in Kosovo.
Persecution of Serbs by Kosovo Albanian extremists occurred during and after the 1998-1999 Kosovo War
Kosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
.
Serbophobia has been claimed to occur in many Hollywood films including: Behind Enemy Lines and Harrison's Flowers, where the Serbs are exaggeratedly portrayed as rapists and terrorists.
Current United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Vice President Joe Biden
Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...
is on record as speaking in an anti-Serb manner. During the 1999 NATO attack on Slobodan Milosevic's Serbia, he appeared on Meet the Press (9 May 1999) and called for "a Japanese-German style occupation of that country, while his son publicly praised the Albanians' resolve in expelling the "degenerate thugs" from Kosovo". Due to these statements, during his official visit to Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
in 2009 he was met with heavy criticism branding him racist from media and public figures alike as well as numerous protests against his visit.
- Systematic and organized Organ theft in Kosovo, more than 300 Serbs missing
- Grdelica train bombingGrdelica train bombingThe Grdelica train bombing occurred on 12 April 1999 , when two missiles fired by NATO aircraft hit a passenger train while it was passing across a railway bridge over the Južna Morava river at Grdelica gorge, some south of Belgrade in Serbia...
- Lužane bus bombingLužane bus bombingThe Lužane bus bombing occurred on May 1, 1999 during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, when NATO missiles targeting a bridge in Kosovo hit a bus. The bus was hit on the Lužane north of Pristina. Approximately 39 people were killed. One section plunged off the bridge into the river below. The bus ...
- Podujevo bus bombing
- Panda Bar MassacrePanda Bar MassacreThe Panda Bar incident was a terrorist attack against Kosovo Serb teenagers in the City of Peć in north-western Kosovo.On 14 December 1998, during the Kosovo war, unidentified gunmen attacked Panda Bar caffe in Peć...
- Gnjilane GroupGnjilane GroupGnjilane Group is the name of a subgroup part of the Kosovo Albanian UÇK . During the Kosovo War, the Gnjilane Group were accused of being the perpetrators of more than 153 physical abuses, of civilian Serbs between June–October 1999 in the town of Gnjilane, Kosovo after the international forces...
, a group within the KLA that kidnapped, raped and murdered ethnic Serb civilians. - Lapušnik prison camp
2000s
Some Kosovo Albanians publicly use an ethnic slur to refer to the Serb minority in Kosovo.- Current CroatianCroatsCroats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
mayor of the city of SplitSplit (city)Split is a Mediterranean city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, centered around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian and its wide port bay. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatian city and...
, Željko KerumŽeljko KerumŽeljko Kerum is a Croatian entrepreneur and politician. He ran for mayor of Split, Croatia in May 2009 and won 58.4% of the vote. He is also the owner of the Croatian supermarket chain Kerum....
makes a public media outburst claiming “There has never been, nor will there ever be a Serb in my family, that’s how I was raised” to which the SerbiaSerbiaSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n government responded by condemning the statement as racist and sending a letter of protest to the Croatian embassy. - In September 2009, a doctor refused to treat a stroke patient because he was a Serb. Upon their arrival the doctor started verbally abusing them and almost physically attacked them at one point. He called them "Chetniks" and "vermin from Vrhovljani", threatening to "take Chetnik badges from both their heads". Once treated at another hospital the patient was diagnosed as having suffered a stroke. The doctors only reaction was that he "doesn't care about journalists". The Serb patient who was forced to flee Croatia during the war had just recently returned, but discrimination and human rights violations as evidenced continue in the present which is a major factor keeping the remaining refugees from returning.
- In MelbourneMelbourneMelbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
a restaurant with owners of Croatian descent held a celebration to honor World War II Croatian Ustasha leader Ante PavelićAnte PavelicAnte Pavelić was a Croatian fascist leader, revolutionary, and politician. He ruled as Poglavnik or head, of the Independent State of Croatia , a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany in Axis-occupied Yugoslavia...
, whose genocidal policies led to the deaths of an estimated 600,000-1,000,000 Serbs, Jews and Gypsies. The event was an "outrageous affront" both to his victims and to any persons of morality and conscience who oppose racism and genocide, the Simon Wiesenthal Center's chief Nazi-hunter and Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff stated. Zuroff also noted this was not the first time that Croatian émigrés in Australia had openly defended Croatian Nazi war criminals. - On the 6th October, 2009 the Croatian extreme right-wing NGO (The Croatian Cultural Movement) announced plans to erect a monument in honor of former Croatian Ustasha president Ante Pavelić in ZagrebZagrebZagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
adjacent to the capitals centre square. The IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i director of the Simon Wiesenthal CenterSimon Wiesenthal CenterThe Simon Wiesenthal Center , with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, was established in 1977 and named for Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter. According to its mission statement, it is "an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to repairing the world one step at a time...
slammed the proposed monument, saying it "constitutes an outrageous falsification of Croatia's World War II history and is an insult to the memory of the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians - Serbs, Jews, Roma. He went on to say that the decision to erect the monument reflected "historical revisionism of the worst sort imaginable and a whitewash of the horrific crimes committed by the NDH-Independent State of Croatia as state policy. It is simply inconceivable that a country on the verge of entry to the European Union would allow such a monument to be erected in its capital city or anywhere else on its territory." - On the 12th of October 2009, a European Under 21 Championship qualifying match was played in VaraždinVaraždinVaraždin is a city in north Croatia, north of Zagreb on the highway A4. The total population is 47,055, with 38,746 on of the city settlement itself . The centre of Varaždin county is located near the Drava river, at...
, CroatiaCroatiaCroatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
where Serbia was the visiting side. Several hours prior to the match, Serbian youth squad manager Milovan Đorić was assaulted by a group of "some seven or eight hooligans" while walking around town in his Serbian squad tracksuit. Đorić was subsequently treated for minor facial injuries. The match itself was also marred by racist abuse directed towards the Serbian players from the crowd such as with offensive chants such as "Ubij Srbina" (Kill Serbs) and "Srbe na vrbe" (Hang Serbs from the willow trees; see above) being heard throughout and the subsequent burning of the Serbian flag. - In October 2009, CroatiaCroatiaCroatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
's state TV HRTCroatian RadiotelevisionCroatian Radiotelevision is a Croatian public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite...
Director Vanja Sutlić insulted one of his own journalists because she is married to a Serb. Witness reports state that "rough insults" were directed at Ivana Dragičević-Veličković including being called a "chetnik whore". Lela Knežević, an editor with HRT, added that this was not the first similar outburst Sutlić was involved in. After attending a journalist seminar in Belgrade, Sutlić informed her that all business trip expenses were to be cancelled and may now only be funded through personal means due to his ethnically motivated objection to the business trip which he explained by stating, 'what business do you have being guests on Serb channel B92B92B92 is a radio and television broadcaster with national coverage headquartered in Belgrade, Serbia. The network's key demographic is chiefly urban and young audience. Its programs, including the news cover topics with fairly liberal political painted attitudes...
'. - Nationalist Croats have been known to shout the slogan "Kill the Serb" frequently during public events, most notable during Marko Perković Thompson's concerts, but also frequently during sporting events. During the summer of 2009, as more Serb tourists began arriving to the coastal resorts in Croatia, several of them have seen their cars being vandalized.
- 2003 Goraždevac murdersGoraždevac murdersthe Goraždevac murders is the name of the shootings that occurred on August 13, 2003, when six ethnic Serb children were shot. The perpetrators are still unknown....
- 2004 unrest in Kosovo2004 unrest in KosovoViolent unrest in Kosovo, which at the time was under United Nations administration, broke out on 17 March 2004. Kosovo Albanians, numbering over 50,000, took part in widescale attacks on the Serbian people, compared by the then Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica to ethnic cleansing but not...
Srbe na vrbe
The slogan Srbe na vrbe!, meaning "Hang Serbs from the willow trees!" is hate speechHate speech
Hate speech is, outside the law, any communication that disparages a person or a group on the basis of some characteristic such as race, color, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, or other characteristic....
calling for the extermination of Serbs. The slogan originates from a poem of the Slovene politician Marko Natlačen
Marko Natlačen
Marko Natlačen was a Slovenian politician and jurist, who also served as a ban of the Dravska banovina but is perhaps best remembered as the author of the xenophobic slogan Srbe na vrbe.-Biography:...
published in 1914, at the beginning of the war of Austria-Hungary against Serbia.
It was popularized before World War II by Mile Budak
Mile Budak
Mile Budak was a Croatian Ustaše and writer, best known as one of the chief ideologists of the Croatian clerofascist Ustaše movement, which ruled the Independent State of Croatia, or NDH, from 1941-45 and waged a genocidal campaign against its Serb, Roma and Jewish minorities, and against Croatian...
, the chief architect of the Ustaše
Ustaše
The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
ideology against Serbs, and during World War II there were mass hangings of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
, as part of the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
and the Ustaše's persecution of the Serbs.
In present-day Croatia, Croatian neo-Nazis
Neo-Nazism in Croatia
Far right in Croatia refers to any manifestation of far-right politics in the Republic of Croatia. Individuals and groups in Croatia that employ far-right politics are most often associated with the historical Ustaše movement, hence they have connections to Neo-Nazism and neo-fascism...
, extreme nationalists and people who oppose return of Serbian refugees often use the slogan. Graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
with the phrase is common, and has been observed by the press when it was painted on a church in 2004, 2006, on another church in 2008, and in 2010, when a banner with the slogan appeared in the midst of the tourist season at the entrance to Split, a major tourist hub in Croatia, during a Davis Cup tennis match between the two countries. It was removed by the police within hours and otherwise ignored. The police later apprehended the author of the banner and charged him with a felony.
Criticism
Critics associate the use of the term Serbophobia with the politics of Serbian nationalistSerbian nationalism
Serbian nationalism refers to the ethnic nationalism of Serbs. Originally arising in the context of the general rise of nationalism in the Balkans under Ottoman rule, under the influence of Serbian linguist Vuk Stefanović Karadžić and Ilija Garašanin....
victimization of late 1980s and 1990s as described, for example, by Christopher Bennett. According to him, Serbian nationalist politicians have made associations to Serbian "martyrdom" in history (from the Battle of Kosovo
Battle of Kosovo
The Battle of Kosovo took place on St. Vitus' Day, June 15, 1389, between the army led by Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, and the invading army of the Ottoman Empire under the leadership of Sultan Murad I...
in 1389 to the genocide during World War II) to justify Serbian politics of the 1980s and 1990s; these associations are allegedly exemplified in Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
's Gazimestan speech
Gazimestan speech
The Gazimestan speech was a speech given on 28 June 1989 by Slobodan Milošević, then President of Serbia. It was the centrepiece of a day-long event to mark the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, which spelled the defeat of the medieval Serbian kingdom at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, as...
at Kosovo Polje
Kosovo Polje
Kosovo Polje or Fushë Kosova is a town and municipality in the Pristina district of central Kosovo, at 42.63° North, 21.12° East, or approximately eight kilometres south-west of the capital Pristina...
in 1989. The reaction to the speech as well as the use of the associated term Serbophobia is a matter of heated debate even today. In late 1988, months before the Revolutions of 1989
Revolutions of 1989
The Revolutions of 1989 were the revolutions which overthrew the communist regimes in various Central and Eastern European countries.The events began in Poland in 1989, and continued in Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and...
, Milošević accused critics of his regime and political tactics like the Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
n leader Milan Kučan
Milan Kucan
Milan Kučan is a Slovenian politician and statesman. He was the first President of Slovenia.-Early life and political beginnings:...
of “spreading fear of Serbia”. According to political scientist David Bruce Macdonald, the term was popularised in the 1980s and 1990s during the re-analysis of Serbian history. The term was often likened to anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
, and expressed itself as a re-analysis of history where every event that had a negative effect on the Serbs was likened to a "tragedy". Often associated with the politics of Serbian victimization of late 1980s and 1990s.
See also
- Kosovo: Can You Imagine?Kosovo: Can You Imagine?Canadian journalist and military expert Scott Taylor said the following about the film:Former Canadian diplomat and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Yugoslavia, James Byron Bissett stated this about the film:...
- documentary film - Stolen KosovoStolen KosovoStolen Kosovo is a Czech language documentary by director Václav Dvořák , about the Serbian–Albanian conflict in Kosovo.-Plot:The documentary describes the situation in Kosovo, first in a short overview of the history of the area, followed by the 1990s conflicts and bombing of Serbia by NATO...
- documentary film
Further reading
National Library of SerbiaNational Library of Serbia
The National Library of Serbia is the national library of Serbia, located in the city of Belgrade, .-History:...
's catalogue lists following books written about serbophobia:
- Serbophobia and its sources: (second edition )
- Serbophobia and antisemitism:
- On serbophobia through centuries:
- Србообија и њени извори, Јеремија Д. Митровић, Издање: Политика и друштво, 1992, ISBN 86-23-03053-2
External links
- Cambridge Papers article Victim Chic? The Rhetoric of victimhood including Serbophobia
- Northern California Jewish Bulletin
- Mentioned in Library of Congress of USA
- Globalizing the Holocaust: A Jewish "useable" past in Serbian nationalism, by David McDonald, University of OtagoUniversity of OtagoThe University of Otago in Dunedin is New Zealand's oldest university with over 22,000 students enrolled during 2010.The university has New Zealand's highest average research quality and in New Zealand is second only to the University of Auckland in the number of A rated academic researchers it...
, New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
Use in various languages
- Neue Serbophilie und alte Serbophobie, "New Serbophilia and Old Serbophobia", a Junge WeltJunge Weltjunge Welt is a German daily newspaper published in Berlin. The jW describes itself as a left and Marxist newspaperIt was first published on 12 February 1947 in the Soviet Sector of Berlin. junge Welt became the official newspaper of the Central Council of the Free German Youth on 12 November 1947...
article, in GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... - Marc Fumaroli, an article from LireLireLire is a French literary magazine covering both French and foreign literature. It was founded in 1975 by Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber and Bernard Pivot.-External links:*...
, a French literary magazine, in FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts... - Europa e nuovi nazionalismi, an article by Luca Rastello, in ItalianItalian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
- Бомбы или гражданская война, a Sevodnya article, in RussianRussian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
- Сатанизација Срба, коме она треба?, a book by Boris Olijnik, in SerbianSerbian languageSerbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
- СПЦ може да предизвика србофобија кај Македонците, a Nova Makedonija article, in MacedonianMacedonian languageMacedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...
- Ku është antimillosheviqi?, an AIM article, in AlbanianAlbanian languageAlbanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...
- Ethnic cleansing of Kosovo and Metohija, From World War II to present (Serbian)