Srbobran

Srbobran Србобран Szenttamás
Municipality and Town
A view of Srbobran
Coat of arms
Location of the municipality of Srbobran within Serbia
Coordinates:
Country	Serbia
Province	Vojvodina
District	South Bačka
Settlements	3
Government
• Mayor	Zoran Mladenović
Area
• Municipality	284 km2 (110 sq mi)
Population (2011 census)
• Town	12,009
• Municipality	16,317
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	21480
Area code	+381 21
Car plates	NS

Srbobran (Serbian Cyrillic: Србобран, IPA: [sr̩̂bɔbraːn], Hungarian: Szenttamás) is a town and municipality in South Bačka District of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town is located on the north bank of the Danube-Tisa-Danube canal. The town has a population of 12,009, and the municipality of 16,317.

Name

In Serbian, the town is known as Srbobran (Србобран); in Hungarian as Szenttamás (pronounced [ˈsɛntɒmaːʃ]) or Szrbobran (formerly also Bács-Szenttamás); in Rusyn (a Cyrillic-only language) as /Србобран/; in Croatian as Sveti Tomo, Senttomaš or Srbobran; in Slovak as Srbobran; and in German as Thomasberg or Sankt Thomas. The name Srbobran means "Serbs' defender" in Serbian. Older Serbian name used for the town was Sentomaš (Сентомаш).

History

According to archaeology, there was human settlement in the territory of present-day Srbobran in the prehistoric times. The first written record about the settlement is from 1338, in which the Srbobran is mentioned under name Sentomas, which means Saint Thomas, i.e. the apostle Thomas, who was the patron saint of a monastery and of the village around it in the Middle Ages. During this time, the area was under administration of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary and was part of the Bacsensis County. This village, together with the monastery, became destroyed during the Ottoman conquest in the 16th century. Its former population left the region and fled towards North to Habsburg Royal Hungary. During the Ottoman administration, the settlement of Sentomaš was rebuilt and was populated by ethnic Serbs. It was part of the Ottoman Sanjak of Segedin.

After the Bačka region was captured by Habsburg troops led by Prince Eugene of Savoy in the end of the 17th century, a settlement was included into Habsburg Monarchy and was populated by new colonists, mainly by ethnic Serbs from the South, but also (since the second half of the 18th century) by ethnic Hungarians from the North, who became the second largest ethnic group in the settlement (after Serbs). The settlement was part of the Military Frontier until 1751, when it came under the civil administration. A document from 1751 indicates that besides name Sentomaš, the name Srbograd (Serb Town) was also used as a non-official denomination for the town. The development of the town was fast; in 1787 its population was 3,532, while in 1836 this number rose to 11,321. From 1751, the town was part of the Theiss District within the Batsch-Bodrog County and the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary.

Map of Srbobran municipality

The name Srbobran dates from the time of 1848/1849 revolutions in the Habsburg Monarchy, but was officially used since 1918. In 1848-1849, the town was part of Serbian Voivodship, a Serbian autonomous region within the Austrian Empire. The Serbian defense line was located near this town, hence the name Srbobran, which means "Serbs's defender". On July 14, 1848, the first siege of the town by Hungarian forces began under Baron Fülöp Berchtold who was forced to retreat due to a strong Serbian defense. The Hungarian troops captured Sentomaš for the fourth trial, on April 4, 1849, and burned the town to the ground. Having suppressed the Hungarian anti-Habsburg movement (in 1849), Austrian authorities established a new province to which Sentomaš belonged to: the Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar, which existed until 1860. In 1850, the population of Sentomaš was 5,630 people, which was only about half of the population recorded in 1836. After abolishment of the voivodeship in 1860, Sentomaš was again included into the Batsch-Bodrog County. Since the establishment of the dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1867, the town was located within the Hungarian part of the Monarchy. According to the official census of 1910, Sentomaš had 14,335 inhabitants, among them 7,808 (54.47%) spoke Serbian language, 6,031 (42.07%) spoke Hungarian language, and 430 (3%) spoke German language.

Sentomaš became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (which is called Yugoslavia since 1929) in 1918 and was officially named Srbobran. In 1918-1919, the town was part of the Banat, Bačka and Baranja region and also (between 1918 and 1922) part of the Novi Sad County. Between 1922 and 1929 it was part of Belgrade Oblast, and between 1929 and 1941 part of Danube Banovina. In 1941, the town was occupied by the Axis Powers and was attached to the Horthy's Hungary. In 1944, the Soviet Red Army and Yugoslav partisans expelled Axis troops from the region, at this time approximately 2000 civil people with Hungarian nationality was killed by revenge. Srbobran was included into the autonomous province of Vojvodina within new socialist Yugoslavia. Since 1945, Vojvodina is part of the People's Republic of Serbia within Yugoslavia. Until the 1950s, Srbobran was part of the Bečej municipality, but then separate municipality of Srbobran was established. During the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, some Serb refugees came from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo, and settled in Srbobran.

Municipality

Srbobran municipality encompasses of town of Srbobran, and 2 villages: Nadalj and Turija.

A square in Srbobran and Orthodox church

Demographics

Ethnic groups in the municipality

See also: Serbs in Vojvodina, Hungarians in Vojvodina, Romani people of Vojvodina, Serbian lands, and List of Hungarian communities in Vojvodina

According to the 2011 census, the population of the Srbobran municipality is composed of:

• Serbs = 10,703 (65.63%)
• Hungarians = 3,387 (20.76%)
• Romani = 629 (3.85%)
• Others and undeclared = 1,598 (9.79%)

All of the three settlements in the municipality have an ethnic Serb majority.

Also see: Serbs in Vojvodina, Hungarians in Vojvodina, Romani people of Vojvodina.

Ethnic groups in the town

In 2011, Srbobran town has a population of 12,009, including:

• Serbs = 7,093 (59.06%)
• Hungarians = 3,220 (26.81%)
• Roma = 465 (3.87%)
• Others and undeclared = 1,231 (10.25%)

Historical population of the town

• 1961: 14,391
• 1971: 14,189
• 1981: 13,596
• 1991: 12,798
• 2011: 11,968

Languages

Serbian and Hungarian language are officially used by municipal authorities.

Politics

2004 elections

Seats in the municipal parliament won in the 2004 local elections: [1]

• Serbian Radical Party (9)
• Group of citizens "For better Srbobran" (3)
• Democratic Party (3)
• Group of citizens "Alliance for municipality of Srbobran" (3)
• Socialist Party of Serbia (2)
• Together for Vojvodina (2)
• Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (2)
• Strength of Serbia Movement (2)
• Serbian Renewal Movement (1)
• G17 Plus (1)

2008 elections

Results of 2008 local elections:

• Citizen group (46.38%)
• Serbian Radical Party (22.78%)
• Hungarian Coalition (7.80%)
• Coalition LSV - SPO (7.45%)
• Democratic Party (5.57%)
• Socialist Party of Serbia (3.86%)
• "Kao Jedna Kuća" Party (2.47%)
• Liberal Democratic Party (2.25%)
• Coalition DSS - NS (1.44%)

Transport

Town is located near to the M22 motorway between Belgrade and Subotica. There are two national highways that run through the town, highways 3 and 22. These three important routes make the town an important transport link.

Highway 3 runs west to Sombor, and east to Bečej. Highway 22 runs to Budapest in Hungary to the north changing to Highway 5 in Hungary, and to Ribarice, in the south of Serbia.

Architecture

There are two notable buildings in Srbobran, both of which are churches (one is Serb Orthodox, the other one is Roman Catholic) and both are built in highly sophisticated late baroque style.

Famous citizens

• Members of the wealthy Dunđerski family were buried in the town's cemetery, including the famous beauty Lenka Dunđerski, who was a tragic love of poet Laza Kostić.
• Srbobran is the birthplace of Nándor Gion (1941–2002), one of the best-known Hungarian writers, who was born and mostly lived in the region of Vojvodina. In his books he describes, first of all, his home-town, "Szenttamás", during the tragic years of the world wars.
• Serbian poet Stevan Vladislav Kaćanski was born in Srbobran.
• Ognjen Mudrinski is a member of the Serbia national under-21 football team, and plays for Red Star Belgrade, the most successful club in Serbia.
• Aleksandar Katai is a member of the Serbia national under-21 football team and plays for Vojvodina Novi Sad, the third-most successful club in Serbia.
• György Dungyersky, Yugoslavian tennis player

Gallery

• 

  Oil drilling facilities near Srbobran

• 

  Catholic Church

See also

• List of places in Serbia
• List of cities, towns and villages in Vojvodina
• Municipalities of Serbia
• South Bačka District

References

• Slobodan Ćurčić, Broj stanovnika Vojvodine, Novi Sad, 1996.
• Slobodan Ćurčić, Naselja Bačke - geografske karakteristike, Novi Sad, 2007.

External links

• Official website of Srbobran
• Interactive eGovernment Website of Srbobran