There is a small number of Serbs in Slovakia, mostly located in the southern town of Komárno, where they have been living since the 17th century.[1] There has also been a historic minority in Bratislava (Požun), where many Habsburg Serbs studied. The number of Slovaks of Serb descent is hard to determine but nevertheless they are recognized as an official minority.[2]
  | |
 Serbian Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Komárno | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 3,600 (estimate) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Komárno Bratislava | |
| Languages | |
| Serbian, Slovakian | |
| Religion | |
| Serbian Orthodox Church | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| South Slavs |
Demographics
editThe Association of Serbs in Slovakia claim that 2,784 Serbs, born outside Slovakia, currently live in Slovakia, while another 800 Slovaks are of Serb descent.[3] However, at the 2011 census, only 698 people claimed the Serbian ethnicity.[4] Partially descent of Serb origin coming from marriage mostly from Serbian men and Slovakian women.
Serbs in Bratislava
editAlready in the 19th century, the importance of the university in Požun began to attract a different layer of Serbs, the Serbian youth who studied there in the absence of Serbian higher education institutions in what was then southern Hungary. In 1866, there was a Serbian youth association "Sloboda" in what was then Požun, which was part of the wider "United Youth of Srpska". Its "Library of Serbian Youth" was founded in 1841, and its destiny is tied to the Lyceum of Požun. That library was closed since the time of the Hungarian revolt, because the work died down. It revived again only around 1860, and continued its activities.
Notable people
edit- Branko Radivojevič, Slovak ice hockey player of Serb parentage
- Marko Milinković, Serbian expatriate football player
- Slaven Dizdarević, Slovak Serb decathlete.
- Gavril Stefanović Venclović, Serb priest, writer, poet, orator, philosopher, and illuminator.
- Pavle Davidović, Serb general, Knight of the Military Order of Maria Theresa.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "The Pride of Komarno".
- ^ "Serbs acquire national minority status in Slovakia". balkans.com. 9 February 2010. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011.
- ^ Lopušina 2014, "U Slovačkoj se, prema policijskim podacima momentalno nalazi 2.784 naših ljudi, koji su tu zbog spajanja rodbine, studiranja, rada ili nekog drugog razloga i još 800 ljudi srpskog porekla - tvrdi Stane Ribič, predsednik udruženja Srba u Slovačkoj.".
- ^ "Štatistický úrad SR - Úvodná stránka" (PDF).
Sources
edit- Cerović, Ljubivoje (1997). "Srbi u Slovačkoj" (in Serbian). Ministarstvo Republike Srbije za veze sa Srbima izvan Srbije.
- Cerović, Ljubivoje (1999). Srbi na Slovensku (in Slovak). Kultúra. ISBN 9788671031516.
- Lopušina, M. (May 2014). "Svaki drugi Srbin živi izvan Srbije" [Every second Serb lives outside of Serbia]. Novosti.