Самоідентифікація і культурна та політична тотожність вуковарських сербів після 1995 р.

Анотація

1995. The Vukovar-Srijem County was one of the most important conflict areas during the Croatian Homeland War in the years 1991- 1995. The city of Vukovar was besieged and – as a consequence - mostly destroyed by shelling. The war time changed the ethnic structure in the county, nevertheless, about one third of the population of the Vukovar region is ethnically Serbian.

The analysis is focused on the changes in the identity of the Serbs in the region of Vukovar after the war. If one agrees with the assumption that Serbs as a nation were threatened by an identity crisis after the Yugoslav wars of the 90s, the Vukovar’s Serbs were even more vulnerable to it. They lost their former state – the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia – and became a minority in the newly born state – the Republic of Croatia.

Serbs in Vukovar had to deal with the problem of the collective guilt ascribed to them by the Croat majority. At the same time, part of the Serbs from Vukovar region also perceived themselves as victims of the war time.

According to the local Croatian researchers, at present in Vukovar, most of the – especially young – people have strong ethnic and religious identities. For the Serbs in the region, the language and the Cyrillic script has special importance for their ethnic, cultural and political identity. The special role of the Cyrillic script in this context became clearly visible when a local conflict about the bilingual signs in public places broke out.

An important role in the process of shaping the identity of Vukovar Serbs is played by local organizations and institutions representing the view of the Serb minority in the region.