Albanian and Serbian minorities in

Osijek – past, today, future

Michal Kucharski
PhD student, Institute of Slavonic Philology AMU
 Why Osijek?

• difficult history
• mainly Croatian
• city „on borders”
- rivers
- East-West
- EU-rest of Europe
- Central Europe-Balkans
• important industrial centre (past)
• gate to the EU
• perspectives
• part of my Phd thesis
 History

• Serbs came with the Austrian Empire army (1699)

• Albanians as Catholics came with Mihael Summa (archbishop of
Skopje) in 1723
- Archbishop since 1727/1728
- spoke Albanian, Croatian, Turkish
• merchants
• „Slavic” population in XIXth century (problem of the Austrian
census!!!)
• State Archives in Osijek – registration of all new coming citizens,
mostly workers (forenames)
• probably full assimilation
• Kingdom of SHS -> Yugoslavia
• city after war
• 50’ - 60’s and rapid development of the city – new or bigger factories
• chaotic changes
• no more „ethnic” districts. 1981 – 185 (A), 28536 (S)
• war of Independence in Croatia:
- „common” enemy
- former officers of JNA, who escaped
- Albanian military unit also in Slavonia (e.g. Tom Kačinari,
Milaim Šukaj)
• Ivo Goldstein: „hundreds years of together history”
• assimilation of the Albanians from Kosovo
 Serbs Albanians

30
13

6,5
0,16

0,4
0,3

1981 1991 (NEVER CONFIRMED) 2011

 Today

• 2011: Albanians 437; Serbs 6,751

• Albanian is a 4th minority in Croatia
• In hole country
0,05% ↓ (A)
2011 -> 2021
• 1,2 % ↓ (S)
• full rights as ethnic minorities (Constitutional, International Law, Acts)
• equality on paper?
• slow changes in the perception of society? (hard to measure)
 Serbians in the space

• „invisible” orthodox church

• orthodox, devastated chapel at the cemetery in Downtown (hr. Donji
grad, niem. Unterstadt).
• three streets: Jove Jovanovića Zmaja, Branka Radičevića and
Krstova
• own parts of cemeteries
 Albanians in the space

• Mihael Summa not mention in any document or place (Zefiq: „only

archbishop with the residency in Osijek”
• new, more representative Cultural Centre
• Mosque in construction since 2022,
connected partially to Albanian minority
 Albanians

• Association of the Albanian minority in Slavonia-Baranja

• Honour Consulate in Osijek
• engaged in every years Days of the city and other cultural events
• own department in the city’s library (second one)
• important part of everyday live
• Cultural Center (representitve Radićeva Street since 2020)
• typical professions – bakeries, trade at marketplace, jewellery
• different language
• visa applications for Croatia has doubled (Prishtina 2017-2019)

Scandal with the first ambassador in Kosovo – Zlatko Kramarić, former

mayor of Osijek
Stereotype – „Albanians
are mulims”
 Main problems

• agression, provocasions
• economical situation
• language on the street
• assimilation vs transculturation
• offensive terms (Albanians)
• offensive graffitis
• fake graffiti
 Albanians and Serbs – similiarities
and differences

• reception problems from the majority

• forgotten contribution
• engaged in cultural life, especially events dedicated to them
• different place in history and position in today city
• number of Albanians is increasing, when there are fewer Serbs
• stereotypes

A – active, S – more passive; (in public space)

 Future

• very good cooperation with the city

• equality in everyday life
• invisibility or presence and thus education?
• trends in region (economic emigration)
• opportunities for community development and growth
• strengthening the partnership with Prizren and Subotica
 Bibliography

• interviews with the members of minorities

• research in the State Archives in Osijek
• Osijek031.com; Glas Slavonije; Novosti
• Albanci u Osijeku i grad Osijek. (1997). Group red. Association of Albanians in Croatia.
• Archer, R. (2023). Albanian labor migration, the Yugoslav private sector and its Cold War context.
„Labor History”. https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/clah20/0/0
• Begosholli, B. (2019). Leaving Kosovo: Legal Migration Upsurge Causes Depopulation Fears.
„Balkan Insight”, BIRN, 25.04.2019.
• Eberhard, N. Z. (2020). Osijek dobio prvi Kulturni centar Albanaca.
• Grozdanić, D. (2019). Ima li Srba u gradu?. „Portal Novosti”, https://www.portalnovosti.com/ima-li-
srba-u-gradu
• Hajdari, L., Krasniqi, J. (2022). Correction: The economic dimension of migration: Kosovo from
2015 to 2020. „Humanit Soc Sci Commun” 9, 103. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01119-
2Nedić, T. (2015). Realizacija ustavnih prava te povijest albanske nacionalne manjine u gradu
Osijeku. „Ethnologica Dalmatica” vol. 23.
• Škiljan, F. (2020). Sjećanje nacionalnih manjina na Domovinski rat.
• Zefiq, F. (1997). Mihael Summa i Albanci u Osijeku. „Diacovensia: teološki prilozi”, Vol. 5 No. 1,
1997.
Thanks for your attention!

Michał Kucharski
michal.kucharski@amu.edu.pl