Bački Gračac () is a village located in the Odžaci municipality, in the West Bačka District of

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

. It is situated in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. The population of the village is 2,913 people (2002 census), of whom 2,810 are ethnic

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

. This village is a former site of genocide.

Name

Old Serbian name of the village was ''Filipovo'' (Филипово). The modified versions of this Serbian name (Filipowa, Filipsdorf, Philipsdorf) were also used by Svabos/

Shwoveh The Danube Swabians (german: Donauschwaben ) is a collective term for the ethnic German-speaking population who lived in various countries of central-eastern Europe, especially in the Danube River valley, first in the 12th century, and in grea ...

. Name was first recorded in the (presumably already modified) form ''Filipova'' in a document written in the time of the Hungarian King Béla III (1173–1196). Other names used for the village were: Filipovo Selo (in Serbian), Kindlingen, Sankt Philipp (in German), Szentfülöp, Szent-Fülöp (in Hungarian) and Filipovo (in Croatian).

History

During the Ottoman rule (16th-17th century), the village of Filipovo was mainly populated by ethnic Serbs. In 1652, there were 7 houses, and a monastery. Following the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the region became part of the Austrian-Hungarian empire. The area having been depopulated by the lengthy Turkish wars, Germans citizens from

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

migrated to the area at the invitation of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria-Hungary, beginning in 1763. By 1764, 20 houses were built and soon a total of 60 houses were built with a population of 75 German families; by 1801, there were 272 houses. In the beginning of the 1900s there were 535 houses in the village. In 1944 there were 5,280

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

among 5,306 inhabitants. Most of the German inhabitants of the village were forcefully expelled and deported to camps and many murdered by Communist partisans in the brutality and chaos during and after WWII. 212 men, ages 16 to 65 were rounded up and shot on 25. November 1944.Neckar Donau Wegekreuze das Massaker auf der Heuwiese http://neckar-donau-wegekreuz.de/?page_id=444 The remaining population was placed in a concentration camp with little to no food and poor sanitation. Camps consisted of homes seized from the people and guarded by armed partisans. Many succumb to

typhoid Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

dysentery Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...

, or starvation.

Historical population

* 1880: 3,039 * 1910: 3,881 * 1921: 3,806 * 1961: 4,284 * 1971: 3,343 * 1981: 2,996 * 1991: 2,924 * 2002: 2,913 * 2011: 2,295 * 2014: 2.273

Notable people

Robert Zollitsch Robert Zollitsch (born 9 August 1938) is a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Freiburg im Breisgau from 2003 to 2013 and was Chairman of the German Episcopal Conference from 2008 to 2014. Life and work Zollitsc ...

, a German prelate of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He formerly served as Archbishop of

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population o ...

and Chairman of the German Episcopal Conference. *

Peter Kupferschmidt Peter Kupferschmidt (born 2 March 1942) is a German footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Cana ...

, a German football player.

References

*Slobodan Ćurčić, Broj stanovnika Vojvodine, Novi Sad, 1996.

External links