The Banat Bulgarians (
Banat Bulgarian: ''Palćene'' or ''Banátsći balgare''; common bg, Банатски българи, Banatski balgari; ro, Bulgari bănățeni; sr, / ), also known as Bulgarian Roman Catholics and Bulgarians Paulicians or simply as Paulicians,
are a distinct
Bulgarian minority group which since the
Chiprovtsi Uprising in the late 17th century began to settle in the region of the
Banat
Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of ...
, which was then ruled by the
Habsburgs
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
and after
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
was divided between
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
,
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...
, and
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...
. Unlike most other Bulgarians, they are
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
by confession and stem from groups of
Paulicians (who got Catholicized) and Roman Catholics from modern northern and northwestern
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
.
Banat Bulgarians speak a distinctive codified form of the Eastern Bulgarian
vernacular
A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
with much
lexical influence from the other languages of the Banat. Although strongly acculturated to the
Pannonian region (remote from Bulgaria's mainland), they have preserved their Bulgarian identity; however, they consider themselves Bulgarians among other ethnic groups but self-identify as Paulicians when compared to ethnic Bulgarians.
Identity
The ethnic group in scholarly literature is called as Banat Bulgarians, Bulgarians Roman Catholics, Bulgarians Paulicians, or simply Paulicians (''Pavlićani'' or ''Pavlikijani'' with dialectic forms ''Palćani'', ''Palčene'', ''Palkene''). The latter ethnonym is used by the group members as self-identification (being endonym), and to express "I / we" which is contrasted to "you" of Bulgarian ethnonym (being exonym). Their Bulgarian identification is inconsistent and rather used when compared to other ethnic groups.
According to Blagovest Nyagulov, there existed differences in self-designation among communities. In Romania, in the village of
Dudeștii Vechi
Dudeștii Vechi (until 1964 Beșenova Veche; hu, Óbesenyő; german: Altbeschenowa; Banat Bulgarian: ''Stár Bišnov''; sr, Старо Бешеново, Staro Bešenovo) is a commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of three villages: C ...
prevailed Paulician ethnonym, while in
Vinga
Vinga is a commune in Arad County, western Romania, south of the county seat of Arad, with a population of 5,828 inhabitants (as of 2011).
Vinga is located in the northern section of the Banat. The people in Vinga are mainly Romanians, the sec ...
the Bulgarian ethnonym because in the latter was a mixture of Bulgarian communities from different regions. Until the mid-20th century was developed idea of Bulgarian ethnic nationalism and according to it prevailed Bulgarian ethnonym, with the intermediate decision being "Bulgarians Paulicians". As the community's literature and language is based on
Paulician dialect and
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the ...
it was promoted acceptance of Bulgarian literary language and
Cyrillic alphabet. In the 1990s was again argued if they are a distinctive group or part of Bulgarian national, cultural and linguistic unity. On the other part, in Serbia the community was not in touch with such political influence and was accepted Paulician ethnonym, and only since 1990s became more in contact with other Bulgarian communities and institutions. According to 1999 research by Nyagulov, the people consider themselves to be partly of Bulgarian ethnos, but not on an individual level, only as a community, which is characterized by Catholic faith, specific literature and language practice as well as elements of traditional material heritage and spiritual culture.
History
Origin and migration north of the Danube
The origin of the Bulgarian Roman Catholic community is related to the
Paulicianism, a medieval Christian movement from
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...
and
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
whose members between 8th and 10th century arrived in the region of
Thrace
Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...
, then controlled by
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
.
They had religious freedom until the 11th century, when the majority were converted to the official Christian state faith by
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός, 1057 – 15 August 1118; Latinized Alexius I Comnenus) was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during ...
.
Over the centuries, they started to assimilate with the Bulgarians. However, they never fully accepted the
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...
, living with specific traditions.
The
Roman Catholic Bosnian Franciscans in the late 16th and early 17th century managed to convert them to Catholicism.
It is believed that the Banat Bulgarian community was formed from two groups in different regions; one from missionary activities of the Roman Catholic Church in the 17th century among merchants and artisans from
Chiprovtsi, not only of Paulician origin as included
"Saxon" miners among others,
and other from Paulician peasants of villages from
Svishtov and
Nikopol municipalities.
In 1688, the members of the community organized the unsuccessful
Chiprovtsi Uprising against the
Ottoman rule of Bulgaria.
[ The uprising was suppressed,] due to organizational flaws and the halting of the Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n offensive against the Ottomans. Around 300 families of the surviving Catholics fled north of the Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
to Oltenia
Oltenia (, also called Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions, with the alternative Latin names ''Wallachia Minor'', ''Wallachia Alutana'', ''Wallachia Caesarea'' between 1718 and 1739) is a historical province and geographical region of Romania ...
, initially settling in Craiova
Craiova (, also , ), is Romania's 6th Cities in Romania, largest city and capital of Dolj County, and situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximatel ...
, Râmnicu Vâlcea, and other cities, where their existing rights were confirmed by Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and s ...
n Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. ...
Constantin Brâncoveanu. Some moved to south-western Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the A ...
, founding colonies in Vinţu de Jos (1700) and Deva
Deva may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Deva'' (1989 film), a 1989 Kannada film
* ''Deva'' (1995 film), a 1995 Tamil film
* ''Deva'' (2002 film), a 2002 Bengali film
* Deva (2007 Telugu film)
* ''Deva'' (2017 film), a 2017 Marathi film
* Deva ...
(1714) and receiving privileges such as civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...
and tax exemption
Tax exemption is the reduction or removal of a liability to make a compulsory payment that would otherwise be imposed by a ruling power upon persons, property, income, or transactions. Tax-exempt status may provide complete relief from taxes, redu ...
.
After Oltenia was occupied by Habsburg monarchy
The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...
in 1718, the status of the Bulgarians in the region improved again. An imperial decree of 1727 allowed them the same privileges in the Banat of Craiova
The Banat of Craiova or Banat of Krajowa (german: Banat von Krajowa; ro, Banatul Craiovei), also known as Cisalutanian Wallachian Principality ( la, Principatus Valachiae Cisalutanae) and Imperial Wallachia (German: ''Kaiserliche Walachei''; La ...
as in their colonies in Transylvania. This attracted another wave of migration of Bulgarian Catholics, about 300 families from the formerly Paulician villages of central northern Bulgaria. They settled in Craiova between 1726 and 1730, but did not receive the same rights as the colonists from Chiprovtsi. The Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
s were forced to withdraw from Oltenia in 1737 in the wake of a new war with the Ottoman Empire. The Bulgarians fled from this new Ottoman occupation and settled in the Austrian-ruled Banat to the northwest. The Austrian authorities, allowed 2,000 people to found the villages of Stár Bišnov in 1738 and some 125 families Vinga
Vinga is a commune in Arad County, western Romania, south of the county seat of Arad, with a population of 5,828 inhabitants (as of 2011).
Vinga is located in the northern section of the Banat. The people in Vinga are mainly Romanians, the sec ...
in 1741. In 1744, a decree of Maria Theresa of Austria again confirmed their privileges received in Oltenia.
Austrian and Hungarian rule
Around a hundred Paulicians from the region of Svishtov and Nikopol migrated to the Banat from 1753 to 1777. The existing Bulgarian population, especially from Stár Bišnov, quickly spread throughout the region from the late 18th to the second quarter of the 19th century. They settled in around 20 villages and towns in search of better economic conditions, specifically their need for arable land. Such colonies include those in Modoš (1779), Konak and Stari Lec
Stari Lec () is a village in Serbia. It is situated in the Plandište municipality, in the South Banat District, Vojvodina province. One of Stari Lec's best known landmarks is Kapetanovo Castle.
Name
In Serbian, the village is known as ''Sta ...
(1820), Belo Blato
Belo Blato ( sr-cyr, Бело Блато; sk, Biele Blato or ; hu, Erzsébetlak, , , or ) is a village located in the Zrenjanin municipality, in the Central Banat District of Serbia. It is situated in the autonomous province of Vojvodina. Th ...
(1825), Bréšća, Dénta, and Banatski Dvor
Banatski Dvor ( sr-cyr, Банатски Двор; hu, Törzsudvarnok) is a village in Serbia. It is situated in the Žitište municipality, in the Central Banat District, Vojvodina province. The village is ethnically mixed and its population n ...
(1842), Telepa (1846), Skorenovac (1866), and Ivanovo
Ivanovo ( rus, Иваново, p=ɪˈvanəvə) is a city in Russia. It is the administrative center and largest city of Ivanovo Oblast, located northeast of Moscow and approximately from Yaroslavl, Vladimir and Kostroma. Ivanovo has a popu ...
(1866-1868).
After they settled, the Banat Bulgarians began to take care of their education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
and religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...
. The Neo-Baroque church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* Chri ...
in Stár Bišnov was built in 1804 and the imposing Neo-Gothic church in Vinga in 1892. Until 1863, Banat Bulgarians held liturgies in Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
and "Illyric". Illyric was a strain of Croatian which had spread in the communities before they migrated to the Banat. However, with their cultural revival in the mid-19th century, their vernacular was gradually introduced in the church. The revival also led to the release of their first printed book, ''Manachija kathehismus za katolicsanske Paulichiane'', in 1851. "Illyric" was also substituted with Banat Bulgarian in education in 1860 (officially in 1864). In 1866, Jozu Rill codified the dialect with his essay ''Bálgarskotu pravopisanj''. After the Ausgleich
The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (german: Ausgleich, hu, Kiegyezés) established the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. The Compromise only partially re-established the former pre-1848 sovereignty and status of the Kingdom of Hungary ...
of 1867, the Hungarian authorities gradually intensified the Magyarization
Magyarization ( , also ''Hungarization'', ''Hungarianization''; hu, magyarosítás), after "Magyar"—the Hungarian autonym—was an assimilation or acculturation process by which non-Hungarian nationals living in Austro-Hungarian Transleitha ...
of the Banat. Until World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, they imposed Hungarian as the main language of education.
Interwar Romanian and Serbian Banat
After World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
was dissolved and Banat was divided between Romania and Serbia. Most Banat Bulgarians became citizens of the Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania ( ro, Regatul României) was a constitutional monarchy that existed in Romania from 13 March ( O.S.) / 25 March 1881 with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian ...
, but many fell inside the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 191 ...
. In Greater Romania
The term Greater Romania ( ro, România Mare) usually refers to the borders of the Kingdom of Romania in the interwar period, achieved after the Great Union. It also refers to a pan-nationalist idea.
As a concept, its main goal is the creatio ...
, the Banat Bulgarians' identity was distinguished in censuses and statistics. The main language of education was changed to Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
** Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
**Romanian cuisine, traditiona ...
and the Bulgarian schools were nationalized. A Romanian geography book of 1931 describes the Bulgarians in the county of Timiș-Torontal as "foreigners", and their national dress as "not as beautiful" as the Romanian one, but in general the Banat Bulgarians were more favourably treated than the larger Eastern Orthodox Bulgarian minority in interwar Romania.
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia denied the existence of any Bulgarian minority, whether in the Vardar Banovina
The Vardar Banovina, or Vardar Banate ( mk, Вардарска бановина, Vardarska banovina; sr, Вардарска бановина, translit=Vardarska Banovina; al, Banovina e Vardarit, italics=no), was a province (banate) of the King ...
, the Western Outlands, or the Banat. Official post-World War I statistics provide no data about the number of the Banat Bulgarians. In comparison with the Eastern Orthodox Bulgarians in Yugoslavia, the Banat Bulgarians were treated better by the Yugoslav authorities, although Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...
was the only language of education.
In the 1930s, the Banat Bulgarians in Romania entered a period of cultural revival led by figures such as Ivan Fermendžin, Anton Lebanov, and Karol Telbis (Telbizov). These new cultural leaders emphasized the Bulgarian identity at the expense of the identification as Paulicians and Roman Catholics, establishing contacts with the Bulgarian government and other Bulgarian communities in Romania, particularly that in Dobruja
Dobruja or Dobrudja (; bg, Добруджа, Dobrudzha or ''Dobrudža''; ro, Dobrogea, or ; tr, Dobruca) is a historical region in the Balkans that has been divided since the 19th century between the territories of Bulgaria and Romania. I ...
. The organs of this revival were the newspaper ''Banatsći balgarsći glasnić'' (''Banat Bulgarian Voice''),[ issued between 1935 and 1943, and the annual ''Banatsći balgarsći kalendar'' (''Banat Bulgarian Calendar''), issued from 1936 to 1940. There was a plan to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the settlement in the Banat which was the most significant manifestation by Banat Bulgarians in that period. It was partially spoiled by the Romanian authorities, but still attracted much attention among intellectuals in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian Agrarian Party, a section of the National Peasants' Party, was founded in 1936 on the initiative of Karol Telbizov and Dr. Karol Manjov of Stár Bišnov, with Petar Telbisz as its chairman, and the Bulgarian National Society in the Banat, also headed by Telbisz, was established in 1939.
Bulgaria and Yugoslavia improved their relations in the 1930s, leading to indirect recognition of the Banat Bulgarian minority by the Yugoslav government. Still, the Banat Bulgarian revival was much less perceivable in the Serbian Banat. The Banat Bulgarian population in Yugoslavia was only partially affected by the work of Telbizov, Lebanov, and the other cultural workers in the Romanian Banat.
]
Emigration to Hungary, the United States and Bulgaria
Some Banat Bulgarians migrated again, mainly to Hungary and the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
. According to Bulgarian data from 1942, 10,000 Banat Bulgarians lived in Hungary, mainly in the major cities, but this number is most likely overestimated, as were assimilated in Serbian community. Members of the Banat Bulgarian community in Hungary include several deputies to the National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...
, such as Petar Dobroslav, whose son László Dobroslav (László Bolgár) was a diplomat, and Georgi Velčov.
During the Interwar period
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...
, the Banat Bulgarian communities in Romania were among those experiencing the greatest emigration to the US, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s. An organized Bulgarian community was established in Lone Wolf, Oklahoma
Lone Wolf is a town in Kiowa County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 438 at the 2010 census, a decline of 12.4 percent from 500 in 2000. The town was named for Chief Lone Wolf (1843–1923), a warrior chief of the Kiowa who fought to ...
, where the Banat Bulgarians were mostly farmers.
A significant number of Banat Bulgarians returned to Bulgaria since 1878, called as "Banaćani" ("those from Banat"). They founded several villages in Pleven Province, Vratsa Province and Veliko Tarnovo Province and received privileges, as per the law of 1880, for the settlement of unpopulated lands. They introduced superior agricultural technologies to the country and fully applied their farming experience. Their religious life was partly determined by the clashes between the dominant Eastern Orthodoxy and the minority Catholicism, and cultural conflicts with other Roman Catholic communities which they lived with in several villages, such as the Banat Swabians and the Bulgarian Paulicians from Ilfov. This migration would be final, although some did return to Banat.
World War II and later
On the eve of World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the authoritarian regime of Carol II of Romania
Carol II (4 April 1953) was King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. The eldest son of Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I in 1914. He was the first of th ...
and the fascist
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...
government under Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and marshal who presided over two successive wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister and ''Conducător'' during most of World War II.
A Romanian Army career officer who mad ...
widely discriminated against the Bulgarian minority in the Romanian Banat. Bulgarians were often deprived of property and land, subjected to anti-Bulgarian propaganda, and their villages had to shelter Romanian and Aromanian refugees from Northern Transylvania
Northern Transylvania ( ro, Transilvania de Nord, hu, Észak-Erdély) was the region of the Kingdom of Romania that during World War II, as a consequence of the August 1940 territorial agreement known as the Second Vienna Award, became part of ...
and Southern Dobruja
Southern Dobruja, South Dobruja or Quadrilateral ( Bulgarian: Южна Добруджа, ''Yuzhna Dobrudzha'' or simply Добруджа, ''Dobrudzha''; ro, Dobrogea de Sud, or ) is an area of northeastern Bulgaria comprising Dobrich and Silis ...
.
In May 1941, the Bulgarians in the Romanian Banat contributed to the release of ethnic Bulgarian prisoners of war from the Yugoslav Army, captured by the Axis, from a camp near Timișoara. Communicating with the Bulgarian state, Banat Bulgarian leaders headed by Anton Lebanov negotiated the prisoners' release and transportation to Bulgaria, after the example of the release of captured Hungarian soldiers from the Yugoslav Army. They temporarily accommodated these Bulgarians from Vardar Macedonia and the Serbian Banat and provided them with food until they could be taken to Bulgaria.
The Serbian Banat was conquered by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
on 12 April 1941, and was occupied for much of the war. In late 1942, the German authorities allowed Bulgarian minority classes to be created in the Serbian schools in Ivanovo, Skorenovac, Konak, Belo Blato, and Jaša Tomić. However, the sudden change in the war and German withdrawal from the Banat forced education in Bulgarian to be discontinued after the 1943–44 school year.
After the war, Banat Bulgarians in Romania and Yugoslavia were ruled by communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
regimes. In the Romanian Banat, some were deported in the Bărăgan deportations
The Bărăgan deportations ( ro, Deportările în Bărăgan) were a large-scale action of penal transportation, undertaken during the 1950s by the Romanian Communist regime. Their aim was to forcibly relocate individuals who lived within appr ...
in 1951, but most of those were allowed to return in 1956–57. A Bulgarian school was founded in Dudeștii Vechi in 1948, and in Vinga in 1949. Others followed in Breștea, Colonia Bulgară, and Denta, but these were briefly closed or united with the Romanian schools after 1952, and Bulgarian remained an optional subject.
The Constitution of Romania of 1991 allowed Bulgarians in the Romanian Banat parliamentary representation through the minority party of the Bulgarian Union of the Banat — Romania (''Balgarskotu družstvu ud Banát — Rumanija''), led formerly by Karol-Matej Ivánčov and as of 2008 by Nikola Mirkovič, and Bulgarian remained an optional subject in the schools. In post-war Yugoslavia, the existence of a Banat Bulgarian minority was formally recognized, but they were not given the same rights as the larger Bulgarian minority in eastern Serbia. Unlike other minorities in Vojvodina, they were not allowed education in their mother tongue, only Serbo-Croatian.
Language
The vernacular of the Bulgarians of Banat can be classified as a Paulician dialect of the Eastern Bulgarian group. A typical feature is the "ы" (*y) vowel, which can either take an etymological place or replace "i".[ Other characteristic phonological features are the "ê" (wide "e") reflex of the ]Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic literary language.
Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with standardizing the language and using it in translating the Bible and othe ...
yat
Yat or jat (Ѣ ѣ; italics: ) is the thirty-second letter of the old Cyrillic alphabet and the Rusyn alphabet.
There is also another version of yat, the iotified yat (majuscule: , minuscule: ), which is a Cyrillic character combining ...
and the reduction of "o" into "u" and sometimes "e" into "i": ''puljé'' instead of ''pole'' ("field"), ''sélu'' instead of ''selo'' ("village"), ''ugništi'' instead of ''ognište'' ("fireplace").[ Another characteristic feature is the palatalization of final consonants, which is typical for other ]Slavic languages
The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the ...
, but found only in non-standard dialects in Bulgarian (Bulgarian ''den'' ("day") sounds like and is written as ''denj'').[Стойков, ''Банатски говор''.]
Lexically, the language has borrowed many words from languages such as German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
(such as ''drot'' from ''Draht'', "wire"; ''gáng'' from ''Gang'', "anteroom, corridor"), Hungarian (''vilánj'' from ''villany'', "electricity"; ''mozi'', "cinema"), Serbo-Croatian (''stvár'' from ''stvar'', "item, matter"; ''ráčun'' from ''račun'', "account"), and Romanian (''šedinca'' from ''ședință'', "conference") due to the close contacts with the other peoples of the multiethnical Banat and the religious ties with other Roman Catholic peoples. Banat Bulgarian also has some older loanwords from Ottoman Turkish
Ottoman Turkish ( ota, لِسانِ عُثمانى, Lisân-ı Osmânî, ; tr, Osmanlı Türkçesi) was the standardized register of the Turkish language used by the citizens of the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extens ...
[Нягулов, ''Банатските българи'', p. 27.] and Greek, which it shares with other Bulgarian dialects (e.g. ''hirgjén'' from Turkish ''ergen'', "unmarried man, bachelor"; ''trandáfer'' from Greek τριαντάφυλλο '' triantafyllo'', "rose"). Loanwords constitute around 20% of the Banat Bulgarian vocabulary.[ The names of some Banat Bulgarians are also influenced by Hungarian names, as the Hungarian (eastern) name order is sometimes used (]family name
In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community.
Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name, ...
followed by given name
A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a ...
) and the female ending "-a" is often dropped from family names. Thus, ''Marija Velčova'' would become ''Velčov Marija''. Besides loanwords, the lexis of Banat Bulgarian has also acquired calque
In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language ...
s and neologism
A neologism Ancient_Greek.html"_;"title="_from_Ancient_Greek">Greek_νέο-_''néo''(="new")_and_λόγος_/''lógos''_meaning_"speech,_utterance"is_a_relatively_recent_or_isolated_term,_word,_or_phrase_that_may_be_in_the_process_of_entering_com ...
s, such as ''svetica'' ("icon", formerly used ''ikona'' and influenced by German ''Heiligenbild''), ''zarno'' ("bullet", from the word meaning "grain"), ''oganbalváč'' ("volcano", literally "fire belcher"), and ''predhurta'' ("foreword").[
The Banat Bulgarian language until the mid-19th century used Bosnian Cyrillic alphabet due to Bosnian Franciscans influence,] since when it uses its own script, largely based on the Croatian version of the Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the ...
( Gaj's Latin Alphabet), and preserves many features that are archaic in the language spoken in Bulgaria. The language was codified as early as 1866 and is used in literature and press, which distinguishes it from plain dialects.[
]
Alphabet
The following is the Banat Bulgarian Latin alphabet:
Examples
Image:Star beshenov cyrkva nadpis 1.JPG, Inscription about bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...
Nikola Stanislavič in the Dudeștii Vechi church
Image:Sigla UBBR Vinga.jpg, Bilingual
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all ...
Banat Bulgarian (written in Latin letters)-Romanian plaque in Vinga
Image:Gostilya plaque.jpg, A rare occasion of Banat Bulgarian written in Cyrillic letters in Gostilya, Bulgaria
Culture
Banat Bulgarians have engaged in literary activity since they settled in the Banat. Their earliest preserved literary work is the historical record ''Historia Domus'' (''Historia Parochiae Oppidi Ó-Bessenyö, in Diocesi Czanadiensi, Comitatu Torontalensi''), written in Latin in the 1740s. The codification of the Banat Bulgarian vernacular in 1866 enabled the release of a number of school books and the translation of several important religious works in the mid-19th century. There was a literary revival in the 1930s, centered around the ''Banatsći balgarsći glasnić'' newspaper. Today, the Bulgarian Union of the Banat – Romania issues the biweekly newspaper ''Náša glás'' and the monthly magazine ''Literaturna miselj''. The regional television station TVR Timișoara airs a monthly programme in the Banat Bulgarian language.
The music of the Banat Bulgarians is classed as a separate branch of Bulgarian folk music, with several verbal and musical peculiarities. While the typically Bulgarian bars have been preserved, a number of melodies display Romanian, Serbian, and Hungarian influences, and the specific Bulgarian Christmas carols have been superseded by urban-type songs. Roman Catholicism has exerted considerable influence, eliminating certain types of songs and replacing them with others. Similarly, Banat Bulgarians have preserved many Bulgarian holidays but also adopted others from other Roman Catholic peoples. One of the most popular holidays is Faršángji, or the Carnival
Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival t ...
. In terms of dances, Banat Bulgarians have also heavily borrowed from the neighbouring peoples, for example Hungarian csárdás.[
The women's national costume of the Banat Bulgarians has two varieties. The costume of Vinga is reminiscent of those of sub-Balkan cities in Bulgaria; the one of Stár Bišnov is characteristic of northwestern Bulgaria. The Vinga costume has been particularly influenced by the dress of Hungarians and Germans, but the Stár Bišnov costume has remained more conservative. The Banat Bulgarian women's costume is perceived as particularly impressive with its crown-like headdress.][
Image:Vratsa-ethnomuseum-Banat-female-festive-costume.jpg, A formal Banat Bulgarian female costume dating to the 19th century
Image:Historia Domus.gif, ''Historia Domus'', the earliest chronicle of the Banat Bulgarians
Image:Star beshenov liturgiq.JPG, Liturgy in the Bulgarian church in Dudeștii Vechi
]
Demography
In 1963 was estimated that approximately lived 18,000 Banat Bulgarians in Banat, of which 12,000 in Romanian, and 6,000 in Serbian part of the region. In 2008 was estimated half of the previous population in Serbia, while in 2013 between 4,000-4,500 people. However, according to Romanian 2002 census circa 6,468 people of Banat Bulgarian origin inhabited the Romanian part of the region, of which 3,000 in ''Stár Bišnov'', making it half of 1963's estimation. The Serbian 2002 census recognized 1,658 Bulgarians in Vojvodina
Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...
, the autonomous province that covers the Serbian part of the Banat. However it includes Orthodox Bulgarians and hence the number of Catholic Bulgarians is smaller by two-thirds compared to previous estimation. The 2011 census are even more vague to understand the actual numbers, but the numbers are probably declining.
The earliest and most important centers of the Banat Bulgarian population are the villages of Dudeştii Vechi (''Stár Bišnov'') and Vinga
Vinga is a commune in Arad County, western Romania, south of the county seat of Arad, with a population of 5,828 inhabitants (as of 2011).
Vinga is located in the northern section of the Banat. The people in Vinga are mainly Romanians, the sec ...
, both today in Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
,
but notable communities also exist in Romania in Breştea (''Bréšća''), Colonia Bulgară (''Telepa'') and Denta (''Dénta''), and the cities of Timișoara (''Timišvár'') and Sânnicolau Mare
Sânnicolau Mare (; hu, Nagyszentmiklós; german: Großsanktnikolaus; sr, Велики Семиклуш, Veliki Semikluš; Banat Bulgarian: ''Smikluš'') is a town in Timiș County, Romania, and the westernmost of the country. Located in the Ba ...
(''Smikluš''), as well as in Serbia in the villages of Ivanovo
Ivanovo ( rus, Иваново, p=ɪˈvanəvə) is a city in Russia. It is the administrative center and largest city of Ivanovo Oblast, located northeast of Moscow and approximately from Yaroslavl, Vladimir and Kostroma. Ivanovo has a popu ...
, Belo Blato
Belo Blato ( sr-cyr, Бело Блато; sk, Biele Blato or ; hu, Erzsébetlak, , , or ) is a village located in the Zrenjanin municipality, in the Central Banat District of Serbia. It is situated in the autonomous province of Vojvodina. Th ...
, Konak (''Kanak''), Jaša Tomić (''Modoš''), Skorenovac (''Gjurgevo''), as well cities of Pančevo
Pančevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Панчево, ; german: Pantschowa; hu, Pancsova; ro, Panciova; sk, Pánčevo) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the South Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, ...
, Zrenjanin
Zrenjanin ( sr-Cyrl, Зрењанин, ; hu, Nagybecskerek; ro, Becicherecu Mare; sk, Zreňanin; german: Großbetschkerek) is a city and the administrative center of the Central Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbi ...
, Vršac and Kovin.[Нягулов, ''Банатските българи'', p. 23.]
In Bulgaria, returning Banat Bulgarians populated the villages of Asenovo, Bardarski Geran, Dragomirovo, Gostilya, and Bregare,[ among others, in some of which they coexist or coexisted with ]Banat Swabians
The Banat Swabians are an ethnic German population in the former Kingdom of Hungary in Central-Southeast Europe, part of the Danube Swabians. They emigrated in the 18th century to what was then the Austrian Empire's Banat of Temeswar province, ...
, other Bulgarian Roman Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...
Bulgarians.
In Banat, the people mainly intermarried within the group, and only since the 1940s began intensive marriages with other nationalities, because of which many got assimilated, especially according to confessional factor (among Slovaks and Hungarians, while few among Croats, Serbs and so on).
Historical population
According to various censuses and estimates, not always accurate, the number of the Banat Bulgarians varied as
follows:
Notable figures
* Colonel Stefan Dunjov
Stefan Dunjov ( bg, Стефан Дуньов, ''Stefan Dunyov'', hu, Dunyov István) (28 July 1815 – 29 August 1889) was a Banat Bulgarian military figure and revolutionary known for participating in both the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 a ...
(1815–1889) – revolutionary, participant in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, and member of Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, pa ...
's forces during the Italian unification
The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...
* Eusebius Fermendžin
Eusebius Fermendžin (also ''Fermendzhin, Fermendjin''; bg, Евсевий, Еузебий, Еусебий, or Еусебиус Ферменджин) (21 September 1845 – 25 June 1897) was an Austro-Hungarian high-ranking Roman Catholic cleric ...
(1845–1897) – historian, high-ranking Franciscan
, image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg
, image_size = 200px
, caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans
, abbreviation = OFM
, predecessor =
, ...
cleric, theologian, polyglot, and active member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts
* Leopold Kossilkov (1850–1940) – teacher and writer
* Jozu Rill – 19th-century teacher and internationally acclaimed textbook writer; codified the Banat Bulgarian orthography and grammar in 1866
* Carol Telbisz
Carol Telbisz ( hu, Telbisz Károly, german: Karl Telbisz, ro, Carol Telbisz, bg, Карол Телбиз) (1853 – 14 July 1914) was an Austro-Hungarian public figure of Banat Bulgarian origin and a long-time Mayor of Temesvár (modern Timi� ...
(1853–1914) – long-time mayor of Timișoara (1885–1914)
* Anton Lebanov (1912–2008) – lawyer, journalist, and poet
* Karol Telbizov (1915–1994) – lawyer, journalist, and scientist
* Luis Bacalov (b. 1933) — Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-winning Argentine composer
See also
*Pomaks
Pomaks ( bg, Помаци, Pomatsi; el, Πομάκοι, Pomáki; tr, Pomaklar) are Bulgarian-speaking Muslims inhabiting northwestern Turkey, Bulgaria and northeastern Greece. The c. 220,000 strong ethno-confessional minority in Bulgaria is ...
* Paulicianism
* Catholic Church in Bulgaria
*Great Migration of the Serbs
The Great Migrations of the Serbs ( sr, Велике сеобе Срба), also known as the Great Exoduses of the Serbs, refers mainly to two large migrations of Serbs from various territories under the rule of the Ottoman Empire to regions ...
Footnotes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
The website of ''Náša glás'' and ''Literaturna miselj''
offers PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
versions of both publications, as well as information about the Banat Bulgarians and
library
(in Banat Bulgarian)
featuring 1938 publications
Penka Peykovska. Literacy and Illiteracy in Austria-Hungary: The Case of the Bulgarian Migrant Communities
a "becoming encyclopedia of the Banat", version in Banat Bulgarian. Includes diverse information and resources pertaining to the Banat Bulgarians.
''Falmis'', Association of the Banat Bulgarians in Bulgaria
''Sveta ud pukraj námu''
Nick Markov's blog
A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in Reverse ...
in Banat Bulgarian
''Falmis''
Svetlana Karadzhova's blog about the Banat Bulgarians
Star Bisnov
Website for Banat Bulgarian people
{{Slavic ethnic groups
Banat
Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of ...
Bulgarian diaspora
Ethnic groups in Bulgaria
Ethnic groups in Romania
Ethnic groups in Serbia
Ethnic groups in Transylvania
Ethnic groups in Vojvodina
Slavic ethnic groups
Sub-ethnic groups