Russians of Croatia ( hr, Rusi u Hrvatskoj, russian: Русские в Хорватии) are one of the twenty-two national minorities expressly mentioned and defined by law of
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
. According to the 2011 Census, there were 1,279 Croatian citizens in the country, who identified themselves as
Russians
, native_name_lang = ru
, image =
, caption =
, population =
, popplace =
118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate)
, region1 =
, pop1 ...
, most of them living in
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...
.
Statistics
History and legal status
![Pavelić, Artuković i Germogen 1003a](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Paveli%C4%87%2C_Artukovi%C4%87_i_Germogen_1003a.jpg)
A significant number of
Russian nationals were first brought to the territory of modern Croatia, then a part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire
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 ...
, as prisoners of war during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
; some of them remained there after the war ended in 1918. In 1920, there began mass immigration of refugees fleeing the Soviet-controlled Russia to the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
Kingdom commonly refers to:
* A monarchy ruled by a king or queen
* Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy
Kingdom may also refer to:
Arts and media Television
* ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
; some of those people settled in what is now Croatia, first mainly in
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...
and
Split
Split(s) or The Split may refer to:
Places
* Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia
* Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay
* Split Island, Falkland Islands
* Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua
Arts, enterta ...
, later in Zagreb and elsewhere. The government of the Kingdom of SHS in early 1920 established the State Commission for Russian Refugees at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (that category then included all arrivals from the former Russian Empire irrespective of their actual ethnicity). But even before that, the government had appointed a special official who was charged with reception and accommodation of arrivals from Russia; the position was given to
Sergei Nikolayevich Paleolog, a former senior official in the Russian Ministry of the Interior. Major Russian communities (″colonies″) were established in Dubrovnik, Split, Crikvenica, Zagreb, and some other towns in the early 1920s, while the majority of those arriving in the Kingdom eventually settled in
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 ...
. The government of the Kingdom of SHS explained its hospitality afforded to Russian exiles by presenting it as paying back the debt Serbia owed Russia for the latter′s intervention on the side of Serbia at the
outbreak
In epidemiology, an outbreak is a sudden increase in occurrences of a disease when cases are in excess of normal expectancy for the location or season. It may affect a small and localized group or impact upon thousands of people across an entire ...
of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
The first large group of mostly wealthy Russians arrived in Dubrovnik in March 1920 and some of those went further west. Russians arriving in Dubrovnik as refugees were sent on to
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 ...
, whereas those who arrived in
Bakar
Bakar ( it, Buccari; hu, Szádrév) is a town in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. The population of the town was 8,279 according to the 2011 Croatian census, including 1,473 in the titular settlement. Ninety percent of the ...
(since December 1920) were mostly settled all over Croatia. Multiple Russian clubs, associations, as well as cultural, educational, political and professional institutions were founded in Zagreb. The
Russian All-Military Union
The Russian All-Military Union ( rus, Русский Обще-Воинский Союз, abbreviated РОВС, ROVS) is an organization that was founded by White Army General Pyotr Wrangel in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on 1 September ...
, an organisation set up by Gen
Pyotr Wrangel
Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel (russian: Пётр Никола́евич барон Вра́нгель, translit=Pëtr Nikoláevič Vrángel', p=ˈvranɡʲɪlʲ, german: Freiherr Peter Nikolaus von Wrangel; April 25, 1928), also known by his ni ...
in
Karlovci in September 1924
[″Главни војни циљ барона Врангела″. // '']Politika
''Politika'' ( sr-Cyrl, Политика; ''Politics'') is a Serbian daily newspaper, published in Belgrade. Founded in 1904 by Vladislav F. Ribnikar, it is the oldest daily newspaper still in circulation in the Balkans.
Publishing and owners ...
'', 7 December 2017, p. 21. that sought to embrace all the veterans of the Imperial Russian Armed Forces the world over, had an office in Zagreb. Zagreb′s Russian colony was in 1924 headed up by Stepan Stanislavovich Skovronsky and totaled about 2,000 members. For academic year 1922/1923, the University of Zagreb enrolled 232 students from Russia (10.10 percent of all those enrolled). According to the Kingdom′s Ministry of the Interior′s documents, the local population occasionally displayed hostility towards Russian refugees, usually due to the view that Russians were taking away jobs, but also due to the fact that the left-leaning strata of society tended to see all Russian émigrés as "counter revolutionists". In 1921, a Russian religious community was founded in Zagreb by admiral Vyatkin who chaired it until his death in 1943.
[″Однос српске и руске цркве: Из тајних архива УДБЕ: РУСКА ЕМИГРАЦИЈА У ЈУГОСЛАВИЈИ 1918–1941.″ (part 36) // '']Politika
''Politika'' ( sr-Cyrl, Политика; ''Politics'') is a Serbian daily newspaper, published in Belgrade. Founded in 1904 by Vladislav F. Ribnikar, it is the oldest daily newspaper still in circulation in the Balkans.
Publishing and owners ...
'', 10 January 2018.
In
Crikvenica
Crikvenica () is a city in Croatia, located on the Adriatic in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County.
Names
The names of the town in various languages include:
* la, Ad Turres
* it, Cirquenizza
* hu, Cirkvenica, Cirkvenicza, Czirkvenicza, Czirkweni ...
, an Orthodox church of St Nicholas was built in 1923–1924 specifically for Russian worshippers and survives as a building. There is also a ″Russian″ chapel in Zagreb′s
Mirogoj cemetery
The Mirogoj City Cemetery (, hr, Gradsko groblje Mirogoj), also known as Mirogoj Cemetery ( hr, Groblje Mirogoj), is a cemetery park that is considered to be among the more noteworthy landmarks in the city of Zagreb. The cemetery inters members o ...
, which was consecrated on 4 November 1928. Those were erected by White Russian exiles, mainly former Russian Imperial Army officers and intelligentsia, who had fled Russia and moved to what was then the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
Kingdom commonly refers to:
* A monarchy ruled by a king or queen
* Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy
Kingdom may also refer to:
Arts and media Television
* ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
, as part of a massive
Russian exodus that resulted from the
Russian revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
in 1917 and the ensuing
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
. Most of those refugees from the former Russian Empire did not initially intend to stay outside Russia permanently and hoped to return.
Notable figures of 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 World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...
include:
Margarita Froman, a principal dancer and choreographer of the
Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb
The Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb ( hr, Hrvatsko narodno kazalište u Zagrebu), commonly referred to as HNK Zagreb, is a theatre, opera and ballet house located in Zagreb.
Overview
The theatre evolved out of the first city theatre opened ...
; generals
Alexander Adlerberg,
Daniil Dratsenko and
Ivan Polyakov, who consecutively headed the Zagreb chapter of the
Russian All-Military Union
The Russian All-Military Union ( rus, Русский Обще-Воинский Союз, abbreviated РОВС, ROVS) is an organization that was founded by White Army General Pyotr Wrangel in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on 1 September ...
(ROVS); counter admiral
Fyodor Vyatkin (Vjatkin) who in 1931 took over as chairman of Zagreb′s chapter of the Union of Russian Officers; generals
Nikolai Stremoukhov,
Alexander Ozarovsky and
Pavel Panchenko-Krivorotenko; Archbishop
Germogen (Maximov)
Metropolitan Germogen (russian: Митрополит Гермоген), secular name Georgy Ivanovich Maximov, (russian: Георгий Иванович Максимов; 10 January 1861 – 30 June 1945) was bishop of Aksay (9 May 1910 – 191 ...
, who became the primate of the
Croatian Orthodox Church
The Croatian Orthodox Church ( hr, Hrvatska pravoslavna crkva) was a religious body created during World War II by the Fascist Ustaše regime in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). It was created in order to Cultural assimilation, assimilate t ...
in 1942.
After the
German invasion German invasion may refer to:
Pre-1900s
* German invasion of Hungary (1063)
World War I
* German invasion of Belgium (1914)
* German invasion of Luxembourg (1914)
World War II
* Invasion of Poland
* German invasion of Belgium (1940)
* G ...
of Yugoslavia in April 1941 and the establishment of the
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...
(NDH), the number of registered Russians who resided in the territory of the NDH totaled 5,000. In August 1941, the NDH government issued a directive that exempted Russians in the NDH from any discrimination or reprisals as long as they were politically loyal; political loyalty was to be certified by Russian colonies′ leadership, namely the Representation of Russian Emigration (''Predstavništvo ruske emigracije'') in Zagreb. As early as in July 1941, a campaign was launched to recruit the Russians in the NDH to what would be in September instituted as the
Separate Russian Corps (later known in German as ''Russisches Schutzkorps Serbien''). The commander of the Corps, with headquarters in
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
, was Russian general
Boris Shteifon, who died in
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...
′s
Esplanade hotel in April 1945 while leading his men to Austria. According to a report received by the
Main Ustaša Headquarters The Main Ustaša Headquarters ( hr, Glavni ustaški stan - GUS) was the ruling body of the Ustaša party in the Independent State of Croatia, convened under the ''poglavnik'', Ante Pavelić.
Establishment
The Ustaše emigrants lived in many diffe ...
in early 1942, in the territory of the NDH there were forty Russian colonies with about 5.500 people. Since most of the Russians in the NDH were of anti-Communist and anti-Soviet political orientation, a significant number of them had left Zagreb months before the end of WWII and the establishment of the Communist regime in Croatia, the final massive departures occurring in the autumn of 1944 and in early spring of 1945; a considerable number of those who stayed were later in 1945 subjected to reprisals and prosecution. All Russian clubs and associations were terminated after May 1945.
Germogen (Maximov)
Metropolitan Germogen (russian: Митрополит Гермоген), secular name Georgy Ivanovich Maximov, (russian: Георгий Иванович Максимов; 10 January 1861 – 30 June 1945) was bishop of Aksay (9 May 1910 – 191 ...
, along with three priests of the Croatian Orthodox Church, was
court-martial
A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
led on 29 June 1945 and executed the next day.
Some former citizens of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union left for the USSR, a move that was facilitated by the Decree of the Supreme Soviet of 14 June 1946. The situation for the Russians in
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
became still worse in 1948, following the
Cominform
The Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties (), commonly known as Cominform (), was a co-ordination body of Marxist-Leninist communist parties in Europe during the early Cold War that was formed in part as a replacement of the ...
Resolution of 28 June 1948 that resulted from the
Tito–Stalin Split
The Tito–Stalin split or the Yugoslav–Soviet split was the culmination of a conflict between the political leaderships of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, under Josip Broz Tito and Joseph Stalin, respectively, in the years following World W ...
. Some Russians, who already had Yugoslavian citizenship, were stripped of it, especially in the summer and autumn of 1948; some were deported to the USSR as exposed Soviet
spies
Spies most commonly refers to people who engage in spying, espionage or clandestine operations.
Spies or The Spies may also refer to:
* Spies (surname), a German surname
* Spies (band), a jazz fusion band
* "Spies" (song), a song by Coldplay
* ...
. After 1948, Russians′ social and cultural life in Zagreb in any form virtually ceased.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...
developed economic ties with the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, which caused immigration of Soviets to Croatia, usually Soviet women through marriage. During the
period of dissolution of Yugoslavia, Croatia′media created a negative perception of those residents of Croatia who were Orthodox Christians; teaching of the Russian language in schools was largely abandoned. Nevertheless, the number of Russians in Croatia nearly doubled in the period between 1991 and 2011.
In modern Croatia, ethnic Russians (persons who identify themselves as such), who are citizens of Croatia, are expressly cited as one of the twenty-two ″national minorities″ recognised by the
Constitution of Croatia
The Constitution of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Ustav Republike Hrvatske) is promulgated by the Croatian Parliament.
History
While it was part of the socialist Yugoslavia, the Socialist Republic of Croatia had its own Constitution under the ...
(″the Republic of Croatia is hereby established as the nation state of the Croatian nation and the state of the members of its national minorities:
..). According to 2011 Census, there were 1,279 Russians in Croatia. Their rights, like the rights of other "national minorities" ( hr, nacionalne manjine) in Croatia, are regulated by the Constitutional Act on The Rights of National Minorities in the Republic of Croatia adopted in 2002 and amended in 2010.
[The Constitutional Act on The Rights of National Minorities in the Republic of Croatia](_blank)
Croatian Parliament. Chapter 16 thereof reads as follows: ″Members of national minorities, their associations and national minority councils and representatives may freely maintain contacts with people with whom they share the same ethnic, linguistic, cultural and/ or religious traits, and with legal entities based in the country of that people which engage in educational, scholarly, cultural, publishing and humanitarian activities.″
Ustavni zakon o pravima nacionalnih manjina: pročišćeni tekst: NN 155/02, 47/10, 80/10, 93/11, 93/11: na snazi od 06.07.2010.
/ref>
Notes and citations
References
*
*
*
* Filip Škiljan
Rusi u Hrvatskoj između 1991. i 2011.
Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, Zagreb.
Памятка о русских города Загреба
List of Russian POWs and emigres (Russian military officers only) buried in Zagreb, compiled by Dr Andrey Chebotaryov (Andrej Čebotarjov).
{{Portal bar, Croatia, Russia
Ethnic groups in Croatia
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...