Srijemske Laze ( sr-Cyrl, Сремске Лазе) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

in Stari Jankovci municipality of

Vukovar-Syrmia County Vukovar-Srijem County ( hr, Vukovarsko-srijemska županija), Vukovar-Sirmium County or Vukovar-Syrmia County, named after the eponymous town of Vukovar and the region of Syrmia, is the easternmost Croatian county. It includes the eastern parts ...

in eastern

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 ...

. The village is physically connected with the village of Slakovci. According to 2011 census there is 566 residents in the village. The largest ethnic group in the village are

Serbs of Croatia The Serbs of Croatia ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Срби у Хрватској, Srbi u Hrvatskoj) or Croatian Serbs ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", хрватски Срби, hrvatski Srbi) constitute the largest national minority in Cro ...

. The village is connected with the rest of the country by the D46 state road connecting it with the town of

Vinkovci Vinkovci () is a city in Slavonia, in the Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. The city's registered population was 28,247 in the 2021 census, the total population of the city was 31,057, making it the largest town of the county. Surround ...

and continuing into

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 Hungar ...

as the State Road 120 to the nearest town of

Šid Šid ( sr-cyr, Шид, ) is a town and municipality located in the Srem District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It has a population of 14,893, while the municipality has 34,188 inhabitants. A border crossing between Serbia and ...

. Surrounding landscape of the village is marked by the

Pannonian Basin The Pannonian Basin, or Carpathian Basin, is a large basin situated in south-east Central Europe. The geomorphological term Pannonian Plain is more widely used for roughly the same region though with a somewhat different sense, with only th ...

plains and agricultural fields of corn,

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

common sunflower The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), as ...

and sugar beet.

Name

The name of the village in Croatian or Serbian is plural. In addition to its official form the name of the village of Srijemske Laze is also known as Sremske Laze in its Ekavian pronunciation of

Shtokavian Shtokavian or Štokavian (; sh-Latn, štokavski / sh-Cyrl, italics=no, штокавски, ) is the prestige dialect of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language and the basis of its Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin standards. It ...

dialect of the pluricentric

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 ...

. Historically, Ekavian pronunciation was common both among autochthonous Serb and Croat communities in

Podunavlje Podunavlje ( sr-Cyrl, Подунавље) is the name of the Danube river basin parts located in Serbia (Vojvodina, Belgrade and Eastern Serbia) and Croatia (Slavonia, Syrmia, and Baranya). Podunavlje is located on the southern edge of Pannoni ...

while both new post-

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Serb and Croat settlers predominantly used Ijekavian pronunciation. This however changed in local context after the Croatian War of Independence when Ekavian was associated with Serb and Ijekavian with Croat community with some exceptions. The word "Srijemske"/"Sremske" is a possessive adjective derived from the Serbo-Croatian word for the Syrmia region itself, meaning that the literal translation of the settlement's name in English is Syrmia's Laze. The name of the

comes from the old Croatian word ''laz'', which means a part of the hillside that can be overcome on foot.

Geography

Southern edge of administrative area of village bordering Bosut river. North of the river is oak forest and after forest there are large agricultural fields. Between village itself and the southern part of administrative area village lying

Zagreb–Belgrade railway The Zagreb–Belgrade railway ( sh, Pruga Zagreb-Beograd) was the Yugoslav Railways long railway line connecting the cities of Zagreb and Belgrade in SR Croatia and SR Serbia, at the time of Yugoslavia. It was the route of the Orient Express s ...

. Through the village passing D46 highway. At the eastern end, village is physically connected to the neighboring village Slakovci. The village is part of Pannonian sub-region of Syrmia. The area of village is completely flat, gently sloped from slightly higher north to lower south. Word ''Srijemske'' in village name comes from Eastern Herzegovinian, Shtokavian dialect of

word for region of Syrmia.

History

Middle Ages

In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

modern village area were populated by Catholic population. Name of place that than existed was Laz. Origin of old village name comes from

Croat The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, Ge ...

word ''laz'', which means the low gentle hill that man can easily exceed walking. Catholic village Laz which was just south of the present day village, was abandoned under the influence of

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

in the 17th century.

Resettlement

After the liberation from the

following the 1699

Treaty of Karlowitz The Treaty of Karlowitz was signed in Karlowitz, Military Frontier of Archduchy of Austria (present-day Sremski Karlovci, Serbia), on 26 January 1699, concluding the Great Turkish War of 1683–1697 in which the Ottoman Empire was defeated by th ...

, the

Franciscans , 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 = , ...

from Srijemski Laz took most of the population to

Vukovar Vukovar () ( sr-Cyrl, Вуковар, hu, Vukovár, german: Wukowar) is a city in Croatia, in the eastern region of Slavonia. It contains Croatia's largest river port, located at the confluence of the Vuka and the Danube. Vukovar is the seat of ...

where they built the Church of Saints Philip and James, while a smaller part of the population moved to Jankovci and Slakovci. Even today, descendants of natives from Laz with the surname Lazanin live in these villages. Between 1690s and 1720s the village was abandoned when it was resettled by

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 ...

population. Since after the

village remained deserted and empty,

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...

in early 18th century inhabited village with

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 ...

mostly from eastern Bosnia (from

Bijeljina Bijeljina ( sr-cyrl, Бијељина) is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the provincial center of Semberija, a geographic region in the country's northeast. Administratively, Bijeljina is part of the Republika Srpska ...

and

Zvornik Zvornik ( sr-cyrl, Зворник, ) is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located in Republika Srpska, on the left bank of the Drina river. In 2013, it had a population of 58,856 inhabitants. The town of Mali Zvornik ("Little Zvornik") lies ...

) and southwestern

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

. In 1719 locals built a wooden church of All saint Arhistratiz's, which on 18 June 1752 was consecrated by

episkopos 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 ca ...

Partenije. In that period under the parish belonged also Orthodox families from neighboring village Jankovci until in new village wasn't built Orthodox church.

Administrative changes up the collapse of Austro-Hungary

In 1701 village administratively became part of

Military Frontier The Military Frontier (german: Militärgrenze, sh-Latn, Vojna krajina/Vojna granica, Војна крајина/Војна граница; hu, Katonai határőrvidék; ro, Graniță militară) was a borderland of the Habsburg monarchy and ...

. In 1716 village become part of Vukovar Seigniory in

Kingdom of Slavonia The Kingdom of Slavonia ( hr, Kraljevina Slavonija, la, Regnum Sclavoniae, hu, Szlavón Királyság, german: Königreich Slawonien, sr-Cyrl, Краљевина Славонија) was a kingdom of the Habsburg monarchy and the Austrian Empi ...

. In 1745 during the final delimitation between Vukovar Seigniory and Military Frontier village again become part of Military Frontier. In 1848 and 1849 village was part of short-lived self-proclaimed Serbian autonomous region

Serbian Vojvodina The Serbian Vojvodina ( sr, Српска Војводина / ) was a short-lived self-proclaimed Serb autonomous province within the Austrian Empire during the Revolutions of 1848, which existed until 1849 when it was transformed into the new (o ...

. Village stay part of Military Frontier until 1881 and unification of Croatian and

Slavonian Military Frontier The Slavonian Military Frontier ( hr, Slavonska vojna krajina or ; german: Slawonische Militärgrenze; sr, Славонска војна крајина; hu, Szlavón határőrvidék) was a district of the Military Frontier, a territory in the ...

into Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. When in 1873 Military Frontier was demilitarized village become part of

Mirkovci Mirkovci ( sr-Cyrl, Мирковци, hu, Szegfalu, german: Sankt Emrich) is a village and suburb of the town of Vinkovci in eastern Croatia. It is geographically within the Syrmia and Podunavlje region. The village is located immediately southe ...

municipality and then village name got geographical prefix ''Srijemske'' so that it can be distinguished from other four villages in Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia with that name.

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

At the end of 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 ...

Srijemske Laze become part of short-lived unrecognized

State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs ( sh, Država Slovenaca, Hrvata i Srba / ; sl, Država Slovencev, Hrvatov in Srbov) was a political entity that was constituted in October 1918, at the end of World War I, by Slovenes, Croats and Serbs ( ...

that joined the Kingdom of Serbia to form 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 ...

that will later change its name into Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In that period wider region was shortly part of Drina Banovina with capital in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

, but than become part of Sava Banovina that letter become part of autonomous Banovina of Croatia. Narrower region was part of the Syrmia County till 1924 and then Syrmia Oblast.

World War II

During

village was part of

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

puppet

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. It was established in p ...

and Vuka county within it. In 1941 in village lived about 900 inhabitants, out of which during the World War II 300 took part in

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод� ...

and 150 were killed. During the war village was permanent safe place for partisans that because of that call it ''Little Moscow''.Milutin Bekić, ''Održavanje, uređivanje i korištenje spomenika revolucije u nastavnoj praksi male područne škole''. U zborniku: skupina autora, ''Mala područna škola'', Školske novine i Zavod za prosvjetno-pedagošku službu SRH, Zagreb, 1981., str 45. – 48. At that time in village was created two days of remembrance and celebration of that period. These were ''Socialist Slava'' (22 August) and ''Day of the Dead'' (14 October). Socialist Slava was created in memory of year 1943, when about 120 people went to partisans, and Day of the Dead commemorate the 56 villagers killed on 14 October 1944 when

Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionary Move ...

launched a punitive expedition aimed at the destruction of partisan nests.

Era of socialist Yugoslavia

War in Croatia and peaceful reintegration

During the

war in Croatia The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yugosl ...

Srijemske Laze was within self-proclaimed Serb political entity SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia. In the final stages of conflict United Nations Mission conducted peaceful reintegration of this region into Croatian jurisdiction. Population in Srijemske Laze decreased from 1991 till 2001 for 29.4%.

Demographics

The village is faced with the challenge of population decline. The process was initiated by industrialization and

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...

already in the period of the existence of the SFR Yugoslavia and intensified by the post- Croatian War of Independence socioeconomic situation. Population decline further intensified in the aftermath of the 2013 enlargement of the European Union with emigration to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

and other parts of the EU.

Politics

In Srijemske Laze there are local committees of

Independent Democratic Serb Party The Independent Democratic Serb Party ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Самостална демократска српска странка, Samostalna demokratska srpska stranka, SDSS) is a social-democratic political party in Croatia representing the intere ...

and New Serbian Party.

Culture

Every year on the Orthodox Christmas Eve (January 6), residents in the churchyard have a bonfire for " Badnjak", the Serbian word for Christmas Eve. In this occasion locals take oak trees from the area and make a ritual fire.

Education

Branch school of Elementary school Stari Jankovci is located in Srijemske Laze. Education at local school is carried out in Serbian.Popis osnovnih i srednjih škola s nastavom na jeziku i pismu nacionalnih manjina po modelu A, školska godina 2011./2012., Ministarstvo znanosti obrazovanja i sporta

Gallery

Image:Srijemske laze.jpg Image:Srijemske Laze 1-Сријемске Лазе 1.JPG Image:Srijemske Laze 2-Сријемске Лазе 2.JPG Image:Српска православна црква у Сремским Лазама-Serbian Orthodox Church Srijemske Laze.jpg, Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, Srijemske Laze Image:Sremske Laze Train Station (Srijemske Laze, Stari Jankovci, HR).jpg, Sremske Laze railway station

References

External links

Aerial view of the village on the Stari Jankovci Municipality You-Tube Page
{{Villages of Vukovar-Syrmia County Populated places in Vukovar-Syrmia County Populated places in Syrmia Serb communities in Croatia