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The Serbs of Vukovar (Serbo-Croatian: Srbi u Vukovaru, Срби у Вуковару or Vukovarski Srbi, Вуковарски Срби) are one of traditional communities living in the multicultural, multi-ethnic and multi-confessional eastern Croatian town of Vukovar on the border with Serbia.[1] The Serb community constitutes slightly over one third of the entire population of Vukovar according to 2011 Census. Other significant communities include the Croat majority, as well as Hungarians, Slovaks, Rusyns, Ukrainians and historically Yugoslavs, Germans, Jews, Vlachs and Turks.
The town is the seat of numerous ethnic organizations and institutions, including the headquarters of the Joint Council of Municipalities and the Independent Democratic Serb Party. The surrounding rural region is ethnically heterogeneous. The Serb rural communities constitute the majority in physically adjacent Borovo and the municipalities of Trpinja and Negoslavci. While Vukovar lies on the state border with the Republic of Serbia (Danube River) the closest border crossings are over the bridges in Erdut and Ilok or via the land border crossing in Tovarnik. Prominent Serbs from Vukovar include Zaharije Orfelin and Siniša Mihajlović.
During the Croatian War of Independence Vukovar became one of the major hotspots of Serb-Croat ethnic conflicts, especially at the time of the Battle of Vukovar after which the town became de facto seat of the self proclaimed Serb Autonomous Oblast Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia. After the Operation Storm, signing of the Erdut Agreement and the end of the UNTAES mission of the United Nations gradual process of reconciliation started aimed at the establishment of sustainable peace. Despite absence of physical borders, Vukovar is often described as an ethnically divided town.[2][3][4]
Both Serbs and Croats in Vukovar show cases of stereotypical victim mentality which affects propensity towards reconciliation.[5]
- ^ Josip Jagodar. "Vukovar kao primjer multietničkog i podijeljenog grada". Balcanica Posnaniensia XXIV, Poznan 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
- ^ Daniel McLaughlin. "Serbia protests against divided Croatian town's ban on bilingual signs". The Irish Times. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
- ^ Srecko Matic. "Serbs and Croats still segregated in Vukovar's schools". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
- ^ Coen van de Ven. "Vukovar: Still divided by war". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
- ^ Ankica, and Charles David Tauber. "The Perspectives of Reconciliation and Healing Among Young People in Vukovar (Croatia)." International Journal of Peace Studies 15, no. 1 (2010): 45-70. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41853000.