Transitions Online_Books-The Sage of Sorbia
An interview with Jurij Koch, an eminent writer among the Slavic-speaking community in eastern Germany.
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An interview with Jurij Koch, an eminent writer among the Slavic-speaking community in eastern Germany.
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This work analyzes key segments of the activity of the Czech minority on Croatian territory from the assassination of King Alexander in 1934 up to the death of the first President of Czechoslovakia, T. G. Masaryk in 1937, two individuals who left an indelible mark on the political, cultural and economical life of the Czech minority community. Although Czechs supported the idea of Yugoslavian unitarianism and centralism from the moment the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was founded, for which they were awarded (in the 1931 Yugoslav Constitution) with the right to establish private (minority) schools and to put members of the Czech and Slovak minorities as substitutes on the government list for the 1931 elections, systematic prolonging in dealing with the issues of nationality for a large number of the members of the Czech minority and general impoverishment of Czech peasants and craftsmen in smaller rural communities due to the effects of the larger economical crisis and corruption of the Yugoslavian government apparatus led to the political stratification of the Czech minority. While the Czech intelligentsia, mostly employed in the government, for its own benefit continued to support state unitarianism and centralism, Czech peasants started to side with the opposing Croatian Peasants’ Party (HSS), which offered solutions for their economical problems, and by publicly admitting Czech cultural and national individuality, Maček insured the support from some of the intelligentsia that, through the articles in the Jugoslávští Čechoslováci newspaper, began to openly advocate for dealing with the Croatian issue.
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The author of the paper evokes the personality of Elena Alistar, the single woman deputy in Sfatul Țării [the name of the Bessarabian parliament during 1917-1918] who voted for the union of Bessarabia with the Romanian Kingdom on the 27th of March 1918. She emphasizes her activity during the interwar period, as director of the Eparchial Girls’ School from Chișinău, as well as her fate after 1940, when she sought refuge in Romania. Using information collected from the former graduates of the Eparchial School and unpublished manuscripts, the researcher clarifies some data from the biography of Elena Alistar, data that were wrongly published in different papers. In the meantime, she emphasizes the contribution of Elena Alistar to promoting the Romanian folk dress in Bessarabia. During the interwar period, the holiday costume was worn by the Bessarabian intellectuals on different occasions, as an expression of their Romanian identity. This information is a valuable source for the study of the significances of the folk dress in the Bessarabian society from that time, eventually, for identifying the peculiarities of the costumes worn then.
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The present paper analyses the handicraft heritage constituted during the 75 years of existence (made on 28 April 2018) of the Ethnographic Museum of Moldavia. The period between 1968 and 1975 was the most favourable one in the entire history of the museum, in terms of collection development. In those years no fewer than 368 objects related to traditional handicrafts were purchased by or donated to our institution, most of them belonging to the field of household industry. Our research focussed on the following handicrafts: textile household industry, wood manufacture (wheel making, making objects using staves, woodworking excepting house carpentry), ropemaking, blacksmithing, skin manufacture (making of coats, caps and ‘opinci’ – traditional peasant shoes), pottery and stone manufacture. The documentation work based on museum’s main specific sources: the heritage stored within museum spaces, the inventory record, object data sheet and photographic library. Scientific research led to the identification of approx. 860 objects distributed as follows: textile household industry – approx. 370 objects; wood manufacture – approx. 380; ropemaking – 30; blacksmithing – 25; skin manufacture – 21; pottery – 16; stone manufacture – 15, etc. If we relate these figures to the total amount of museum objects, it results that more than 10% of the museum heritage belong to the field of traditional handicrafts. A large discrepancy is to be noted between household industry and wood manufacture on the one hand, and the other five handicrafts on the other hand. It is our opinion that the museum of Iaşi did not have a coherent purchase policy, as the main ethnographic-cultural areas of Moldavia from which handicraft heritage comes include Bukovina (more than half of them) and afterwards Iaşi, Neamţ and Botoşani counties.
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The article presents the formation of two different stereotypes of the ancient Slavs – as a warlike people and pacifist. Based on the Polish historiography of the nineteenth century, it was shown how the appropriate stereotype was used in the historiographic or literary representation of the ancient Slavs. The starting point for the consideration of many historians were numerous historical sources from the 6th–7th century, showing the Slavs as a belligerent, as well as one information about the peaceful attitude of this people. And it was the message of Theophylact Simocatta that won the recognition of many re-searchers living in the 18th and 19th centuries, who inscribed it in the romantic vision of Slavs based on J. G. Herder’s historiosophy. The article refers to opposite theories of Alexander Sapieha or Jan Paweł Woronicz. An attempt was also made to reconcile two opposing visions of the ancient Slavs in the theory of conquest, commonly accepted in the 19th century.
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Over time, following visits, diplomatic missions and trips made out of curiosity to know the specifics of peoples, important aspects related to Romanian art and culture were reproduced. Direct witnesses to the ceremonial ceremonies and events at the royal and boyar courts, capture in historical writings the customs and traditions developed within them. In Moldova and Wallachia, in the 17th and 18th centuries, a characteristic identified during the events is the incessant presence of musical groups. These bands were responsible for impressing and creating a pleasant atmosphere for the participants in order to facilitate friendly ties between hosts and guests. The cultural aspects of the ceremonies and events organized at the royal and boyars courts are marked by the Greek-Ottoman influences specific to the historical period. The musical picture of the events was composed of Greek music performed by church choirs, Turkish music performed by the mehterhanea composed of Turkish instruments and later the Christians appear, national music performed by Roma fiddlers organized in groups. The perceived ethnicity present in the Romanian musical culture represents the importance and contribution of the ethnic diversity over time to the enrichment of the Romanian cultural heritage.
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Starting from the concrete figures that, in 1910 (when Transylvania was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) showed that over half of the population of Transylvania was Romanian but that this population was overwhelmingly rural and only three nations were recognized (Szeklers, Hungarians and Saxons, Romanians being a tolerated nation), we will explain the need of Romanian ethnographers and folklorists in this province to assert the identity, cultural and spiritual belonging of Transylvania to the Romanian identity. After the Great Union of 1918, the country project for Great Romania, at the cultural level, aimed at replacing the elites of the minorities with the Romanian elites and bringing the level of the culture of the masses of Romanians closer to that of the non- Romanians. Specifically, in Transylvania, the cultural conquest of cities took place: the takeover of the Hungarian university, the establishment of Romanian theater and opera, followed by the regulation of museums and the preservation of traditional culture by establishing the Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania in 1922, the Romanian Ethnographic Society in 1923, the Department of Ethnography and Folklore in 1926, the Folklore Archive in 1930. The ethnographic researches were based on the solid foundation of the traditional village, on the study of the Romanian speaking population and the applied methods-collection of ethnographic material, collection of folklore, the application of questionnaires that provided the basis for the creation of ethnographic museums, the establishment of ethnographic and folklore archives. The beginning of the twentieth century in Transylvania was marked by the need to express national identity. Therefore, ethnographers, starting from the study of traditional society-through its material or spiritual component-contributed to defining the elements of national specificity of Romanians in Transylvania.
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The aim of this paper is to present the story of the name of one of the most important representatives of the Slovak nation. Jozef Miloslav Hurban, one of the leaders of the national movement, was active in the national emancipation process for more than half a century. The article analyses the emergence of this surname among the elites of Slovak society. It introduces him as a publicist and a village priest who became the main protagonist of the political and military struggles for the rights of oppressed nation. It shows what it meant to lead Slovak volunteer soldiers in the revolution of 1848/1849, who even got their name after their commander – „hurbanisti“. It talks about how a strong cult of Hurban was created in contemporary journalism, mainly in the 60s of the 19th century. We can find it in celebration poems, public greetings and glorifications especially by younger authors. Public criticism from the Slovak environment, which was levelled at to him for his historiographic or church-organizational activity, contributes to the balance of this picture. He was especially criticized for his positive attitude towards the acceptance of the so-called Protestant patent, by which Emperor Francis Joseph supported the rights of the non-Hungarian part of the Evangelical Church in Hungary. For religious disputes were in fact political and ethnic tensions. Although Hurban became a superintendent – Evangelical bishop – for a year thanks to the reform, these conflicts brought more troubles and public defamation. The article presents a plethora of Hruban’s critics and how they publicly portrayed him as an enemy.
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The end of the Cold War revived the national problem in Yugoslavia, which, together with the fundamental issues that remained unresolved after the death of Iosif Broz Tito, contributed to the outbreak of violence. The article examines three important periods for the evolution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from the beginning of the wars in Yugoslavia, after the fall of communism and to the time of Bosnia and Herzegovinaʼs accession to the European Union, in 2016, focusing on the international communityʼs efforts to ensure transition and restoring balance in the region. The Dayton Accords have failed to ensure the transition to a state independent of international aid, leaving behind an ethnically grounded political system that slows the progress of reforms and the path to European integration. The article analysis the extent to which post-Dayton reconciliation and reconstruction between Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs have been achieved. Thus, the paper will highlight the extent to which the Peace Accords and international intervention have succeeded in ensuring the transition of Bosnia and Herzegovina into a modern, viable state with functioning institutions.
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The Tabgach, as a non-Chinese tribe, ruled North China from the end of 4th century to the middle of 6th century. Through a series of social reforms, Emperor Xiaowen depicted himself as a typical Chinese emperor rather than as a kaghan over the steppe people. One of the reforms he und ertook was a reform of Tabgach surnames. The Tabgach people used Chinese characters to transcribe their proper names. As Chinese characters are single-syllabic, sometimes they had to use several Chinese characters to transcribe a single Tabgach proper name. The multi-character Tabgach surnames sounded exotic to the Chinese people. In order to be accepted by Chinese society, they changed these sophisticated multi-character surnames into simple and traditional Chinese surnames. This paper is going to discuss the methods used by the reform committee in inventing Tabgach surnames.
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The issues of the repressive policy of the Soviet power, in the first year of its establishment on the territory of Southern Bessarabia, towards different representatives of the ethnic groups is here considered. Special attention is given to the analysis of the situation of the representatives of the Romanian nationality, who entered the top three of the most affected regional ethnic groups. Based on previously unknown sources, an attempt of a real assessment of the magnitude of the crimes done by Stalinism towards the Romanian people of Southern Bessarabia was made. The age, profession and place of residence, the most frequently used prosecution methods and prison terms for the so-called “public enemies” are also analyzed. With concrete examples, the falsity of the Soviet punitive system, the absence of real rights and freedom guarantees for the people of the country are shown.
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Garašanin's Progressive Government proposed to the National Assembly, which was held in Niš in May 1884, to adopt amendments to several laws of a political nature after the demise of the Timok rebellion. These were the bills amending the law: on the press, on the associations and choirs, on the municipality, and on the gendarmerie. By adopting these repressive laws, the progressives practically prevented the work of political parties, reinforced police surveillance over the municipalities, and increased the gendarmerie forces further. The lost war with Bulgaria in 1885 marked the beginning of the political breakdown of the Progressives and King Milan, who was close to them, although they repeatedly disagreed with his political actions. However, their departure from the political scene did not begin immediately after the lost war, as many expected, but took another year and a half for the Progressives, and three years for King Milan. On the other hand, the Radicals began to believe in the possibility that the defeat that they experienced during the Timok rebellion could come to a victory, that is, to power. A long-standing march against the Radical Party was halted, as King Milan realized that he could not rule with the constant ignorance of the will of the people. The broad popular masses led by the People's Radical Party should have approached the throne and the dynasty and together with the representatives of the Progressive Party alleviate the difficult situation created by the war against Bulgaria, and later provide the crown prince with a safer ruler. The royal attempt to persuade the Radicals to agree with the Progressives failed, as representatives of the Radical Party at the assembly held in February 1886 in Niš resolutely refused an agreement with the Progressives. In April 1886, they signed an agreement with the Liberals, which contained a joint program of work of both parties. The most important points of this program, which was a reflection of the compromise on both sides, concerned the change of the Constitution in the internal and the improvement of relations with the Russians in foreign policy. In June 1887, a liberal-radical government was formed, the first coalition government in the political history of Serbia.
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At the beginning of the 20th century, The Ottoman Empire started weakening largely. This weakening was influenced by difficult economic situation accompanied by stronger diplomatic activities of the European powers. Wishing to save the state from the collapse, the Young Turk movement had forced the sultan Abdul Hamid to concession, which led to changes on the throne. The Young Turks reinforced their activity in all parts of the Ottoman Empire and many great plans lied ahead, which had foreseen reform of the state and society including internal consolidation of the country as well. The Young Turk regime representatives propagated the idea of equality of all people, which would have the same rights and duties as well.The ideas and work of the Young Turks came across a resistance of some Albanian leaders, among which was Isa Boljetinac, known as per his crimes over Serbian population of Mitrovica casa. He was known as an influential man and he enlarged his activity out of this territory, which often served, after numerous conflicts with Turkish authorities, as the hideout. As the prominent opponent of the Young Turk regime, the conflict with authorities and Albanian movements, which marked that time, was experienced as the struggle for old privileges such as: carrying of arms, non–paying of taxes, non–interference of Turkish authorities into their relationships and, especially, non–service in the army. Determination to persist in the struggle for the return of privileges led Isa Boljetinac to get in touch with the consul of the Kingdom of Serbia in Priština, from whom he requested arms, munitions, and money. Consul thought that the fulfilment of his requests had influenced the improvement of the position of Serbs and eventually some subsequent support so that he had approved of them. Nevertheless, before the outbreak of the Balkan Wars, Isa was not clear in his answers and it was evident it could not be counted on his alliance.
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The most frequently mentioned woman in the literary work of Stefan the First–Crowned is the Blessed Virgin, a God pleasing role model whose pursuit leads to the salvation of the soul. She was also a role model to his father, Stefan Nemanja. In addition, she was at the same time the most common example of a role model mother followed by all mothers, as well as his mother Ana and his grandmother. His father's mother was mentioned but remained nameless. Of the other roles of a woman, in the centre of his attention was the wife of a husband. The context in which he mentioned her was the matrimonial law—penalties for unlawful marriage, unlawful dissolution of marriage, an adulterous woman, and forbidden marriage with sister–in–law.However, no mention was made of the obligations of parents, of a mother towards children, or of the adult children towards mothers. It must be noted that he did not talk much about a woman as a mother, though he did provide some information. It was fragmentary information about the mother–in–law, the widow, but there is no information about a woman–sister, woman–daughter, which is a striking testimony that he was not interested in these aspects of a woman.Apparently, he was only interested in a woman as a God–pleasing role model, among other things, God–pleasing mothers also in the sense of regulating marital relations.
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The development of mining in the Principality of Serbia in the 1860s was determined by the previous years, especially during the reign of Ustavobranitelji when government initiative in Majdanpek came to a halt. In the 1860s, the main points of interest were the mine of Majdanpek, Kučajna, and the mines in the Podgora region. The two former were owned by foreign capital, whilst the latter was being researched by Stevan Đuričić around 1867. The mining in Majdanpek was done by the French-Serbian Society between 1859 and 1866, when the operation was taken over by The Serbian Company for Iron and Copper. Kučajna was being worked on by a German mining expert, Felix Hofman, between 1862 and 1873. During this period, the Mining Law of 1866 was passed, setting the foundation for further improvement of mining operations in the Principali-ty/Kingdom of Serbia. During the 1860s most of the state income concerning mining came from the regal tax which had to be payed in order for one to acquire a permission for ore extraction. Most of the expenses went to financing the mining offices in Majdanpek, the directory of mines in Krupanj, various mining investments, as well as scholarships for students studying abroad. It should be said that the incomes, as well as the expenses, were symbolic when compared to the overall state incomes/expenses, making up less than 0.1% of the state incomes and expenses. This created a situation where the state could not count on any major incomes from mining, with an increase in expenses coming only at the end of the period in question due to greater state financing of mine in the Podrinje region.
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During the final stages of the Late Bronze Age the territory of northern Bosnia was characterised by remarkable cultural dynamics, visible primarily in the distribution of metal finds: weapons, tools, jewelry, and functional costume objects. The new type of funeral practice – inhumation – emerged here and was perhaps an important factor in the formation and social stratification of communities living here at the end of the Late Bronze Age and the beginning of the Early Iron Age. The area of northern Bosnia is situated between the Pannonian Basin to the north and the mountainous region of the western Balkans to the south commonly referred to as Dinarides. Thanks to its geographical location, the upper course of the Sava River facilitates direct connections with the Alps, while its lower course leads to the Danube that creates a link with the Black Sea region. To the north, the area is open to the wide peripanon regions of Slavonia and Syrmia. Up the Danube valley, the communication corridor reaches Transdanubia and,along the Tisza River, the central part of the Carpathian Basin. This paper presents a specific form of material culture, a bronze pins with disk-shaped head and short thickening on the neck. A total of six pins are known; two of which have been discovered in hoards (Osredak and Gajina pećina), one in a grave (Ostrožac near Cazin), while the remaining pins are chance finds (Donja Dolina, Prud, and Soukbunar). They all come from a very limited region south of the Sava River and chronologically cover the period from the10th to the end of the 9th century BC or with Ha B2/3 horizon of Central European periodization. The pins with a disk-shaped head and short thickening on the neck most likely became part of women’s headgear or complex hairstyles, suggesting the development of special local habits and dress codes intended to promote status and rank. The choice of jewellery and local costume of the females yields information on their origins, affiliations,status, and social and economic role within the community. This paper posits that female costume in nothern Bosnia played the role of an important medium of social communication and interaction, and that it was important for the self-identification of its wearer in identifying their status. Furthermore, women’s mobility played an important role in spreading cultural habits at the end of the Late Bronze Age and in the Early Iron Age in the Western Balkans, with such mobility being evidenced through the distribution of personal items, especially jewellery and ornaments. Reasons for this mobility are related to economic, artisanal, military-political, ritual, and other various practices of the time. A special place in these exchanges was afforded to women, who, through exogamous marriages, became visible in the processes of cultural and social interaction.
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The symbolism of the Egg may be followed through cosmogonic myths in many civilisations, which are similar among themselves and show that they share the same roots in certain segments. The roots of the Western civilizational circle are to be found in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Syrian and the Palestinian countries, as well as in the Aegean (Balkan-Anatolian) cultural sphere. As a result of the contact with other civilizational circles, a kind of transfer of these influences on a lot wider geographic areas took place, as well as cyclic synergy came about. By comparing various cosmogonic myths, the conclusion may be drawn that the Egg is the primordial state of Cosmos, with Chaos within, from which the first Germ of Life stems (nature; gods; humans). The meaning of the original symbol of the Egg got lost in the course of time, so that only its importance with respect to the abundance and the cyclic restoration of life in nature, and the afterlife and resurrection in religion remained.
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The study is devoted to the description different domiciliary healing practices with improvised means and the analysis of cases when medical treatment is sought from sorceresses that work in the Arnaut community in South Russia; the ethnographic material is compared with the traditions of Albanian and Bulgarian folk medicine. The research includes a wide scope of data collected by means of participant observation, several interviews with sorceresses, and texts of verbal spells. Maintenance of self-treatment practices and popularity of wise women are analyzed through the conception of limited resources, in the case of Arnauts in South Russia the village community lacks professional medical care, technical equipment of medical stations, mobility and money. Field work studies in Rostov on Don region are organized by Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences and St. Petersburg State University in 2015–2018. The data are collected in villages Margaritovo, Chumbur-Kosa etc. The digital and material archive of the expeditions is registrated at the Kunstkamera, St. Petersburg.
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The paper examines the long-standing activity of Albanian researchers to prove, based primarily on the analysis of the names of places and personal names in the area of Kosovo and Metohija, that the majority Albanian population are indigenous, and that the presence of the Serbian ethnic element is over-represented in Serbian historiography.
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