Borovo, Croatia

Borovo (Serbian Cyrillic: Борово[6], Hungarian: Boró, German: Worow), (meaning "of the pines") also known as Borovo Selo ("Borovo Village", to distinguish it from relatively new nearby Borovo Naselje), is a village and a municipality in Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. It is situated on the river Danube on the border with Serbia. While being a municipality in its own right, Borovo is closely related with neighboring Vukovar, to which it is physically connected. It is a biggest settlement in Croatia in which Serbs of Croatia constitute ethnic majority.

Borovo
Борово (Serbian)[1]
Municipality
Borovo Municipality
Općina Borovo
Општина Борово[2]
Danube river in Borovo
Flag
Coat of arms
Borovo
Location of Borovo in Croatia
Coordinates: 45°23′N 18°58′E
Country Croatia
RegionPodunavlje
County Vukovar-Syrmia
Government
 • Municipal mayorZoran Baćanović (SDSS[3])
Area
 • Total28.36 km2 (10.95 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)
 • Total5,056
 • Density180/km2 (460/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
32227 Borovo
Area code(s)+032
Vehicle registrationVU
Official languagesCroatian, Serbian[5]
Websitewww.opcina-borovo.hr

Geography

The municipality is located on the Danube river, the second longest European river. The municipality has a total area of 28,17 km2 (10.8 sq mi).[7] The territory of the municipality is almost completely flat as it is located in Pannonian Plain, and it consist of fertile black soil adequate for the agricultural production of crops.[7] Borovo is closely related with neighboring Vukovar, to which it is physically connected. It is connected by the D519 road to the rest of the country. Along its Danube bank municipality is bordering neighboring Republic of Serbia.[7]

To the north it is bordered by the village of Dalj in Erdut municipality in Osijek-Baranja County, to the west the Trpinja municipality, to the south the town of Vukovar and its Borovo Naselje district and to the east the Danube river. About 30% of the entire territory of the municipality consists of residential area.[7]

History
Borovo on map of Syrmia County from 1900

Borovo Municipality has been inhabited since the Stone Age. In the younger Iron Age this region was settled by the Celts. During Roman times area was a part of Danubian Limes. Several villages and the only crossing over the Danube in the entire empire existed in this area. The village of Borovo itself was mentioned for the first time in the year 1231 when it was a property of the town of Vukovar in the Kingdom of Hungary.[8] At that time village was centered more to the north from its present-day location.[8][9] At that time village was centered more to the north from its present-day location.[8] Around 1540 Borovo was populated by Serbs who originated from the upper Drina and Polimlje.[9] This migration caused linguistic change in the region since the local Ikavian pronunciation of the vowel Yat in Shtokavian dialect was changed with the Ekavian pronunciation.[9] The Church of St Stephen the Archdeacon was built in the period between 1761 and 1764.[9] At that time Borovo gained municipality status for the first time in its history.[9] Municipality was administrated by local knez.[9] In 1736 there was 49 houses in the entire village.[9] Until 1811 this number increased to 231 of them.[9] At that time Borovo had a population of 1754 inhabitants.[9] In 1880 Borovo became the gain the municipality status for the second time and this municipality created a coat of arms in 1884 used by the modern day municipality as well.[9]

Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Baťa factory in September 1938

Borovo became an important regional industrial center during the existence of Yugoslavia. In the period between the two world wars, Czech entrepreneur Jan Baťa's factory Bata Shoes opened one of their major factories in Borovo creating the economic growth after the crisis that followed the end of World War I.[9] At that time, as the result of the development of business, modern day Borovo Naselje was built up.[9] The village itself rise from 2213 inhabitants in 1932 to 4530 in 1936.[9] In 1935 Borovo even included and airfield and Yugoslav airliner Aeroput connected the town with regular flights to Belgrade and Zagreb.[10] In that time Borovo became municipality for the third time in its history.[9]

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

In 1945 Borovo footwear was nationalized.[11] While being state owned factory managed entirely by its employees through the Yugoslav workers' self-management system.[11] The company produced everything from shoe polish to shoeboxes and was selling its products across the former Yugoslavia through the 620 local Borovo shops. Company was producing around 23 million pairs of shoes a year in that period.[11]

Croatian War of Independence

Battle of Borovo Selo on 2 May 1991 was one of the first armed clashes in the conflict which became known as the Croatian War of Independence. The immediate cause for the confrontation was a failed attempt to replace a Yugoslav flag in the village with a Croatian one. The unauthorized effort by four Croatian policemen resulted in the capture of two by a Croatian Serb militia in the village. To retrieve the captives, Croatian authorities deployed additional police, who drove into an ambush. Twelve Croatian policemen and one Serb paramilitary were killed in the battle before the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) intervened and stopped the fighting. Croatian independence referendum was called on 19 May 1991 while Serb local authorities called for a boycott of the vote, which was largely followed by Croatian Serbs.[12] On June 25, 1991, at the same day as the Socialist Republic of Croatia declared its withdrawal from Yugoslavia, a self-proclaimed Serbian Autonomous Oblast SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia was established. In 1992, the oblast joined the breakaway Republic of Serbian Krajina. After the fall of Republic of Serbian Krajina rump Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia remained as a short-lived Serb parallel entity. After the Erdut Agreement, the territory was reintegrated into Croatia within UN peacekeeping mission UNTAES. On 22 of May 1997 Borovo Municipality was established for a fourth time.[8] It became one of the founding municipalities of a Joint Council of Municipalities.

Demographics

Population

National structure (2011)

  Serbs (89.73%)
  Croats (6.57%)
  Slovaks (0.46%)
  Hungarians (0.44%)
  Others (2.80%)

According to 2011 Census Borovo had a population of 5,056 at the time. 89.73% of the population of municipality were ethnic Serbs (4,537 individuals).[13][8] Second largest ethnic group were Croats (332) and there was also number of individuals who declared as follows: Ukrainians (8), Slovenians (2), Slovaks (23), Pannonian Rusyns (10), Russians (2), Romani (12), Poles (2), Germans (4), Macedonians (2), Hungarians (22), Czechs (3), Montenegrins (11), Bosniaks (14), Albanians (5) and others.[8] About 100 individuals from younger generation left the village since the end of the war in search for a job in countries such as England, Norway, Australia and Canada.[14]

Language

Serbian language

Serbian Language and Serbian Cyrillic alphabet is the second official language in the municipality of Borovo alongside with the Croatian language which is official at the national level.[2] Both Serbian and Croatian language are standardized varieties of the Serbo-Croatian language. According to the municipal Statute, individuals who are members of the Serbian national minority are ensured the freedom of expression of national belonging and freedom to use their language and script in public and private use on the whole territory of the Municipality of Borovo.[2] The statute guarantees that the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet will be used in the same font as Latin alphabet in text of the local seals and stamps, on official plates of public representative, executive and administrative bodies, as well as on those of legal persons with public authorities.[2] For the coming and from the past sessions of the Municipal Assembly Councillor or any other citizen have the right to get all of the working and official materials bilingually, and those materials must be in the same font in both languages.[2] According to the municipal Statute, on the entire territory of the Municipality bilingual signs of same font are used for written traffic signs and other written traffic markings, street and squares names and names of settlement and geographical localities.[2] Equal public use of Serbian language is required on the basis of Constitutional Act on the Rights of National Minorities in the Republic of Croatia and relevant national laws since the country is a party to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.[1]

Politics

Joint Council of Municipalities

The Municipality of Borovo is one of seven Serb majority member municipalities within the Joint Council of Municipalities, inter-municipal sui generis organization of ethnic Serb community in eastern Croatia established on the basis of Erdut Agreement. As Serb community constitute majority of the population of the municipality it is represented by 2 delegated Councillors at the Assembly of the Joint Council of Municipalities, double the number of Councilors to the number from Serb minority municipalities in Eastern Croatia.[15]

Municipality government

The municipality assembly is composed of 15 representatives. Assembly filled in by members of the electoral lists that win more than 5% of votes. Dominant party in the municipality since the independence of Croatia and the reintegration of the region in 1998 is Independent Democratic Serb Party. 1,475, or 36.16%, out of 4,079 voters participated in 2017 Croatian local elections with 93.69% valid votes.[16] With 93.42% and 1,378 votes, Zoran Baćanović from Independent Democratic Serb Party was elected as municipality major.[16] Since a proportional number of ethnic Croats was not elected, one additional MP was appointed.

Summary of the 2017 Croatian local elections

Party Votes % Seats
Independent Democratic Serb Party1,09479.1613
Independent list16011.571
Serb People's Party&New Serb Party1289.261
Additional representative of local Croat community//1
Invalid/blank votes936.31—
Total1,475100—
Registered voters/turnout4,07936.16—
Source[16](in Croatian)

Economy

Borovo is underdeveloped municipality which is statistically classified as the First Category Area of Special State Concern by the Government of Croatia.[17] Croatian War of Independence and transformation from socialist economic system into capitalism lead to deindustrialization in the Borovo municipality. Huge part of the population reoriented themselves to the work in agriculture while the smaller section started small private businesses.[18]

Education

Elementary education

Elementary School in Borovo was open in 1853. In 1936, the new building was officially opened under the name of State Folk School of Knight King Alexander First Unifier.[9]

At the time of opening of new building the school in Borovo school was the largest one in Vukovar. After the World War II the school's name was changed once again, this time to Božidar Maslarić Elementary School.[9] Following the Erdut Agreement, the school changed its name yet once again in 1997 and is known today simply as the Borovo Elementary School. In 2006, the school was thoroughly renovated from the European Union and Croatian government funds.[9]

Culture

Points of Interest
Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Stephen in Borovo

Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Stephen in Borovo was completed in 1764. Church is listed in Register of Cultural Goods of Croatia. Iconostasis with 49 icons and other inventory is also specifically listed in Register.

Associations and Institutions

In the village there is a Borovo volunteer fire department.[19]

One of the three Serbian radio stations in the region called Radio Borovo, was formed in 1991.

Sport

Fudbalski klub Sloga is a football club established in 1926.[20] In that year, group of sailors from a Czech boat on Danube broth the first ball in the village and the first football match was played by sailors and a group of locals.[20] The local club was established shortly after.[20] In 1947 match with Špart from Beli Manastir took place on a day of annual local celebration and fair.[20] In the summer of 1950 Sloga's guest was FK Partizan.[20] Partizan won the match with the result 10-0. On a return match at the Partizan Stadium result was 3:1 for Partisan.[20] Two years after Partizan, Red Star Belgrade was Sloga's guest as well.[20] Sloga lost the match with the result 8:1.[20] Jovica Sremac Punoš was a club's player that played in Serbian First League in 1939/1940 season, just before World War II.[20] Nikola Perlić was one of the Sloga's players.[20] In 2016 90th anniversary of the club was organized with FK Vojvodina coming as a guest team for a friendly match.[20] General Consul of Serbia in Vukovar Nataša Kelezić, Milorad Pupovac, Mile Horvat, Vojislav Stanimirović and Dragan Crnogorac attended the match. Vojvodina won the match with the result 6:0.[20] In 2016 club was competing in the Second County League of Vukovar-Srijem County and in Joint Council of Municipalities Veteran Football League.[20]

Notable natives and residents

Twin municipalities – Sister municipalities

Other forms of cooperation
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See also

References
  1. Government of Croatia (October 2013). "Peto izvješće Republike Hrvatske o primjeni Europske povelje o regionalnim ili manjinskim jezicima" (PDF) (in Croatian). Council of Europe. p. 36. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  2. "Statut Općine Borovo" (PDF). Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  3. "PRIVREMENI NESLUŽBENI REZULTATI IZBORA ZA OPĆINSKOG NAČELNIKA - 19. SVIBNJA 2013" (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  4. "Općine na područjima posebne državne skrbi Republike Hrvatske" (PDF). Croatian Chamber of Economy. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  5. Četvrto izvješće Republike Hrvatske o primjeni Europske povelje o regionalnim ili manjinskim jezicima, page 60, Zagreb, 2009 (in Croatian).
  6. "Minority names in Croatia: Registar Geografskih Imena Nacionalnih Manjina Republike Hrvatske" (PDF) (in Croatian). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  7. "Geoprometni položaj". Borovo Municipality. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  8. "Istorija Borova i struktura stanovništva". Borovo Municipality. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  9. "Povijest Borova i naše Škole". Elementary School Borovo. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  10. Drustvo za Vazdusni Saobracaj A D – Aeroput at europeanairlines.no
  11. Prtorić, Jelena (16 May 2016). "The Socialist Roots of Croatia's Hippest Shoe Company". Slate. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  12. Sudetic, Chuck (20 May 1991). "Croatia Votes for Sovereignty and Confederation". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  13. "Population by Ethnicity, by Towns/Municipalities, 2011 Census: County of Vukovar-Sirmium". Census of Population, Households and Dwellings 2011. Zagreb: Croatian Bureau of Statistics. December 2012.
  14. Simić, Jovanka (9 June 2013). "Borovo selo: Prošlost pamte, budućnost grade". Večernje novosti. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  15. "Konstituisan 6. saziv Zajedničkog veća opština l" (in Serbian). Zagreb: Privrednik. 1 August 2017.
  16. "Informacija o izborima članova predstavničkih tijela jedinica lokalne i područne (regionalne) samouprave i općinskih načelnika, gradonačelnika i župana te njihovih zamjenika - 2017 (Vukovarsko-srijemska županija)" (PDF) (in Croatian). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-01-16. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  17. Lovrinčević, Željko; Davor, Mikulić; Budak, Jelena (June 2004). "AREAS OF SPECIAL STATE CONCERN IN CROATIA- REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT DIFFERENCES AND THE DEMOGRAPHIC AND EDUCATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS". Ekonomski pregled, Vol.55 No.5-6. Archived from the original on 2018-08-18. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  18. "Privreda". Borovo Municipality. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  19. "PRILOG 9. POPIS VATROGASNIH POSTROJBI" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-30. Retrieved 2011-10-15.
  20. Bošnjak, Dragana (30 November 2016). "Devedeset godina borovske 'Sloge'". Novosti (Croatia). Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  21. "U Borovu obeleženi Dan opštine i Dan škole". Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  22. "ПОТПИСАН СПОРАЗУМ О БРАТИМЉЕЊУ ОПШТИНА БОРОВО (РХ) И ОПШТИНА ПЕТРОВО (РС)". Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  23. "Novosti-Zajedno do novca iz fondova EU-a" (PDF). Retrieved 2 May 2015.
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