Religious circumstances in Kosovo and Metohija between the two world wars
Religious circumstances in Kosovo and Metohija between the two world wars

Summary/Abstract: During the interwar period, the territory of Kosovo and Metohija was part of the Yugoslav state. Its population consisted mainly of Serbs and Albanians. The legal status of religious denominations in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was regulated by law. According to the national censuses of 1921 and 1931, Muslims constituted the majority of the population in this territory. The Muslim religious community was under the supervision of the Yugoslav state, especially with regard to the appointment of spiritual leaders. With the 1936 law, this religious community was granted autonomy. In Kosovo and Metohija there existed a large number of churches and monasteries belonging to the Orthodox religious community. After the war, the number of clergy decreased. The Catholic religious community in Kosovo and Metohija was small and ethnically heterogeneous. Its numbers increased with the immigration of civil servants and businessmen from the Catholic regions of Yugoslavia, as well as Catholic families from Dalmatia, Croatia, and the Slovenian Banovina. The growth of the Catholic population led to the construction of Catholic churches and monasteries. The religious diversity of the population in Kosovo and Metohija strongly influenced the life of the region.

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