Очување крајишког идентитета код Срба прогнаних из Републике Српске Крајине
Preservation of Krajina identity among Serbs expelled from the Republic of Serbian Krajina

Summary/Abstract: After the collapse of the Republic of Serbian Krajina in 1995, more than 220.000 Krajina Serbs fled the Republic of Croatia. The Croatian Armed Forces operations “Flash” and “Storm” led to the ethnic cleansing of Western Slavonia, Banija, Kordun, Lika and Northern Dalmatia, and the majority of the Serbian population from these regions continued to live in exile – mostly in the Republic of Serbia, but also in the Republic of Srpska, the Republic of Montenegro and many countries around the world. The expulsion of the majority of Krajina Serbs from their centuries-old homelands destroyed the authentic culture of the Serbian people from the Krajina region, which represented a special segment of the overall culture of the Serbian people, but also of the cultural diversity of the Republic of Croatia. Although the homeland disappeared, the cultural uniqueness, mentality and language of that population had to be preserved. The preservation of the Krajina identity was not a matter of state or any other systemic policy, but exclusively the initiative of individuals or groups. A huge number of homeland associations and cultural and artistic societies were founded, and a large number of books by homeland writers and on home-land topics were printed, in which the language of the “old neighborhood” was preserved. Var-ious events also contributed to the preservation of the Krajina identity, from commemorations for those killed in several war criminal actions of the Croatian armed forces, to homeland evenings dedicated to villages, towns or regions from which Serbs were expelled. Krajina Serbs also took a certain place in popular culture, appearing in films, series, literature, and their special musical expression acquired the proportions of a subcultural phenomenon.

• Details
• Contents