Породица Бајлони и њени корени у чешком граду Литомишлу
The Bajloni family and its roots in the Czech city of Litomyšl

Summary/Abstract: From the 1850s until the end of the interwar period, the Bajloni family were among the leading Serbian entrepreneurs. They were involved in the hospitality, milling, and brewing industries, and their brewery was one of the two largest in Serbia until it was nationalized after World War II and merged into a larger company BIP (Belgrade Industry of Beer). The Bajlonis came from the eastern Bohemian town of Litomyšl, where their ancestors had moved from northern Italy in the 1770s. In Litomyšl, the family belonged to the artisan-bourgeois class, its members being engaged in tinworking and leatherworking. In the first half of the 19th century, Litomyšl was one of the important regional centers of the Czech national movement. In 1848, the Bajlonis, together with their compatriots, took part in the revolutionary events in Litomyšl. After the revolution was suppressed and some of the participants were briefly imprisoned, several former revolutionaries from the then Habsburg Monarchy emigrated for political reasons. One of the countries they headed for was Serbia, which Czech patriots regarded as a brotherly Slavic country. In the 1850s, several hundred Czechs emigrated to Serbia, partly for political reasons. In this context, Ignác-Ignjat Bajloni also came to Serbia with his family, following his relative Antonín-Anton Němec, who ran a mill in the Serbian countryside. The Bajlonis took over the business and expanded it. In addition, they bought a pub in Belgrade and later founded a modern industrial brewery. The family quickly integrated into Serbian society. They followed the example of other Czech immigrants, who retained their specific Czech identity but at the same time easily accepted Serbian identity within the framework of common Slavic culture. As a rule, Czech immigrants converted from Catholicism to Orthodox Christianity, Serbianized their first names, and many also their surnames. The Bajloni family and their relatives and countrymen, such as the Všetečka, Tobolář, and Valouch-Valožić families, whose fates are also mapped in the article, were active within the Czech community in Belgrade. This community was relatively fluid. Its members often returned to Bohemia, while new immigrants arrived. It was also characterized by a diverse social composition and internal cohesion. Craftsmen and small traders predominated, with the Bajloni family belonging to the upper economic class. The article thus points to specific patterns of behaviour among members of this family of immigrant origin, fully integrated into Serbian society, but still linked to their old homeland through family ties and business strategies. The article is based on original source research in Czech regional archives, working with contemporary Czech literature, especially memoirs and travelogues of Czech visitors to Belgrade, as well as the family’s personal collection, which is located in Serbia.

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