Temerin puzzle – abstract

Abstract

Temerin (in Vojvodina, Serbia) seemed to be an optimal and inevitable research site to study the local effects of migration processes triggered by the South Slavic wars. In Temerin, a small town in close vicinity to Novi Sad with twenty thousand inhabitants, almost six thousand Serbian migrants from Bosnia and Croatia resettled following the war. As a consequence, the former majority Hungarian community, which is constantly shrinking due to out-migration and ageing, became a minority. During the 1990s, Serbs replaced Hungarians as the largest ethnic group in the settlement and the 2002 census recorded a Serb ethnic majority in Temerin. However, the resulting majority Serb community is by no means unified: There is a clear split between “autochthonous” inhabitants and “newcomers”. The local ethnic and power relations underwent severe changes, leading occasionally to sharp and often violent conflicts between Serbs and Hungarians. Temerin has turned out to be one of the symbols of the potential negative effects of mass migration and its social, economic and inter-ethnic consequences to a local community.

The next four articles aim to give a snapshot of the research carried out in Temerin by Serb and Hungarian TRANSMIG project teams. The first article, written by Imre Nagy and Patrik Tátrai explores the historical demography of Temerin, highlighting the essential role of several migration waves since the 18th century. Although migration has always played an important role in the history of Temerin, the latest migration flow, which was caused by the wars in the 1990s, has dramatically transformed the local society. On the one hand, the local ethnic composition has changed and Serbians became the majority ethnic community. On the other hand, with the arrival of Serb refugees/IDPs local power structures shifted. This contributed to tense relations in two ways – between Serbs and Hungarians, and between newcomers and old residents, independent of ethnicity. According to the analysis of the settlement structure, there are no ethnically separated living quarters, although there are certain parts which were primarily settled by Serbs in various eras. The latest and the only ethnically homogeneous one is called Šešeljgrad by the locals. It is at the fringe of the settlement. Based on interviews with migrants, Dušan Ristić, Imre Nagy and Saša Kicošev studied what identity, home and homeland means for Serb migrants who arrived from Croatia and Bosnia. Painful memories recall the lost home and former life, and trigger a wide scope of reactions from denial to rage – and also acceptance. The research confirms the essential role of migration networks in the migratory process: The majority of the interviewees came to Temerin because of family links and family advice. Many interviewees emphasized their positive opinions about the local people and their helpfulness; according to the majority of migrants, they found a new home in Temerin.

The last two articles focus on the Hungarian and Serb youth as the groups most commonly associated and affected by ethnic clashes and tense inter-ethnic relations. Dušan Ristić, Imre Nagy and Saša Kicošev carried out a survey among Serb and Hungarian students from the local Lukijan Mušicki Secondary School. The research aim was to reveal the identity construction of students and the role of Temerin in this process. Ágnes Erőss and Monika Váradi wrote about the changing inter-ethnic relations and how those were perceived by local middle-aged Hungarian interviewees and Serb and Hungarian students enrolled in Lukijan Mušicki Secondary School. They found that the rapid changes in the local ethnic composition strained neighbourly relations where the position and strength of the local Hungarian community decreased, and the interviewees seem to view the future rather pessimistically. Analysing the mental maps drawn by Serb and Hungarian students about how they see Temerin, two results stand out: first, the appearance of ethnic content on the maps, and second, the occurrence of physical violence in public places. Although the majority of students saw Temerin as their home and provided a simple, ethnically neutral content, almost one-fourth of the maps came with either ethnic or aggressive connotations.