CHF deputy director Tepeš and the head of our culture department Snježana Jurišić took part in the event in the Bačka region at the invitation of the Vladimir Nazor Croatian Culture Association of Stanišić.
At the invitation of the Vladimir Nazor Croatian Culture Association of Stanišić, a village in Vojvodina, Croatian Heritage Foundation deputy director Ivan Tepeš and the head of our culture department Snježana Jurišić took part in a two-day culture and arts festivity in the frame of the commemoration of the Allied relocation of Croatians from the Dalmatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina regions to Vojvodina.
The event opened with the 9th session of the Ivan Gundić Ćiso-Dalmata art colony, staged at the local Hungarian culture centre in light of the fact that the local Croatian culture & arts society does not have and is unable to obtain its own premises. Snježana Jurišić addressed the gathered guests, artists and hosts on behalf of the CHF and spoke of the CHF’s role and declared the art colony open.
This was followed by the regular annual working meeting of representatives of Croatian culture associations from across Serbia at the local community hall. The meeting was organised by the Croatian National Council and the Institute for the Culture of Vojvodina Croatians. Also taking part in this meeting was Zvonko Milas, the state secretary at the helm of the Croatian State Office for Croats Abroad, and Milan Bošnjak, the Office’s advisor with special status on Croatian minority communities abroad. Also on hand was the newly appointed Croatian ambassador to Serbia Gordan Bakota and his aides, and the Croatian general consul in Subotica Velimir Pleša. The meeting was moderated by Tomislav Žigmanov, the director of the Institute for the Culture of Vojvodina Croatians, president of the Democratic Alliance of Croatians in Vojvodina and Member of Serbian Parliament. CHF deputy director Tepeš presented the work of the CHF and opened the platform to further collaboration.
Following the all-day working session the participants attended a culture and arts literary and singing programme focused in the Ikavian dialect of Croatian spoken in the Herzegovina, Dalmatia, Lika and Bosnia regions and by the Šokac and Bunjevac ethnographic groups. The event was hosted by the Vladimir Nazor Croatian Culture Association.
Also participating in the programme were guests from Sinj, poets taking part in a competition, guests from Herzegovina, solo singer Antonija Piuković Dulić accompanied by the Subotica Tamburitza Orchestra, the Bodroški bećari ensemble of Bački Monoštor, the Rama Culture & Arts Society of Pleternica near Đakovo, the Sons of Herzegovina ethno-ensemble from Široki Brijeg, the Jelačić Croatian Culture and Education Society of Petrovaradin and many guests.
See the opening and the performance by bagpipe players Augustin Žigmanov of Subotica and Edi Tajm of Srijemska Mitrovica at: www.youtube.com
Day two of the event saw the 72nd commemoration of the relocation of Croatians from regions in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina to Vojvodina undertaken by the World War II Allied forces.
The Vladimir Nazor Croatian Culture Association of Stanišić remembered the relocation with a round table discussion and a meeting with representatives of Croatia’s Split-Dalmatia County, representatives of the Croatian minority community in Serbia with the relocated persons and their descendants in Stanišić. CHF deputy director Tepeš opened the discussion with a historical background to the relocation, while Ivan Karan offered a short overlook of the hard historical data. The round table also saw a presentation of the testimony of persons relocated to the Stanišić and Riđica villages in Vojvodina.
By: Snježana Jurišić
