The Role of the Croats in the History of the Royal Borough of Szeged

Hrvati Bunjevci, odnosno Dalmatini, kako su ih u Szegedinu nazivali, najvećim su se dijelom u Ugarskoj nastanili krajem 17. stoljeća, i to napose na području između Szegedina i Baje. Dok u Baji i danas imaju važnu ulogu, u Szegedinu postoji samo uspomena na njih. Preostalo je, doduše, još nekoliko prezimena, ali njihovi su nositelji danas Mađari, a ne Hrvati. Etnička zajednica koja je u Mađarsku doselila s područja današnje Bosne i Hercegovine te Hrvatske (Dalmacije) nije imala jasnu sliku o svojoj nacionalnoj pripadnosti. Naime, tada je Dalmacija potpadala pod Veneciju, Bosna i dijelovi Slavonije pod Tursku, a tek je mali dio Hrvatske ostao slobodan. Zbog toga su se doseljenici u Ugarsku dijelom nazivali Bošnjacima, većinom Bunjevcima dok je “svečani” naziv za cijelu tu zajednicu bio Dalmatini. Nacionalni pokreti na slavenskom jugu u 19. stoljeću doprli su i do Hrvata Dalmatina u Ugarskoj pa su se oni nacionalno svjesniji solidarizirali s ilirskim pokretom. Nastankom Kraljevine Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca, Južni Slaveni u Mađarskoj počeli su se čvršće povezivati te su od 1925. izdavali zajedničke publikacije. Nastanak južnoslavenske zajednice postavio je na dnevni red pitanje tko su Bunjevci ili Dalmatini. Prema jednom gledištu, oni su “katolički Srbi”, a prema drugom Hrvati. U Bačkoj još i danas postoji među Bunjevcima prijepor jesu li oni poseban narod ili su Hrvati, a to je pitanje 2010. opet aktualizirano i u Mađarskoj, premda je ono naizgled riješeno prije dvadesetak godina. Naime, mađarski su Bunjevci u organizaciji Demokratskog saveza južnih Slavena 1987. godine proslavili 300. obljetnicu doselidbe u današnju domovinu. Iz tadašnjih je publikacija razvidno da Bunjevci u Mađarskoj nisu dvojili oko pripadnosti hrvatskom narodu, što se potvrdilo i nakon raspada nekadašnje Jugoslavije, kada su se mahom izjasnili kao pripadnici hrvatskog naroda. Međutim, u zadnje se vrijeme s jedne strane nastavlja asimilacija hrvatskoga pučanstva u Mađarskoj, a s druge se, pak, strane hrvatski puk nastoji usitniti izdvajanjem Bunjevaca iz nacionalnog korpusa i pokušajem stvaranja zasebne nacije. U Szegedinu su se Dalmatini većinom pomađarili već do sredine 19. stoljeća, a manji je njihov dio početkom 20. stoljeća i stvaranjem Kraljevine SHS napustio Mađarsku i preselio se u susjednu Bačku. Tragična zbivanja tijekom raspada bivše Jugoslavije prouzročila su da se dio Hrvata iz susjedne Vojvodine preselio u Szegedin, u kojemu je obnovljena hrvatska zajednica okupljena oko Hrvatske manjinske samouprave. Nekoliko stotina ovdašnjih Hrvata nastoji obnoviti utjecaj i značenje koji su naši sunarodnjaci svojedobno imali u gradu, ali i sačuvati spomen na nekadašnje Dalmatine u Szegedinu. Ova studija kani ukazati na ulogu koju su Hrvati svojedobno imali u tom gradu na Tisi.By the end of the 17th century the Croatian Bunjevci or Dalmatins, as they were called in Szeged, settled down mainly in Hungary i.e. between Szeged and Baja. They still play an important role in Baja, whereas in Szeged only memories of their existence remained. Nevertheless, there are a few family names left but their name holders are mostly the Hungarians and not the Croats. The ethnic community that had immigrated into Hungary from the area of today’s Bosnia and Hercegovina and Croatia (Dalmatia), did not have a clear picture about its ethnic affiliation. At that time Dalmatia was under Venice authority, Bosnia and parts of Slavonia were under Turkish reign and only a small part of Croatia was free. Because of that the immigrants in Hungary partly called themselves Bosniaks mostly Bunjevci, whereas the ‘’solemn’’ title for this whole community was Dalmatins. National movements in the Slavonian south in the 19th century reached the Croats Dalmatins in Hungary so they as the nationally more conscious group, expressed support for the Illyrian movement. By the emergence of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the southern Slavs began to integrate more firmly and in 1925 started publishing common publications. The emergence of the South-Slav community raised the issue who the Bunjevci or Dalmatins were. According to one point of view they are Catholic Serbs and according to other they are Croats. In Bačka there is still disagreement among Bunjevci whether they are an individual nation or just the Croats and in 2010 the issue was brought to light again in Hungary although it seemed to have been solved twenty years ago. Namely in 1987, the Hungarian Bunjevci celebrated their 300th anniversary of settling into their today’s homeland. The anniversary was organized by the Democratic Union of South Slavs. It was evident from the anniversary publications that the Bunjevci in Hungary did not doubt their affiliation to Croatian people, which was also confirmed after the break-up of the former Yugoslavia when they declared themselves mostly as the members of Croatian nation. On the one hand there is a strong assimilation of the Croatian population in Hungary lately but on the other there are some attempts to fragment the Croatian population by detaching the Bunjevci from their national entity and creating a separate nation. In Szeged the Dalmatins were mainly magyarized by the mid 19th century and early in the 20th century their lesser part left Hungary for the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and moved into the nearby Bačka. The tragic events during the break-up of the former Yugoslavia caused that part of Croats from nearby Vojvodina moved back to Szeged where a Croatian community was reformed around Croatian minority self-government. Several hundred local Croats try to regain influence and significance that our fellow-countrymen once had in the town and at the same time keep memory of the Dalmatins in Szeged. This paper aims at presenting the role the Croats once had in this town on the Tisza river