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Vojvodina (Region, Serbia and Montenegro [Serbia])

by Arnaud Leroy

Presentation of Vojvodina
Description of the flag
Coat of arms

See also:

Presentation of Vojvodina

Region in northern Serbia which enjoyed autonomous status from 1946 to 1989. Vojvodina is situated in the southern part of the Central Danube Plain and includes some of the richest agricultural land in former Yugoslavia.

Area: 21,506 sq km

Population (1991): 2,013,889

Brief history: During the VIth century there were successive waves of immigration by Lombards, Avars, and Slavic peoples. In the late IXth century, Magyar Hungarians settled in Vojvodina and the area became part of the Kingdom of Hungary. When much of Hungary was incorporated into the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Vojvodina was included. In 1690 numerous Serbs migrated into the area from territories to the south occupied by the Ottoman Empire. Vojvodina remained under Hapsburg rule until 1918, when it was annexed to the emergent Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later Yugoslavia.

During the inter-war years, the Belgrade government sponsored the settlement of Serbs in Vojvodina, and pressured local Hungarians to emigrate. As a result the ethnic composition of the province changed. Briefly reassigned to Hungary during Second World War, Vojvodina was returned to Yugoslav rule in 1945. Became an autonomous province within the Republic of Serbia in 1946. In March 1989, Vojvodina's autonomous status was abolished. Pressure for a restoration of provincial autonomy has continued to the present day.

Source: Vojvodina Microsoft® Encarta® 98 Encyclopedia

Population there is very mixed. My 1988 Lexicon says that Vojvodina is populated with Serbs, Hungarians, Croats, Slovaks, Romanians, Germans, Ukrainians, Czechs and Ruthenians.

Uros Zizmund, 7 February 1998

Description of the flag

The flag of Vojvodina was adopted on 27 February 2004 with 79 votes for, 13 against (representatives of DSS) and 5 abstentions (Liberali Srbije and former Social-Democrats).

The proposal for the anthem was redrawn from the procedure.

Source: Dnevnik

Zeljko Heimer, 28 February 2004

The adoption process of the flag of Vojvodina is described in Dnevnik (article by B.D. Savic)

"The regional parliament received the design proposals for the flag and the anthem of Vojvodina "Ode of Joy" and the Serb tricolour with three stars - in the middle of the blue field there shall be three stars symbolzing the three parts of Vojvodina: Backa, Banat and Srem

The statutory commission of the Vojvodina Parliament adopted the design proposals for the flag and the anthem of Vojvodina and forwarded them for adoption in the regional Parliament. A member of the Commission, Aleksandar Kravic said in an interview that the proposals had been adopted unanimously with only one abstention of the representative of Democratic Party of Serbia, while all others were in favor.

According to him, the flag of Vojvodina shall be the tricolour, based on the Serb flag (red-blue-white), with the middle blue field being enlarged and containing in its center three yellow stars symbolizing the three parts of Vojvodina, Srem, Banat and Backa. The parliamentaires shall also receive the proposal of the anthem, the "Ode of Joy" by Beethoven, that is already the European anthem.

"The three Serb colours symbolize the connection of Vojvodina with Serbia, while the three stars symbolize the connection with the European Union and the European orientation of Vojvodina" explained Kravic

The designs for the flag and the anthem of Vojvodina were made my the regional commission, composed of a chairman and viec-chairmen of the Vojvodina Parliament. On the proposals shall be decided on the parliamentary session on 27 February, and it may be assumed that they shall gain the majority support, if the representatives of the three leading parties in Vojvodina government - Democratic Party, League of Socialdemocrats and the Union of Vojvodina Hungarians - shall vote as their representatives in the Statutory commission.

The adoption of the anthem and the flag should finalize the symbols of Vojvodina, after the previous adoption of the coat of arms, adopted on 27 June 2002. This decision was then voted for by 68 of 120 representatives, the votes against were from the DSS, with abstentees from the New Democracy (now the Liberals of Serbia) and the Vojvodina Coalition. The regional coat of arms was voted for after the initiative by the chairman of the regional parliament, Nenad Janko.

Since the adoption, the coat of arms of Vojvodina is in prerogative use within the seals of all the regional bodies, on the official inscriptions on the buildings of the regional bodies and the bodies of the local administration, and on the charters and other public acknowlegments of the Region.

Zeljko Heimer, 18 February 2004

Coat of arms

from Vojvodina.com

The Parliament of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in Northern Serbia adopted the coat of arms of the province on 28 June 2002.

The coat of arms shall be displayed together with the arms of Serbia, and is purely protocolar, displayed on diplomas, seals, etc.

Zikica Milosevic, 29 June 2002

The three fields of the new coat of arms of Vojvodina bear the coats of arms of counties, then Hungarian and Croatian, granted in 18th century:

Backa. The coat of arms of Backa (Bàcs in Hungarian) was granted by King Leopold I (1657-1705) in 1699. It was leter (1861?) retained for the united County of Bacs-Bodrig.
In blue field on a green grass standing Sent Paul wearing blue shirt and red toga with golden nimbus holding in dexter a downpointed silver sword with golden hilt and in sinister a black book (Bible). Sombor (Hungarian, Zombor) was the capital of the county.
The county was divided between Hungary nad Yugoslavia after the First World War. The part remaining in Hungary was finally incorporated into Bacs-Kiskun county, that also uses the historical coat of arms with St. Peter in its dexter half.

Banat. The golden lion rampant on red holding a sabre is taken from the arms of Tamis Banat county. Half of the lion still appears on the arms of Timis county in Romania.
The County of Temes covered only a small part of what is considered the Banat in Vojvodina, the most part of it is the county of Torontal which had no lion in its arms.
The coat of arms of Temes was granted in 1799 by Maria Theresa, and it was inspired by the civic arms of Temesvar, the county capital. The coat of arms is per fess chief per pale, 1. Hungary Moderne (double cross), 2. per fess sable a semi lion rampant issuant or holding in dexter a scimitar argent and azure three wavy barullets argent, 3. Temesvar fort proper, overall a bar or inscribed sable II.J. M.T. (Joseph II and Maria Theresia). The three wavy lines are for three main rivers, Dunav (Duna), Tamiö (Temes) and Moravica (Moros).

Srem.The third coat of arms is that of Srem (Hungarian Szerèm; Croatian Srijem), granted in 1747 by Queen Maria Theresa. While the other two were directly under the Hungarian Crown, Srem was part of the Croatian-Slavonian Crown.
After the First World War, it remained in the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. When the Croatian Bannate was formed within Yugoslavia in 1939 it was also entirely part of it, and in 1941 it was part of the Axis puppet Independent State of Croatia.
After the Second World War, the borders between the Republics were designed, which are known as the AVNOJ borders. The eastern part of Srem was incorporated intoVojvodina. After the breakup of former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, the eastern part of Srem remained there.
The modern Croatian countiy of Vukovar-Srijem use the same coat of arms.
The three white stripes on blue, representing the 3 rivers of Srem: Bosut, Sava and Danube. The deer that is resting on the ground is close to the poplar (topola) green tree. The tree changed though the history. In the original grant the tree was a cypress tree. The modern Croatian design prefered it to make it an oak tree, which is abundant in the region and is a kind of a national symbol. Similarly, poplar is connected to Serbia (the royal family stems from a place named Topola).

Zeljko Heimer & Zikica Milosevic, 29 June 2002