Srpska Crnja

Coordinates: 45°43′14″N 20°41′11″E / 45.72056°N 20.68639°E / 45.72056; 20.68639
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Srpska Crnja
Српска Црња (Serbian)
Village (Selo)
The Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church
UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
23220
Area code+381(0)23
Car platesZR
Map of Nova Crnja municipality, showing the location of Srpska Crnja

Srpska Crnja (Serbian Cyrillic: Српска Црња; Hungarian: Szerbcsernye; Romanian: Cernea Neamț) is a village in Serbia, situated in central-east Banat alongside the border with Romania. It is located in Nova Crnja municipality, Central Banat District, Province of Vojvodina. It is about 120 km (74.6 mi) away from the capital city of Belgrade, 113 km (70.2 mi) from Novi Sad, 9 km (5.6 mi) south-east of Kikinda and 6 km (3.7 mi) south-west of Jimbolia, Romania. The village has a population of 3753 people (2011 census) and most of its inhabitants are ethnic Serbs (83.77%).

Name

Name of the village comes from Serbian words "srpska" (meaning "Serb", "Serbian") and "crno" (meaning "black"). In Serbian the village is known as Srpska Crnja / Српска Црња (formerly also Crnja / Црња), in German as Serbisch-Zerne or Serbish Zerne, and in Hungarian as Szerbcsernye (formerly also Csernye, Czernya, Rácz-Czernya, and Szerb-Csernya).

Former German-populated settlement that is now part of this village was known as Nemačka Crnja (Немачка Црња) in Serbian, Deutsch-Zerne or Deutsch-Tschernja in German, and Németcsernye or Nemacske-Csernye in Hungarian.

Geography

Although Srpska Crnja is the largest settlement in Nova Crnja municipality, municipal center is located in the village of Nova Crnja, since this settlement have more favourable geographic position. The former railroad that linked Srpska Crnja to other settlements is no longer operational.

History

Srpska Crnja is an old settlement. The first historical records mentioning the settlement are from 1373. In this time, it was part of the

Kingdom of Hungary. In the 16th-17th century, it was part of the Ottoman Empire and administratively belonged to the Temeşvar Eyalet. It was recorded as populated settlement in 1660, but was later resettled. In this time, it was known as Crnja and was populated by ethnic Serbs
.

In the first half of the 18th century, this area was included into the

Torontal County. In 1787, population of the village numbered 1,394 residents. In 1790, German
colonists founded a new settlement nearby and it was named Nemačka Crnja i.e. the "German Crnja". It was located in the north-east from the original settlement. The older settlement, hence, became known as Srpska Crnja i.e. the "Serb Crnja".

In 1848-1849, the area was part of the autonomous

First World War
, population of Srpska Crnja numbered 3,924 residents, while population of Nemačka Crnja numbered 3,392 residents. If population of two settlements is counted together, largest ethnic group in the area were Serbs.

In 1918, as part of the

Veliki Bečkerek County, from 1922 to 1929 part of the Belgrade Oblast, and from 1929 to 1941 part of the Danube Banovina
. Between the two World Wars, some families of Serbian World War I volunteers were settled in the area. In 1931, population of both settlements numbered 9,100 people.

During the

Axis puppet state of Serbia
. The German population of Nemačka Crnja numbered over 3,000 people in 1944. At the end of World War II, in 1944, one part of local German inhabitants left from the area, together with defeated German army. Those who remained in the region were sent to local communist prison camps. After communist prison camps were dissolved (in 1948), most of the remaining German population left Yugoslavia mainly because of economic reasons.

Since 1944, the area was part of Yugoslav

Bosnia settled in the area. In that time, two settlements were administratively joined into the single village. In recent times, population of the village is decreasing. As a result of the current bad economic situation in the Banat region, a sizable number of local Serbs is emigrating to large Serbian cities or to other countries (like Austria and Germany
), searching for jobs.

Ethnic groups (2002 census)

Historical population

  • 1948: 8,220
  • 1953: 7,977
  • 1961: 7,376
  • 1971: 6,001
  • 1981: 5,467
  • 1991: 5,046
  • 2002: 4,383
  • 2011: 3,753

Sights

  • Orthodox church built in 1775, with Đura Jakšić's religious paintings (icons) on the altar.
  • Memorial museum of Đura Jakšić.
  • Bust of Đura Jakšić located in the nave of the Orthodox church.
  • Monument to people of Srpska Crnja who were killed on October 5 - Freedom Day in memory of the liberation from German occupation in 1944, also located in the nave of the Orthodox church.
  • The oldest grave monument, from 1790.
  • The Lipar's Days in Srpska Crnja is a manifestation dedicated to Crnja's beloved Đura Jakšić. The tradition started in 1962.
  • Motel Kastel built as a castle in 1943 for general Najhauzen during the Nazi German occupation.
  • Catholic church.

Notable residents

The poet and artist Đura Jakšić was born and grew up in the village.

Gallery

  • Orthodox church in Srpska Crnja
    Orthodox church in Srpska Crnja
  • The St. Joseph, spouse of Bl. Vir. Mary Catholic Church
    The St. Joseph, spouse of Bl. Vir. Mary Catholic Church
  • Mural of Đura Jakšić
    Mural of Đura Jakšić

See also

References

  • Slobodan Ćurčić, Broj stanovnika Vojvodine, Novi Sad, 1996.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Srpska Crnja.
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