Serbianisation

The factual accuracy of this article is disputed.

Serbianisation (serbianization^[1], serbization) (Serbian: србизација, srbizacija, Bulgarian: сърбизация, посръбчване) is a term used to describe a cultural change in which something ethnically non-Serbian is made to become Serbian.

It is commonly used in connection with minority ethnic groups living in Serbia and sharing the same Orthodox religion with Serbs. Such ethnic groups are Macedonians, Bulgarians^[2], Vlachs, Romanians, Roma, Greeks, Cincars, etc.

Such cultural change is much less common for other minorities that do not share the same religion with Serbs. This includes ethnic groups such as the Croats and Bosniaks.

During the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the government of the Kingdom pursued a linguistic Serbization policy towards the Bulgarians in Macedonia^[3] , then called "Southern Serbia" (unofficially) or "Vardar Banovina" (officially). The dialects spoken in this region were referred to as dialects of Serbo-Croatian.^[4] Either way, those southern dialects were suppressed with regards education, military and other national activities, and their usage was punishable^[5]. The Serbianization of the Bulgarian language and population in Republic of Macedonia increased after WWII. Persons declaring their Bulgarian identity were imprisoned or went into exile, and in this way Vardar Macedonia was effectively de-Bulgarized.^[6]

See also

• Treaty of Trianon
• Magyarization
• Romanianization
• Slovakization

Notes

1. ^ The Real Face of Serbian Education in Macedonia (English). newspaper "Makedonsko Delo", No. 9 (Jan. 10, 1926), Vienna, original in Bulgarian. Retrieved on 2007-08-03.
2. ^ [http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/en/ban/pww2.html#59 A Petition from the Bulgarian Population in Vardar Macedonia to the League of Nations Concerning the Unbearable National and Political Oppression] (English). Veritas, Macedonia under oppression 1919-1929, Sofia, 1931, pp. CXCI-CXCV, original in Bulgarian. Retrieved on 2007-08-03.
3. ^ An article by Dimiter Vlahov about the persecution of the Bulgarian population in Macedonia (English). newspaper "Balkanska federatsia", No. 140, Aug.20, 1930, Vienna, original in Bulgarian. Retrieved on 2007-08-03.
4. ^ Friedman, V. (1985) "The sociolinguistics of literary Macedonian" in International Journal of the Sociology of Language. Vol. 52, pp. 31-57
5. ^ By the Shar Mountain there is also terror and violence (English). newspaper "Makedonsko Delo", No. 58, Jan. 25, 1928, Vienna, original in Bulgarian. Retrieved on 2007-08-03.
6. ^ Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia by Bernard Anthony Cook ISBN 0815340583[1]

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