ViewsWatchers |
Contained Places
Pančevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Панчево, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and the administrative center of the South Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is located on the shores of rivers Tamiš and Danube, in the southern part of Banat region. Since the 2011 census 123,414 people have been living in the Pančevo administrative area. Pančevo is the fourth largest city in Vojvodina and the ninth largest in Serbia by population. Pančevo was first mentioned in 1153 and was described as an important mercantile place. It gained the status of a city in 1873 following the disestablishment of the Military Frontier in that region. For most of its period, it was the part of the Kingdom of Hungary and after 1920 it became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which was renamed in 1929 to Yugoslavia. Since then with one interruption it was part of several Yugoslav states and after the dissolution of the latest in 2003, it is part of its successor state, Serbia. Pančevo is notable for being multi-ethnic, Serbs (and Germans until 1945) have been the dominant ethnic group since the 16th century and since 2011 they compose 80% of the total population of the city. Pančevo is a city with rich cultural events and monuments, and in the past, it also used to be a filming location for many national and international movie productions. Since 2003 an international and multi-cultural carnival has been organized in the city. It is also the main economic center of the South Banat region and its economy is also mostly tied up to Belgrade's economy. HIP factory is located in Pančevo as well as UTVA which was heavily damaged during the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999. Pančevo is also well known for its brewery and silk factory which were founded in the early 18th century, and as well as the light bulb factory which are all now defunct. Pančevo is also home to many historical objects, museums and parks. [edit] History
In the late 19th and early 20th century many archaeological artifacts of the Stone Age period were found, remains of settlements and places of burial from the times of Bronze Age (Urnfield culture) and Ancient Rome on the urban area. Most of the objects are exhibited at the National Museum of the town. In 1154, Arabic Muslim geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi described region in his Book of Pleasant Journeys into Faraway Lands as important mercantile place. Regional area was administered by Bulgarian Empire until early 11th century, then by Kingdom of Hungary until it became part of Ottoman Empire in 1521. During Turkish rule, region was part of the Temeşvar Eyalet and mostly populated by Serbs. In 1660, Evliya Çelebi described the town as quadrangular fortification being diameter of one hundred Turkish feet. During Austro-Turkish War, the fortification was conquered by mImperial troops under supreme command of Claude Florimond de Mercy in 1716. There is an impression of old city and its fortification recorded on maps from 1717 and 1720 which are located at National Széchényi Library and Institute of Military History in Budapest. After the Treaty of Požarevac, urban area belonged to Habsburg Banat, and was Garrison place of temporarily stationed Regiments of Imperial Army. In December 1764, a military commission of Viennese Hofkriegsrat registered all people and number of more or less habitable houses, and Habsburg government encouraged massive immigration of German settlers for administrative furnishing and developing new district of Military Frontier. In January 1794, Francis II signed the charter of borough rights of Pančevo, there is no other real evidence like a deed of City founding. In 1852, fortification has been slighted for urban expanding. In 1873, the military frontier was abolished and Pančevo included into Torontál county of Austria-Hungary. In 1902, cadastral maps of the town were recorded which are located at the National Archives of Hungary.
[edit] Effects of World War II on City lifeIn April 1941, Pančevo was occupied during the invasion of Yugoslavia by Germany. On April 12, 1941, Wehrmacht soldiers committed a war crime massacre in the city when 36 Serbian people were murdered by hanging and shooting as reprisal for deaths of 9 volksdeutsche members of the paramilitary formation Mannschaft, a member of the SS Division Das Reich and a wounded comrade of that division, attacked by three men of the Royal Yugoslavian Army before state surrender. On April 11, 1941, Royal cavalry officers Stevan Rikanović, Saša Rakezić and Milan Orlić gave a signal during the German parade that they did not accept the looming Yugoslavian defeat. They erected temporary scaffolding behind a wall of a Catholic cemetery and fired at the Nazi Mannschaft, who after overcoming that surprise returned fire immediately, assisted by two SS men who had been seated in a nearby German Café. On April 6, 1941, members of Mannschaft already daubed anti-semitic slogans on some graves in this cemetery, some gravestones were badly damaged too, but they put on grave of George Weifert a grave wreath with a decorated swastika ribbon. The following day, pro-German groups marched through all the streets, smashed windows of Serbian shops and taunted, spat and beat Serbian civilians because they must stay in their homes and it is not allowed them to go out. On April 17, 1941, there was a power demonstration with deployment of Mannschaft units in front of City hall square, and an incendiary speech by Kreisführer Otto Vogenberger from the balcony of the building, who spoke about liberation of regional Germans from Yugoslavian slavery and announced three days of celebrations until birthday of our Führer. On April 20, 1941, Kreisführer was personally gifted with a portrait of Hitler by Heinrich Knirr, who was visiting his beloved homeland. On May 1, 1941, selected policemen from the Banatian State Guard publicly sworn in at the same place with black uniforms and Totenkopf on their collar, speaking words like protecting rights and lives of German people, although they had already been recruited in April. Propaganda photos and film of the reprisal massacre were used decades after the event to help chronicle the Wehrmacht complicity atrocities during the war, often manipulated in German-language tv documentaries.
[edit] Research Tips
|