Trpinja ( sr-Cyrl, Трпиња, hu, Terpenye) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

and an eponymous municipality in the

Vukovar-Syrmia County Vukovar-Srijem County ( hr, Vukovarsko-srijemska županija), Vukovar-Sirmium County or Vukovar-Syrmia County, named after the eponymous town of Vukovar and the region of Syrmia, is the easternmost Croatian county. It includes the eastern parts ...

in eastern

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. The village is located on the D55 road between Osijek and

Vukovar Vukovar () ( sr-Cyrl, Вуковар, hu, Vukovár, german: Wukowar) is a city in Croatia, in the eastern region of Slavonia. It contains Croatia's largest river port, located at the confluence of the Vuka and the Danube. Vukovar is the seat of ...

. Landscape of the Trpinja Municipality is marked by the

Pannonian Basin The Pannonian Basin, or Carpathian Basin, is a large basin situated in south-east Central Europe. The geomorphological term Pannonian Plain is more widely used for roughly the same region though with a somewhat different sense, with only th ...

plains and agricultural fields of corn,

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

common sunflower The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), as ...

and sugar beet. The Municipality of Trpinja was established in 1997 by the

UNTAES The United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) was a UN peacebuilding transitional administration in the Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia in the eastern parts of Croatia ...

administration as one of new predominantly Serb municipalities in order to ensure access to local self-government to Serb community in the region after the end of the Croatian War of Independence. The municipality is northernmost one in the Vukovar-Syrmia Country and there are in total 7 villages within municipal boundaries. At the time of 2011 census the municipality had a population of 5,572 and the village of Trpinja itself 1,537.

Languages and names

Settlement's name

The villages of Trpinja, Bobota and Vera share a common legend about the origin of their names. According to the legend, the ancestors of today's inhabitants of villages, who settled at the time of the

Great Serb Migrations The Great Migrations of the Serbs ( sr, Велике сеобе Срба), also known as the Great Exoduses of the Serbs, refers mainly to two Human migrations, large migrations of Serbs from various territories under the rule of the Ottoman Em ...

under

Arsenije III Čarnojević Arsenije ( sr-cyr, Арсеније; ) is a Serbian given name, a variant of the Greek name '' Arsenios''. Diminutives of the name include '' Arsen'', ''Arsa'' and '' Arso''. It may refer to: * Arsenije Sremac (d. 1266), second Archbishop of the Se ...

, were called Bobe. They were fleeing from the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

conquests of Balkan as they wanted to preserve their

religious freedom Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freedom ...

. This legendary religious commitment and orthodoxy was coined in the local phrase ''Bobe endured for the faith'' or originally in Serbian ''Bobe trpiše za veru''. The family name of 'Bobe' was used as the basis for the name of Bobota, the word 'endured' ( sh, trpiti) the name of Trpinja was created and from the word 'faith' (Serbian: ) the name of Vera was coined.http://www.trpinja.hr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13&Itemid=26&lang=hr Another story tells that the name of Trpinja originated from a landowner Trpimir who owned the land in the vicinity.

Serbian

Serbian together with the

Serbian Cyrillic alphabet The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, t ...

is the second co-official language within the boundaries of the municipality including all settlement except predominantly Croat one Ćelije. The statute guarantees that Serbian Cyrillic alphabet will be used in text of seals and stamps, on plates of representative, executive and administrative bodies of the municipality, as well as on those of legal entities with public authority. Pre-school education for the Serb community is organized and conducted in Serbian and Cyrillic according to the local statute. Elementary education is provided in Serbian as well.

Geography

The municipality is located on the border between historical regions of

Slavonia Slavonia (; hr, Slavonija) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria, one of the four historical regions of Croatia. Taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with five Croatian counties: Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Baran ...

and Syrmia, in the southern part of

in the Podunavlje region. The total area of the municipality is 123.87 km2 (47.8 sq mi). The river Vuka flows through the municipality in length of 8 kilometers as well as an artificial Bobota Canal in the length of 20 kilometers. The territory of the municipality is completely flat, with very fertile black soil. The municipality shares borders with Borovo,

Bogdanovci Bogdanovci (Rusyn: ''Богдановци'', sr-Cyrl, Богдановци, hu, Bogdánfalva) is a village and municipality in the Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. It is located a few kilometers south of Vukovar in eastern Slavonia. ...

Nuštar Nuštar ( hu, Berzétemonostor) is a village and municipality in eastern Croatia, located northeast of Vinkovci and west of Vukovar, on the route D55. The population of Nuštar is 3,639, with a total of 5,772 people in the municipality, which a ...

Tordinci Tordinci ( hu, Valkótard) is a village and a municipality in the Vukovar-Syrmia County in Croatia. Tordinci is underdeveloped municipality which is statistically classified as the First Category Area of Special State Concern by the Government ...

Šodolovci Šodolovci ( sr-Cyrl, Шодоловци, hu, Páznán) is a village and a municipality in Osijek-Baranja County in eastern Croatia. In 7 villages of the Šodolovci Municipality there was 1,653 inhabitants at the time of 2011 Census. Landscape ...

and

Erdut Erdut ( sr-Cyrl, Ердут, ) is a village and a municipality in eastern Croatia some 37 km east of the major city of Osijek. Lying on the border with neighbouring Serbia, it was the site of the signing of the Erdut Agreement, which initiate ...

municipalities, with the town of

and the city of Osijek.

Climate and weather

Trpinja municipality has a moderately warm and rainy continental climate as defined by the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

. Due to the continental influence temperature differences during the year are more pronounced than in the rest of the country.

Transportation

Trpinja is connected by D2 road with rest of the country. D55 road goes through the village Bršadin. County road Ž4111 goes through the villages of Pačetin, Bobota and Vera. Railway line M601 that connects

Vinkovci Vinkovci () is a city in Slavonia, in the Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. The city's registered population was 28,247 in the 2021 census, the total population of the city was 31,057, making it the largest town of the county. Surround ...

Borovo Naselje Borovo Naselje ( sr-Cyrl, Борово Насеље) is a Vukovar borough located on the right bank of the Danube river in the Croatian region of Slavonia, 4 kilometers northwest of Vukovar town centre; elevation 90 m. The economy is based on ...

and

goes through the Trpinja municipality.

Biome

History

Hrvatski skolski muzej Zupanija Sriemska-Trpinja

Name of the Trpinja settlement was first mentioned in 1329 in one document issued in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. Document is today kept in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

. In fact in this period at the place of present Trpinja were settlements ''Mala Trpinja'', ''Velika Trpinja'' and ''Slavenska Trpinja''. Villages were owned by the gentry until they were conquered by the

in 1536. Ottoman authorities settled

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

population in this area, which resulted in decreased percentage of local Hungarians. Area was under Ottoman administration until 1691, when it was conquered by the Habsburg Monarchy. According to the census of 1732, Trpinja had 109 Serb families. Construction of the Serbian Orthodox church began in 1750 and was completed in 1755. The first school in Trpinja was opened in 1776, while in 1859 Trpinja had a factory for spinning silk. In 1882, population of Trpinja numbered about 1,800 people in 400 homes. The inhabitants were Christian Orthodox Serbs, except 2-3 families who were of

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

faith. Although the period of

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in the village was marked by disease and poverty, Trpinja residents hosted the population of the village of

Jakovo Jakovo ( sr-cyr, Јаково) is a suburban neighborhood of Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Surčin. Location Jakovo is located in the south-eastern part of Syrmia (sub-region of Podlužje), 24 kilometers south-we ...

. From 27 December 1920 (when they arrived in Vukovar) soldiers and families of the White Russian émigrés who were followers of

Pyotr Wrangel Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel (russian: Пётр Никола́евич барон Вра́нгель, translit=Pëtr Nikoláevič Vrángel', p=ˈvranɡʲɪlʲ, german: Freiherr Peter Nikolaus von Wrangel; April 25, 1928), also known by his ni ...

settled in Bobota, Pačetin, Bršadin, Trpinja and Vera. The villagers participated in the anti-fascist struggle during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and one number of them ended up in

concentration camps Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. It was established in p ...

. During the war, 452 soldiers from Trpinja fought in the 9th Slavonian Brigade, of which 75 were killed. 170

Romani people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...

from Trpinja were arrested by

Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionary Move ...

and taken to

Jasenovac concentration camp Jasenovac () was a concentration and extermination camp established in the village of the same name by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. The concentration camp, one of the ...

in 1942, no one of them returned. According to the 1981 census, Trpinja had 2,243 inhabitants. Vukovar heroes Andrija Maric Blago Zadro Goran Radicevic

Vukovar heroes Andrija Maric Blago Zadro Goran Radicevic

Between 1991 and 1997, Trpinja was controlled by the Serbs who rebelled against the democratically elected Croatian Government. During that time, the non-Serb population was subjected to unlawful arrests, imprisonment, physical, mental and sexual abuse and killings by the members of local Serb paramilitary formations. Civilians were physically and mentally abused on a daily basis, forced to sing Chetnik songs, threatened with mutilation by cutting off limbs and body parts, men were forced to kneel in the village center and graze the grass, women were threatened with rape, with one being raped and another forced to drink blood that was leaking from the broken nose of an abused man. Ten captives from Trpinja, as well as civilians captured in Borovo and severely wounded civilians from the Borovo Commerce hospital, who had previously been brutally beaten, had been executed in the nearby Bobotski kanal. In 2016, 10 Serbs were convicted for war crimes against prisoners of war and civilians to prison sentences ranging between 5 and 20 years. During the Battle of Vukovar,

Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska ar ...

(JNA) and various paramilitary forces from

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

tried to break through the

defense from the direction of Trpinja, namely through ''Trpinjska cesta'', the road that connected Trpinja and Vukovar. However, the Croatian soldiers of the

Croatian National Guard The Croatian National Guard ( hr, Zbor narodne garde or ZNG) was an armed force established by Croatia in April and May 1991 during the Croatian War of Independence. Although it was established within the framework of the Ministry of the Interio ...

(ZNG) and civilian volunteers, led by Major general

Blago Zadro Blago Zadro (31 March 1944 – 16 October 1991) was a commander of the northern part of Croatian forces in Vukovar during the Croatian War of Independence. He was killed in an attack by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) in the town of Borovo Naselj ...

, offered strong resistance, during which they destroyed about 30 JNA tanks and armored vehicles which gave road the nickname "tank graveyard". Trpinja was reintegrated into Croatia with the

Erdut Agreement The Erdut Agreement ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Erdutski sporazum, Ердутски споразум), officially the Basic Agreement on the Region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium, was an agreement reached on 12 November 1 ...

Demographics

Population

There are 1,537 inhabitants in village Trpinja and 5,572 inhabitants in the municipality according to the 2011 census. The majority of the population are

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

, making up 89.75% of the population according to the 2011 population census. With pronounced issue of population decline in eastern Croatia caused by population ageing, effects of the Croatian War of Independence and emigration after the

accession of Croatia to the European Union The most recent enlargement of the European Union saw Croatia become the European Union's 28th member state on 1 July 2013. The country applied for EU membership in 2003, and the Euro ...

, the population of the municipality dropped to 4,167 residents at the time of 2021 census.

Religion

Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord is a

Serbian Orthodox The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches. The majori ...

church in village of Trpinja listed in

Register of Cultural Goods of Croatia The Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Registar kulturnih dobara Republike Hrvatske) has been established in 1999. The Croatian Ministry of Culture is responsible for the administration of this public register, which has be ...

. On the territory of the municipality there are also

Church of St. George in Bobota as well as churches in Vera, Pačetin and Bršadin. There is also Roman Catholic church in village of Ćelije.

Politics

Joint Council of Municipalities

The Municipality of Trpinja is one of seven Serb majority member municipalities within the

Joint Council of Municipalities sr, Заједничко веће општина , logo = Joint Council of Municipalities Logo.png , size = 150px , alt = , caption = Flag of The Joint Council of Municipalities , ...

, inter-municipal sui generis organization of ethnic Serb community in eastern Croatia established on the basis of

. As Serb community constitute majority of the population of the municipality it is represented by 2 delegated Councillors at the Assembly of the Joint Council of Municipalities, double the number of Councilors to the number from Serb minority municipalities in Eastern Croatia.

Municipality government

The municipality assembly is composed of 15 representatives with one additional member added in 2017 to achieve proportional representation of municipal ethnic Croat community. Assembly members come from electoral lists winning more than 5% of votes. Dominant party in Trpinja since the reintegration of eastern Slavonia in 1998 is

Independent Democratic Serb Party The Independent Democratic Serb Party ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Самостална демократска српска странка, Samostalna demokratska srpska stranka, SDSS) is a social-democratic political party in Croatia representing the intere ...

with rise of support for independent lists in recent years. Some 2,557 or 56.67 % out of 4,512 voters participated in

2017 Croatian local elections The first round of the 2017 Croatian local elections was held on 21 May and the second round, where necessary, on 4 June. All seats of the county prefects, city and municipal mayors and members of county, municipal and city councils were up for el ...

with 92.14 % valid votes. With 58,31% and 1.505 votes independent Miroslav Palić was elected as municipality major with Svetislav Mikerević from Independent Democratic Serb Party coming second with 39,29 %. As of 2017, the member parties/lists are: , - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center !colspan=2, Party !Votes !% !Seats , - , bgcolor=#00A859, , align=left valign=top, Candidates list of group of voters-Miroslav Palić, , 1,109 , , 47.07 %, , 8 , - , bgcolor=#C50200, , align=left valign=top,

, , 815, , 34.59 %, , 5+1 , - , bgcolor=#FFCC66, , align=left valign=top, Candidates list of group of voters-Miroljub Maširević , , 164 , , 6.96 %, , 1 , - , bgcolor=#FF6600, , align=left valign=top, Social Democratic Party of Croatia, , 136, , 5.77 %, , 1 , - , bgcolor=grey, , align=left valign=top, Candidates list of group of voters-Tatjana Milinković , , 132 , , 5,60 %, , 0 , - , align=left colspan=2, Invalid/blank votes, , 201, , 7.86 %, , — , - , align=left colspan=2, Total, , 2,557, , 100, , — , - , align=left colspan=2, Registered voters/turnout, , 4,512, , 56.67 %, , — , - , align=left colspan=8, Trpinja Local Elections 2017

, - , align=left colspan=8, Source: : ''page 87-90''

Economy

Trpinja is an underdeveloped municipality which is statistically classified as the First Category Area of Special State Concern by the Government of Croatia. The most common economic activities are

tillage Tillage is the agricultural preparation of soil by mechanical agitation of various types, such as digging, stirring, and overturning. Examples of human-powered tilling methods using hand tools include shoveling, picking, mattock work, hoein ...

and animal husbandry.

Education

Elementary School in Trpinja is one of the oldest schools in the region, established in 1776. Classes at the school take place exclusively in the Serbian (exceptions are Croatian and

foreign languages A foreign language is a language that is not an official language of, nor typically spoken in, a given country, and that native speakers from that country must usually acquire through conscious learning - be this through language lessons at sch ...

). Upon completion of eight years of elementary school, students usually continue their education in secondary schools in Vukovar where they could attend classes in Serbian. The three most popular universities after high school are

University of Novi Sad The University of Novi Sad ( sr, Универзитет у Новом Саду, Univerzitet u Novom Sadu; hu, Újvidéki Egyetem) is a public university in Novi Sad, Serbia. Alongside nationally prestigious University of Belgrade, University of ...

University of Osijek The Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek ( hr, Sveučilište Josipa Jurja Strossmayera u Osijeku, la, Universitas studiorum Mursensis), commonly known as the University of Osijek (UNIOS), is a public university based in Osijek, Croatia. ...

and

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-ba ...

Culture

Municipality Symbols

Coat of arms of Trpinja Municipality is in yellow (golden) color with green clover with three leaves in the middle. Flag of Trpinja Municipality is a monochrome blue with the coat of arms in the middle of the flag.

Points of Interest

Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Trpinja was built from 1753 until 1757. The church is a cultural monument and is on the list of immovable cultural heritage of Republic of Croatia. Valuable objects in the church are also on the list of movable cultural heritage of Republic of Croatia. Object is in regular use and is also open for visitors at certain time. Tourist visitors pay no entrance. At the central site in Trpinja there is a monument dedicated to fallen soldiers from

and the fallen soldiers and victims of war in 1991. Local cultural society "Mladost" was founded in 1995. Its work preserves and promotes the folk customs and culture of

of the Croatian Danube region.

Associations and Institutions

In the village exist a volunteer fire department Trpinja, Vukovar-Srijem folk Cultural and Artistic Association "MLADOST", Serbian Cultural Society "

Prosvjeta The Serbian Cultural Society "Prosvjeta" (abbreviated: SKD "Prosvjeta" or sr-cyrl, СКД "Просвјета") in Zagreb, Croatia is an independent, non-governmental cultural and scientific organization that takes special responsibility for pro ...

",http://www.trpinja.hr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=35&Itemid=61 football club "Sinđelić", chess club "Trpinja",http://www.trpinja.hr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=36&Itemid=63 Hunting Association "Srndać" and Hunting Association "Trpinja",http://www.trpinja.hr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=37&Itemid=67 Association of subsidiaries of pensioners of Trpinja municipality and Subsidiary of pensioners of Trpinja,http://www.trpinja.hr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32&Itemid=65 "Treća životna dob" (''"Third age"''), The association of anti-fascist fighters of the National Liberation War and Anti-Fascists of Trpinja municipality.http://www.trpinja.hr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=38&Itemid=69

Settlements

There are seven villages in the municipality.

Sport

In 2011 local amateur football club ''Sinđelić'', which is named after Stevan Sinđelić, was a champion of the regional Veterans League of Joint Council of Municipalities. The ''Chess Club Trpinja'' is also active.

Notable natives and residents

Slavko Dokmanović Slavko Dokmanović (Serbian Cyrillic: Славко Докмановић; 14 December 1949 – 29 June 1998) was a Croatian Serb who was charged with grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, violation of the customs of war and crimes against hum ...

Twin municipalities – Sister municipalities

* Bačka Palanka,

References

Sources

External links

* {{authority control Municipalities of Croatia Joint Council of Municipalities Populated places in Syrmia Populated places in Vukovar-Syrmia County Serb communities in Croatia