The Nazarenes were founded by a former Reformed minister Samuel Fröhlich about 1830 in Switzerland, but they soon expanded to Central and Eastern Europe. Because of their pacifist beliefs and refusal to swear and to take an oath a large number of the Nazarenes were condemned to severe prison sentences. This religious community was persecuted primarily during the communist era in Southeastern European countries (Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia) since they were considered disloyal citizens and a threat to the government. From 1945 until 1960 the Nazarene illegal border crossing from Yugoslavia to Italy or Austria was highly present. Rejecting one of the essential components of Yugoslav communism, so-called "nationwide defence and social self-protection", the Nazarenes were perceived as anti-communists and their existence was seen as illegitimate. The repression of this religious minority in communist Yugoslavia is the subject of this paper. The material collected for the purposes of this paper came to be the result of empirical research, conducted in Serbia (2009–2013) and the United States (2015), on the Nazarene community and their emigration to North America. Based on qualitative interviews and archival research, this paper aims to analyse community members' narratives of their lives during communism and emigration of this religious minority across the Atlantic.
The migration of religious minorities from the region of Southeast Europe to North America was not in the focus of ethno-anthropological, sociological and historiographical research until recently. In the last two decades, the main focus in migration studies was on labor and economic migration, and only indirectly to the religious identity of migrants. This paper discusses the migration of one neo-Protestant religious minority - the Nazarenes, who emigrated massively from Yugoslavia to North America after the Second World War. The Nazarenes were pacifists, refusing to bear arms, take an oath, or to be members of political organizations. By adhering to their strict religious beliefs, the Nazarenes came into conflict with the state authorities. After the Second World War, the communist state considered Nazarenes as disloyal citizens and a threat to the government. From 1949, the Nazarenes were condemned to severe prison sentences in the worst prisons such as Goli otok. In this period, the illegal emigration of Nazarenes to North America started. The material collected for the purposes of this paper came to be the result of empirical research, conducted in the United States (March-June 2015) with members of the Nazarene community who emigrated from Yugoslavia between 1950 and 1975. Emphasizing the role of religion in the process of migration, as well as the transformation of the community after several decades in their new setting, this paper analyzes the oral history of emigration of the Nazarenes during communism, where emigration is seen as 'survival strategy' for this religious minority. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 177006: Dunav i Balkan: kulturno-istorijsko nasleđe] ; Миграције верских мањина са простора југоисточне Европе у Северну Америку нису биле у фокусу етнолошких, антрополошких, социолошких и историографских истраживања. Током последњих деценија, главни акценат у миграцијским студијама стављан је на радне и економске миграције, а само индиректно на религијски идентитет емиграната. У овом раду разматра се миграција припадника верске мањине назарена из Југославије у Северну Америку након Другог светског рата. Назарени су, као пацифисти, одбијали да носе оружје, полажу заклетву или буду чланови политичких организација. Придржавајући се доследно својих верских уверења, долазили су у сукоб са властима. Од 1949. године, комунистичке власти су их осуђивале на вишегодишње затворске казне, укључујући и затвор на Голом oтоку. Тада почиње и илегална емиграција назарена у Северну Америку, која је трајала све до 1965. године. Овај рад заснива се на теренском истраживању обављеном у Сједињеним Америчким Државама у Охају (март–јун 2015) са припадницима назаренске заједнице који су емигрирали из Југославије. Указујући на улогу религије у процесу миграција, као и на трансформацију ове верске заједнице након неколико деценија на простору Америке, у раду се анализирају усмени наративи о исељењу назарена током комунизма, где се емиграција види као "стратегија опстанка" заједнице.
Book Review: Miodrag Ciuruşchin, Political and Diplomatic Relations of Romania and Serbia in Period between 1903 and 1914 (Timisoara: Mirton, 2010, pp. 394)
The paper looks at the role of religion in the ethnic identity of the Serbs in Romania, based on the fieldwork conducted in August 2010 among the Serbian communities in the Danube Gorge (Rom. Clisura Dunării; loc. Ser. Banatska klisura), western Romania. A historical perspective being necessary in studying and understanding the complexities of identity structures, the paper offers a brief historical overview of the Serbian community in Romania. Serbs have been living in the Banat since medieval times, their oldest settlements dating back to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Today, they mostly live in western Romania (Timiş, Arad, Caraş-Severin and Mehedinţi counties), Timişoara being their cultural, political and religious centre. Over the last decades, the community has been numerically declining due to strong assimilation processes and demographic trends, as evidenced by successive census data (34,037 in 1977; 29,408 in 1992; 22,518 in 2002). The majority belong to the Serbian Orthodox Church (Diocese of Timişoara), but a number of neo-Protestant churches have appeared in the last decades. The research focuses on the role of the Orthodox religion among the Serbian minority in Romania and the role of new religious communities in relation to national identity. The role of the dominant Serbian Orthodox Church in preserving and strengthening ethnic identity is looked at, but also influences of other religious traditions which do not overlap with any particular ethnic group, such as neo-Protestantism. With regard to the supranational nature of neo-Protestantism, the aim of the study is to analyze the impact of these new religions on assimilation processes among the Serbs in Romania and to examine in what ways different religious communities influence either the strengthening or the weakening of Serbian ethnic identity.
Rumuni; migracije; religijski identitet; Severna Amerika; etničke i verske manjine ; In this paper we have tried to show different aspects of the Romanian emigration from the Serbian Banat, from the perspective of religious migration. The material collected for the purposes of this paper came to be result of ethnographic research of the Romanian neo-Protestant diaspora, based on interviews with pastors from the Serbian Banat and the believers in the United States and Canada and available literature. The paper is divided into two thematic areas. In the first part, we present a brief historical sketch of the Romanians in the Banat region. The second part is devoted to the issues of emigration to overseas countries – the United States and Canada and to the integration of Romanians abroad. The issue of emigration of the Romanians to North America has occupied, so far, a number of researchers who have been trying to explain the reasons for emigration in the recent history. Although the topic of this paper is a special type of migration – religious migration, it cannot be considered in isolation, but only in the broader context of migrations and significance of religion for immigrant communities. Thus, we indicate several stages in Romanian emigration, which are allocated according to the socio-economic and political conditions that prevailed during the twentieth century. Beside Romanians, members of different ethnic groups have emigrated from communist countries of East and South-East Europe to West Europe, North America or Australia. Among them, representatives of different minority religious groups were also present. Belonging to minority religious group that had unrecognized and marginalized status in the home country was one of the reasons for migration – escaping religious oppression. At beginning of the 20th century, after the Romanians from the Serbian Banat joined and formed a large number of local neo-Protestant communities, they found themselves in the position of a double minority – ethnic and religious. As the position of the neo-Protestant communities in different social and political circumstances was unfavorable, some religious groups (such as the Nazarenes), began to emigrate very early on, not only for economic reasons, but mainly in search of religious freedom. By going to the New World, the Romanians joined already existing neo-Protestant or they established new communities, which would greatly affect their integration into the new environment. In a secular society of the United States and Canada, in a variety of different religious communities of Protestant origin, the Romanian neo-Protestants were free to exercise their religious practices with no restraints within the new communities. ; U savremenim istraživanjima migracija, veza između religije i emigracije predstavlja važan element za razumevanje promena kolektivnih identiteta nakon iseljavanja, kao i odnosa prema matičnoj zemlji. U ovom radu, pored pregleda iseljavanja Rumuna tokom 20. veka, ukazujemo na ulogu religije na procese emigracije i integracije rumunske etničke manjine sa prostora srpskog Banata u Severnoj Americi. Kako je položaj verskih zajednica, naročito verskih manjina, u različitim društvenim i političkim okolnostima tokom 20. veka bio nepovoljan, pojedine verske grupe, kao što su nazareni, veoma rano počinju da emigriraju u potrazi za verskom slobodom. U slučaju Rumuna koji su pripadali neoprotestantskim zajednicama, religija se posmatra kao "kanal" za migraciju, ali i put za bržu integraciju u novoj sredini.
The paper is devoted to issues of emigration to overseas countries the United States and Canada, and of integration of Romanian neo-Protestants from the Serbian Banat into the Diaspora. Since the position of neo-Protestant communities in different social and political circumstances was unfavorable, neo-Protestant believers began to emigrate, not only for economic reasons, but mainly in search of religious freedom. The emigration of Romanian neo-Protestants was particularly intense from the mid-sixties, when the Yugoslav communist regime allowed its citizens to travel abroad. By going to the New World, now a triple minority, the Romanians originated in the Serbian Banat joined existing neo-Protestant communities or established new communities, which would greatly affect their integration into the new environment, but also the creation of a separate and in many ways specific identity.
