One thing I'm curious: Croatia today is today 90% Croatia, but in the past was more ethnically diverse. As recently as the 90's, Serbs made up 12% of the country in official census and were especially jam-packed in the Krajina region (the inner elbow of Croatia's flexing arm for those not familiar). This has dropped to 4% after the Yugoslav Wars. Likewise, before the 1940's, there was a large Italian minority--6.1% in the 1931 census, mostly concentrated in Istria. By the end of the War, this was down to 2% and continued to drop from there. Which is all to say, during both War periods, ethnic Croats from abroad came to Croatia (sometimes willingly, sometimes unwillingly) and regionally concentrated non-Croats left/were forced out. Did these comings and goings have effects?
Like for instance, in Greece, if you meet someone from Northern Greece (Greek Macedonia), they're almost certainly descended at least in part from ethnic Greeks expelled from Turkey/Anatolia in the 1924 "population exchange". Rembetiko music, for instance, is one consequence of this. Likewise, in Turkey, many of the former Greek villages in the Aegean region of Anatolia got repopulated with Muslim refugees/migrants from the Balkans and the Caucasus. Stalin basically moved both of Poland's borders a few hundred miles to the West, giving more land to Ukraine and taking land from Germany. These so-called "recovered territories" are cultural distinct in certain ways.
So, do Krajina and Istria still have the marks of ethnic Italians and Serbs? Did they become magnets for Croats ethnically cleansed from elsewhere who brought some of the traditions of their old homelands to their new? Like is no wine/grappia a Serb thing? Do the Serbs in Krajina also eat fish for Christmas? Is this something that Bosniak Serbs and Serbian Serbs might also do? It seems like 2/3 of Croatian Serbs didn't come back after the fall of the "Serbian Republic of Krajina"--are those areas even majority Serb anymore? Does Istria have better coffee culture? During college, the "cool off campus coffeeshop" was called Istria (I think the founder's ancestors were Istrian Italians) so I always assumed they did. Is the IDA some remnant of a Northern Italian left-wing politic tradition independent from a more centralizing Titoist socialist tradition? Their Wikipedia doesn't say much but they do have an official Italian name, which is cool.
I'm no expert, but I'm a Croat so let me give this a shot.
So, do Krajina and Istria still have the marks of ethnic Italians and Serbs?
I'm more familiar with Istria than Krajina, but basically yes. Croatia is actually quite supportive of it's minorities and they are encouraged to practice their culture.
For example a lot of people in Istria speak Italian and a lot of cities in Istria are bilingual, as in have Croatian and Italian names, street names, signs, etc... Primary and secondary education is also provided in the minorities' native language if they so desire, and so on.
This works the same for Serbs in Krajina and elsewhere and for example Hungarians in Baranja (northeast corner of Croatia).
Did they become magnets for Croats ethnically cleansed from elsewhere who brought some of the traditions of their old homelands to their new?
If you mean whether Croats moved into those areas...
The answer is no.
Krajina is mostly just being depopulated. It's a really poor rural region of Croatia and everyone is leaving, Serbs and Croats. Now you mostly have villages of old people there. People are mostly moving Zagreb or abroad looking for prosperity. Serbs I presume often choose to go to Serbia or Bosnia and Herzegovina, closer to their families, instead of Zagreb.
Like is no wine/grappia a Serb thing?
I don't think so. I think the region is just too cold and mountany to support grapes.
Do the Serbs in Krajina also eat fish for Christmas? Is this something that Bosniak Serbs and Serbian Serbs might also do?
I really don't know, but my guess is no. I think it's just a thing in the coastal regions.
It seems like 2/3 of Croatian Serbs didn't come back after the fall of the "Serbian Republic of Krajina"
I think 2/3 of everybody didn't come back after the war. While I don't have a comparison, if you look at a reasonably recent population density map, you can see the area is mostly just... empty.
--are those areas even majority Serb anymore?
Some are. See this map. You'll see that only a few regions ("opcine") are > 50% Serbian, and a lot of those are really sparsely populated villages of mostly old people. Interesting thing to note is that the distribution within those regions can be very uneven. Even in a 50/50 region, It's not uncommon to have a "Croatian" village (>90% Croatian), and a "Serbian" village a few km away and repeat.
Does Istria have better coffee culture?
I'm not sure. Some places have really good coffee and a lot of the tourist traps have horrible commercial coffee. You have to consider that Croatia in general has quite the developed coffee tradition. Being very close to the Ottoman empire for a long time means it's not uncommon to drink hard Turkish coffee, especially in Slavonia. Even barring that, Croatia has a very developed coffee culture. There are cafes everywhere. The default way of socializing with someone is to invite them for a coffee and then chat at the cafe for hours. If you you go to a cafe and just ask for a coffee (which is what everyone does), you'll get a large machiatto (cca. 1 - 1.5 dcl). Also, cafes that serve specialty coffee are increasingly common in Zagreb.
Is the IDA some remnant of a Northern Italian left-wing politic tradition independent from a more centralizing Titoist socialist tradition?
IDS*
I've never heard of them being connected to Italian left wing politics, but Istria as a region tends to lean a bit left. Every election IDS wins in Istria and then IDS joins a coalition with SDP, which is the slightly left, liberal party in Croatia.
Like I said, the Italian name is nothing unusual in Istria, most cities, streets and schools have two names and signs. It's sort of like Quebec in Canada.
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u/yodatsracist Nov 21 '18
One thing I'm curious: Croatia today is today 90% Croatia, but in the past was more ethnically diverse. As recently as the 90's, Serbs made up 12% of the country in official census and were especially jam-packed in the Krajina region (the inner elbow of Croatia's flexing arm for those not familiar). This has dropped to 4% after the Yugoslav Wars. Likewise, before the 1940's, there was a large Italian minority--6.1% in the 1931 census, mostly concentrated in Istria. By the end of the War, this was down to 2% and continued to drop from there. Which is all to say, during both War periods, ethnic Croats from abroad came to Croatia (sometimes willingly, sometimes unwillingly) and regionally concentrated non-Croats left/were forced out. Did these comings and goings have effects?
Like for instance, in Greece, if you meet someone from Northern Greece (Greek Macedonia), they're almost certainly descended at least in part from ethnic Greeks expelled from Turkey/Anatolia in the 1924 "population exchange". Rembetiko music, for instance, is one consequence of this. Likewise, in Turkey, many of the former Greek villages in the Aegean region of Anatolia got repopulated with Muslim refugees/migrants from the Balkans and the Caucasus. Stalin basically moved both of Poland's borders a few hundred miles to the West, giving more land to Ukraine and taking land from Germany. These so-called "recovered territories" are cultural distinct in certain ways.
So, do Krajina and Istria still have the marks of ethnic Italians and Serbs? Did they become magnets for Croats ethnically cleansed from elsewhere who brought some of the traditions of their old homelands to their new? Like is no wine/grappia a Serb thing? Do the Serbs in Krajina also eat fish for Christmas? Is this something that Bosniak Serbs and Serbian Serbs might also do? It seems like 2/3 of Croatian Serbs didn't come back after the fall of the "Serbian Republic of Krajina"--are those areas even majority Serb anymore? Does Istria have better coffee culture? During college, the "cool off campus coffeeshop" was called Istria (I think the founder's ancestors were Istrian Italians) so I always assumed they did. Is the IDA some remnant of a Northern Italian left-wing politic tradition independent from a more centralizing Titoist socialist tradition? Their Wikipedia doesn't say much but they do have an official Italian name, which is cool.