Abstract: Based on Yugoslav archival sources and relevant Yugoslav and Romanian historiography, the paper attempts to reconstruct the process of nationalization of Serbian religious primary schools in Romania. At the same time, the intention is to identify the actors and their motivation during the process, with a focus to the ideological interests of the new Yugoslav authorities amid the changing social and political circumstances.
Keywords: Yugoslavia, Romania, Serbian national minority, primary schools, Banat
Summary
The process of the nationalizing Serbian religious primary schools in Romania during 1945 and 1946, which according to the interstate convention from 1933, were under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Churchʼs Diocese of Timisoara, illustrates the intricacy of the post-World War II political and social landscape in both Yugoslavia and Romania. Yugoslavia, which had already established itself as a one-party “people’s democracy” state by the end of 1945, used the poor status of Serbian religious schools in Romania to further its ideological objectives with regard to the SOC, which included stifling the church from social and political life. Despite being aware that it would help preserve the Serbs’ national, linguistic, and cultural identity in Banat, Yugoslavia publicly supported the nationalization of Serbian religious schools in Romania. Yugoslav solidarity with the Communist Party of Romania, which fought for absolute control of the nation, included support for the nationalization of these schools. That was the case even though Belgrade officials were fully aware that Romania would exploit minority school nationalization as a pretext to put more pressure on assimilation, which eventually occurred. Through an ideological confrontation with the Serbian Orthodox Church and Archpriest Slobodan Kostić, Tito’s Yugoslavia exposed the Serbian national minority in Romania to the process of denationalization, which is still evident today, despite the consequences that were foreseen.