Summary: This report from Banat (dated September 12th, mid-19th century, likely during the 1848–49 revolutions) describes violent conflicts between Germans, Serbs, and Magyars (Hungarians) in the region. Hungarians and Germans and Serbian insurgents killed and attacked each other. It was first published Leipziger Zeitung in 1848.
Key points:
- The Germans of Weißkirchen refused all attempts at reconciliation with the Serbs and declared they would rather perish under the ruins of their town than join them. They committed atrocities against local Serbs, killing 160 and maiming many.
- On August 29, the Magyars crossed the Begej River near Alibunar and set fire to 1,000 haystacks. In retaliation, the Serbs burned the entire village the next day.
- After the fall of Perlas fortress on September 6 (allegedly due to betrayal), the Serbian Patriarch, acting as interim regent, ordered a detachment to march on Perlas.
- At Jabuka, villagers resisted the Serbs and hid weapons; only after threats with cannons did they allow passage, but were fined 10,000 florins.
- On September 8 at Debeljača, villagers who had declared neutrality fired on Serbian troops. The Serbs surrounded the village, set it on fire from four sides (burning almost all 350 houses), looted it, and took inhabitants prisoner.
- A number of Banat villages (Tarasch, Ecska, Uzdin, Debeljača, Vračev Gaj, Weißkirchen, Bošnjaka, Perlas, etc.) were left devastated, their fields destroyed and harvests lost.
Serbian insurgents plunders in Moldova and burning of Szaska
“I have another success of the mobile guards to report to you. 200 men of the same penetrated on the 28th from Szaska over the mountains to Moldova, attacked the Serbs who were still reveling in their plunder, chased them to flight, killed 17 of their men and drilled a vehicle loaded with 30 Serbs on the Danube.
The border village of Old Moldova went up in flames and the victors brought back a large part of the booty stolen from the Serbs in New Moldova, along with 400 head of captured cattle and horses from this expedition. I am reporting to you as a rumor a report that has just arrived that the mountain village of Szaska was attacked and burned down by the Serbs, since I doubt the truth of this for other reasons. “
Magyar reprisals: atrocities against Serbs
“The mistreatment of the Serbian villages which the Magyars have seized is terrible. The Serbian clergy are dragged from the church to the gallows and hanged in a vile manner. The houses are plundered, the men are murdered, the women and innocent children are impaled. In Földvar the holy liquor of the Serbian Church is desecrated, the church images are pierced with bayonets, the church is lit and boiled, the chalice is defiled and everything is smashed and desecrated.”
Serbian plunders in Banat and Backa
“The plundering and atrocities committed by the Turkish Serbs in the Banat were of a terrible nature. The South Slavic newspaper, a pan-Slavic organ, itself admits this and also shares a letter from one of the heroes, which we are sharing as typical. It reads:
“I am already heartily fed up with the goings-on in the Banat and in the Backa. I have taken whatever was available and could be grabbed. My money bag is well stocked and now I am going to tend to my hearth because I cannot know whether and what kind of trick the Turks will cook up for us. In the end, I would rather fight and strike against the Turk than in the belt of a Turk. I think I have brought him down always some ducats and thalers whereas the pockets of the Magyar boys are always completely empty despite the withdrawal of the Turkish.”1
Reference
Leipziger Zeitung, 1848. https://www.google.se/books/edition/Leipziger_Zeitung/R_tjAAAAcAAJ?hl=sv&gbpv=1&dq=serben+greuel&pg=PA6320&printsec=frontcover
Balkan Academia 