Pančevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Панчево, pronounced[pâːntʃeʋo]; German: Pantschowa; Hungarian: Pancsova; Romanian: Panciova; Slovak: Pánčevo) is a city and the administrative center of the South Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is located on the shores of rivers Tamiš and Danube, in the southern part of Banat region. Since the 2022 census 115,454 people have been living in the Pančevo administrative area. Pančevo is the third largest city in Vojvodina and the seventh largest in Serbia by population.[7]
Pančevo was first mentioned in 1153 and was described as an important mercantile place. It gained the status of a city in 1873 following the disestablishment of the Military Frontier in that region. For most of its period, it was the part of the Kingdom of Hungary and after 1920 it became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which was renamed in 1929 to Yugoslavia. Since then with one interruption it was part of several Yugoslav states and after the dissolution of the latest in 2003, it is part of its successor state, Serbia. Pančevo is notable for being multi-ethnic, Serbs (and Germans until 1945) have been the dominant ethnic group since the 16th century and since 2011 they compose 80% of the total population of the city.
Pančevo is a city with rich cultural events and monuments, and in the past, it also used to be a filming location for many national and international movie productions. Since 2003 an international and multi-cultural carnival has been organized in the city. It is also the main economic center of the South Banat region and its economy is also mostly tied up to Belgrade's economy. HIP factory is located in Pančevo as well as UTVA which was heavily damaged during the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999. Pančevo is also well known for its brewery and silk factory which were founded in the early 18th century, and as well as the light bulb factory which are all now defunct. Pančevo is also home to many historical objects, museums and parks.
Name
In Serbian and Macedonian, the town is known as Pančevo (Панчево), in Hungarian as Pancsova, in Slovak as Pánčevo, in Romanian as Panciova and in German as Pantschowa. The place name is probably derived from an old Slavonic term and meant location of marsh.[8]
Nature reserves near the city, the coastal areas of the rivers Tamiš and Danube, as well as numerous islands, are a habitat for over 100 species of birds, 63 species of which are natural rarities.
The City Forest with over 300 hectares, and the National Garden, the largest city park with almost 15 hectares, are located just a few minutes walk from the center of Pančevo and are home to many species of birds.
A particularly important bird habitat, in addition to the Ponjavica Nature Park and the Ivanovačka Ada Special Nature Reserve, is the Deliblato Sands Special Nature Reserve, which is partly located in Pančevo.
The notable bird species found in Pančevo are the white-tailed eagle, black storks, bullfinch and black-winged stilt. The first lowland feeding ground in Serbia for the white-tailed eagle, which is on the list of endangered species, was built on the territory of Pančevo.[10]
History
In the late 19th and early 20th century many archaeological artifacts of the Stone Age period were found, remains of settlements and places of burial from the times of Bronze Age (Urnfield culture) and Ancient Rome on the urban area. Most of the objects are exhibited at the National Museum of the town.[11][12]
After the Treaty of Požarevac, urban area belonged to HabsburgBanat, and was Garrison place of temporarily stationed Regiments of Imperial Army. In December 1764, a military commission of Viennese Hofkriegsrat registered all people and number of more or less habitable houses, and Habsburg government encouraged massive immigration of German settlers for administrative furnishing and developing new district of Military Frontier. In January 1794, Francis II signed the charter of borough rights of Pančevo, there is no other real evidence like a deed of City founding. In 1852, fortification has been slighted for urban expanding. In 1873, the military frontier was abolished and Pančevo included into Torontál county of Austria-Hungary. In 1902, cadastral maps of the town were recorded which are located at the National Archives of Hungary.[15][16][17]
I visit a former Viennese acquaintance who has been living as an emigrant for years in Belgrade. And when I tell him that I want to visit relatives of a deceased friend in Pančevo, he recommends me: Germans live there. Open your eyes - and shut your mouth.
Franz Theodor Csokor, March 1941.[19]
In April 1941, Pančevo was occupied during the invasion of Yugoslavia by Germany. On 21-22 April, 1941, Wehrmacht soldiers committed a war crime massacre in the city when 36 Serbian people were murdered by hanging and shooting as a reprisal for the deaths of 9 Volksdeutsche members of the paramilitary formation Mannschaft, a part of the SS Division Das Reich, and a wounded comrade of that division, attacked by three men of the Royal Yugoslavian Army before the state surrender. On April 11, 1941, Royal Cavalry officers Stevan Rikanović, Saša Rakezić and Milan Orlić gave a signal during the German parade that they did not accept the looming Yugoslavian defeat. They erected temporary scaffolding behind a wall of a Catholic cemetery and fired at the Nazi Mannschaft, who, after overcoming that surprise, returned fire immediately, assisted by two SS men who had been seated in a nearby German café. On April 6, 1941, members of the Mannschaft had already daubed anti-semitic slogans on some graves in this cemetery; some gravestones were badly damaged, too, but they put on the grave of Georg Weifert a wreath with a decorated swastika ribbon. The following day, pro-German groups marched through all the streets, smashed windows of Serbian shops and taunted, spat and beat Serbian civilians because "they had to stay in their homes and were not allowed to go out." On April 17, 1941, there was a power demonstration with a deployment of Mannschaft units in front of City Hall Square, and an incendiary speech by Kreisführer Otto Vogenberger from the balcony of the building, in which he spoke about the "liberation of regional Germans from Yugoslav slavery" and announced "three days of celebrations until the birthday of our Führer." On April 20, 1941, the Kreisführer was personally gifted with a portrait of Hitler by Heinrich Knirr, who was "visiting his beloved homeland". On May 1, 1941, selected policemen from the Banatian State Guard were publicly sworn in at the same place with black uniforms and a Totenkopf on their collar, speaking words such as "protecting the rights and lives of German people," although they had already been recruited in April.[20] Propaganda photos and film of the reprisal massacre were used decades after the event to help chronicle the Wehrmacht's complicity in the atrocities during the war, often manipulated in German-language TV documentaries.[21][22][23]
During World War II in Yugoslavia, Pančevo was part of Autonomous Banat within German-occupied Serbia. Selected Danube Swabian men were recruited and conscripted in Mannschaft, in Waffen-SS, the majority of them either in SS-Division Das Reich, in German Police or SS Freiwilligen Gebirgsjäger Division Prinz Eugen. More than 99.99 percent of local German women and youth were organized in formations such as the Deutsche Frauenschaft and the Deutsche Jugend (including the DMB) and dedicated to Nazism. In 1943, the Südostdeutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft issued a very treacherously worded census with the note "for official use only," stating that "there are amazingly fifty eight 'orthodox Germans' in it," which is a phrase used to describe collaborators of Romanian origin. In 1944, after the defeat of the German Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the Belgrade Offensive by the Allied Armies, a part of the German population left the city, together with the defeated German army. In November 1944, in cooperation with the OZNA, a KNOJ brigade was set up to denazify the region, consisting of 20 elite partisans who volunteered to execute symbolic deterrent measures under the supreme command of Brigade Commander Svetozar Rupić. All measures began for the first time in January 1945 after intensive research and determination of the execution sites.[24][25] The rest of the ethnic German population remained in the country. These people were sent to local internment camps which existed until 1948. After their dissolution, much of the ethnic German population left Yugoslavia for economic reasons. From 1945, the city belonged to the Srez Pančevo of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The city was the administrative center of the region from all these centuries to the present.[26][27][28]
Administration
Main municipal building
The administration of the municipality of Pančevo is structured in 9 local communities (Mesna zajednica, singular; abbreviation MZ) of seven villages, two towns and the city of Pančevo, structured in eight local communities of eight city districts with several quarters.[29]
The administrative area differs to the historical administrative area. From 1946 to 1959, the historical municipality (Srez) was structured in 23 communities, including today's communities and the villages and cities of Baranda, Borča, Crepaja, Debeljača, Idvor, Kovačica, Opovo, Ovča, Padina, Sakule, Sefkerin, Uzdin and Vojlovica. The city district Vojlovica was added to the town in 1978.
As of the 2022 census, the city proper has a population of 73,401, while the administrative area has a population of 115,454, 57% more than the city proper.
Ethnicity of administrative area (2011 census)[citation needed]
The oldest and most traditional cultural institution of the city is the Serbian Church Choral Society, founded in 1838 and the oldest still existing Choral Society of today's Serbia. Since its inception, probably the most famous of all honorable choirmasters is Davorin Jenko, who conducted the choir from 1863 to 1865. In the present, the choir is conducted for the fourth time in a continuous sequence by a woman. The most important Cultural Center of the city (Kulturni Centar Pančeva) is located in the former theater building of the city, founded in 1947 and named National Theater which realized play productions in cooperation with National Theater Novi Sad. In 1956, the political authorities of the town decided the creation of a cultural center which is representing variety of all Arts. The center has a gallery of Modern art, and it promotes continuous festivals like Biennial of Art (Bijenale umetnosti), the music festival Ethno.com and the Pančevački Jazz Festival with artists from all over the world. In addition, some theater productions are shown annually in cooperation with National Theater Belgrade and other famous institutions. In 2012, the center published all popular stories of Zigomar Comics in a collected edition. Since 1977, the House of Youth (Dom omladine) is venue of the event Rukopisi (Manuscripts) where young writers are presented each year. The facility also promotes many other events like FreeDOM Art Festival. There is also the continuous Film festival PAFF worth mentioning which has a good reputation beyond the region. In the past, the city has been filming location for many national and international movie productions, including well known movies such as La Tour, prends garde!, The Mongols, I Even Met Happy Gypsies, Balkan Express, Black Cat, White Cat and Coriolanus.[31][32][33][34][35][36]
Since 2004, each year in June the Pančevački Carnival become the most important event of its kind in Serbia. The highlight of the event is the parade which goes through the center with more than over 3,000 international participants and up to 100,000 visitors annually. The city is a member of the Federation of European Carnival Cities.[37]
National Museum
The National Museum was founded in 1923 and it is located in former neoclassicalcity hall since several decades. The institution has a valuable permanent exhibition and it is one of the most important museums of Vojvodina. The Vajfert Brewery is located in the town's center and it is the oldest one of today's Serbia, founded in 1722 by Abraham Kepiš from Bratislava. The brewery was run by the Vajfert family for several generations and its most famous represent was Đorđe Vajfert. After closing in 2008 and a conflagration in 2010, the building complex was a ruin in recent years. In 2015, the city began to realize a concept for revitalizing the industrial heritage and in the following year, the Đorđe Vajfert Brewery Museum was opened in the presence of the Austrian and German ambassadors. In the same year, a new summer festival called Vajfert Days was held for the first time. The intention of the organizer is to promote the tourist, cultural, artistic and economic potential of the city. There is an archive of the city, founded in 1947 and it is located in former barracks of Austrian-Hungarian Army. The archive collects and preserves materials of town's history from all centuries.[38][39][40][41][42]
The weekly newspaper Pančevac is oldest one of still existing print media in Serbia, founded in 1869, weekly newspaper Libertatea is most widely used print media of Romanians in Serbia, its first edition has been published in May 1945. The most used local mass media is RTV Pančevo. The TV station started broadcasting its programs in 1992.[49][50][51]
Clubs
There is a single but well known board game club in Pančevo. Founded in 2015, Klub d20 brings together people who love all kinds of games, as well as epic and science fiction.
It's meant to cater to all ages, from 5 to 105, to all those who are willing to learn something new through games and to get acquainted with new, non-classic board games of different kinds such as RPG, card and video.
The club also organizes movies nights and watching of TV series, as well as literary evenings and tribunes on appropriate topics. In the club you can find well over 100 board games which you can play in the club or rent for an affordable price and play in the comfort of your home. However, since it really is a hub of fun and games in Pančevo, most people prefer to bring their friends and enjoy board games in the club quarters.
Since the Covid-19 outbreak began the club has temporarily shut its doors but Pančevo residents and board game enthusiasts from afar are eagerly awaiting its reopening.
Education
There are 12 primary and 10 secondary schools in Pančevo, including the Gymnasium founded in 1863. Among its notable students are Mihajlo Pupin and Uroš Predić, after whom the Gymnasium was named in 1958.[52][53][54]
Economy
Bird's eye view of NIS oil refinery
Pančevo is the economic center of South Banat District. There are many industrial companies in processing of oil, steel, aluminum, glass, corn, grain, in metalworking, in producing petrochemicals, fertilizer, commercial packaging, PET molding machines, clothes, grain mill products, bacon and other food, in construction of aircraft, thermal power stations and buildings of steel beams.
Pančevo's economy is tied up with Belgrade economy, as the distance between the cities is only 14 kilometers. The industrial site of NIS refinery is the largest one of all refineries in Serbia. In 1999, the industrial site was strategically bombed by NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
Precise targets included the refinery, the town's airport, the Utva aircraft industry and HIP factory. The UNEP reported in studies about soil and groundwater contamination caused by NATO bombardment. The contamination is a long-term threat to natural environment and human health.[citation needed]
The most important road that runs through Pančevo is the European route E70 which forms a bypass around the city center, connecting the city with Belgrade. The IB-14 highway to Smederevo via Kovin starts here, and so does the IIA-130 highway to Ečka. As the most important regional mode of transport on road is made available a bus route network for public passenger traffic by Autotransport Pančevo since 1948.[59]
Having a relatively small population, Pančevo has no less than four passenger railway stations: Pančevo Glavna stanica, Pančevo Varoš, Pančevo Strelište and Pančevo Vojlovica. Apart from these, Serbian Railways also serve some important industries, such as NIS oil refinery and mineral fertilizer HIP-Azotara. In April 1894, the city was connected to the European railways net.[60]
The municipality lies on left bank downriver of Danube which is one of the Europe's main waterways. The new harbor was built in 1947, Tamiš discharges into Danube just outside the town of Pančevo.[61]
One of the most prominent and famous parts of the city is the park. It is located in the very heart of Pančevo. The park and the Kralj Petar square represent the ''lungs'' of the city.
In late 2021, the reconstruction of the park began. JKP Zelenilo hired the Faculty of Forestry do a detailed estimate of the health of trees located in the park, the JKP Vodovod i kanalizacija were hired to work on the reconstruction of the plumbing, rainwater and sewage pipes. The lightning system should also undergo reconstruction.
In March 2022 a small playground for children has been added in front of the Tax Administration office. This significantly altered the appearance of this part of the park since it was previously known only for the famous ''Sower'' statue.
^"Насеља општине Панчево"(PDF). stat.gov.rs (in Serbian). Statistical Office of Serbia. Archived from the original(PDF) on 14 November 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
^2011 Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in the Republic of Serbia, Volume 2, Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade 2012, p. 82.
^Felix Milleker, Geschichte der Stadt Pantschowa, Pančevo 1925, p. 4-5.
^Theresia Richard, born November 7, 1909 in Jabuka, died July 21, 1993 in Vienna.
^Akiko Shimizu, Die deutsche Okkupation des serbischen Banats 1941–1944 unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der deutschen Volksgruppe in Jugoslawien. Regensburger Schriften aus Philosophie, Politik, Gesellschaft und Geschichte. Band 5, Münster 2003.
^Südostdeutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Die Gliederung der Bevölkerung des ehemaligen Jugoslawien nach Muttersprache und Konfession nach den unveröffentlichten Angaben der Zählung von 1931. Bearbeitet und herausgegeben von der Publikationsstelle Wien. Nur für den Dienstgebrauch, Vienna 1943.
^Ivanikije Milković, Pověst' vo kratcě spisanaja o obščežitel’nom monastyrě Vojlovicě (Short History of monastery by hegumen Ivanikije Milković, 1765–1822), Buda 1801, Online edition of National Library of Austria.
