Talk:Ráckeve

The name of Ráckeve

PANONIAN, your theory on the origin of the name of this settlement is just too simplicistic.

Rác

First, Hungarians called rácok not only the Serbs, but all the peoples that came up to Hungary from the South, that is to say from the Balkan Peninsula. The main Orthodox church on the Danube Promanade in Pest, for instance, used to be called rác templom, although it was never a church of the Serb ethnic community of the city, but it was the church of ethnic Greek people living around Hungary. By the way, the Serbs did have their own church in Pest not far from the Greek one, and an otherone just on the other side of the river Danube, in Tabán, which for a time used to be the building of the patriarch of the Serb Orthodox Church. However, what I just want to say herewith is that be careful when making your easy conclusions regarding the name "rác".

The name "rác" became used for Serbs almost exclusively and with a quite derogative meaning after the revolution of 1948/49, when many Serbs, especially in what was mostly consedered to be South-Hungary those times, were supporting the Hubsburgs against the Hungarians. There were terrible bloodsheds on the today's Vojvodina region, and the two peoples, Hungarians and Serbs, that before were rather in friendly relations, could hardly ever get over those deep hostilities. The Hungarians began to call the Serbs "vad rácok", that is to say "wild Serbs", and after the bloody batles in Backa in 1848/49, this name was understood for the Serbs almost exclusively.

The "vad rácok" were certainly not the people of ethnic Serb origin living in Ráckeve, Szentendre, Lórév, Pomáz, etc, who usually were interested to have very good relations with other ethnic communities throughout Central-Europe, since they, like the Jews, Greeks and Armenians in Hungary, used to be mostly mercenaries. The Serbs, on the other hand, who came later to Hungary (or the Habsburg Empire, if you like), they were not so much used to a lifestyle in this region. They came from the Balkan, they were fighting there for hundreds of years against the Turks, and the Habsburgs were interested not to "civilize" them "too much", but to keep them for fighting in their own interest - against the Turks in the South, or against the Hungarians in their own empire. These were, practically, the privilages of the Serbs in the military districts of the Habsburg Empire that certain Serbs used to be so fond of. But these was also the reason Hungarians might have thought there are rather "wild". When the city of Subotica, for instance, became a free marketplace and was not under military administration any more, many Serbs left rather so far as to Russia, instead of becoming "civilized", that is to say living under civic rules (Being myself a Bunjevac, I see that this attitude of many of the Serbs, this "wildnes", if you like, has been the main difference between the Bunjevci people of Subotica, on the one hand, and many Serbs, on the other hand; the Bunjevci stayed in Subotica, they were who developed the city in the 19th century, whereas the Serbs rather left everything behind them).

Finally, just a last remark in this regard. When you speak so often of what you call "Magyarization", I think it would be fair if you would take into consideration also what has been here said of being "vad rác", that is to say "Wild Serb". Many Serbs living amongst Hungarians and other nations in the 19th cetnury Hungary did think differently to those Serbs who dreamed of fighting most of the times, recalling their "privilages". Fight might have been for them soemwhat normal, insted of working and paying taxes as other people did. Conseqently, when some Serbs prefered rather to be called Hungarians of Serb origin, or language, or just "Hungarian Serbs", it was not always the result of a forced Hungarization. This phenomenon is a reallity also in today's Hungary among other ethnic minorities too, especially among Germans and Slovaks, and, I gues, it must have been typical for the 19th century too.

Serb Ráckeve

I do not question here, however, that Ráckeve is, actually, one of the most beautiful examples how prosperose the Serbs were in the Danube valley. The "rác" people of Ráckeve were no doubt Serbs, and they were very rich, they must have had an incredebly sofisticated culture. The "rác" church of Ráckeve is an original gothic church, and this style was one of the most sofisticated styles in the hístory of European architecture. Because of the invasion of the Turks after 1526, we have hardly any oroginal gothic building in the region, and in Ráckeve, they managed to keep it! Probably, the Serb communtity of Ráckeve became less prosperose in the later time, so that did not have money to change the entire building into baroque. They, actually tried to do it - see the tower of the church - but the main building remained "old", for our fortune.

Keve

The name Keve is a thorougly challanging question. You say that Keve was the Hungarian version of Kovin, a small town in South-Eastern Vojvodina. But why don't you ask also what does "Kovin" mean?

The Hungarian name Keve is, actually, of Hun origin. Keve was one of the leaders of Huns looting around Europe with Attila, the main leader of the Huns. It's not a very popular name among Hungarians, but there have been some people who were called Keve throughout the centuries, especially among the Székelys.

There are certain traditions, according to which the Székelys would be the remnant people of the Huns. What is most interesting here is, however, that the few Székelys living in Vojvodina do live arond the town of Kovin in Vojvodina. Skorenovac is, for instance, SzékelyKEVE in Hunarian. This latter is a 19th century settlement, but Kovin (Kevevára) used to be called Keve long time before the Székelys kéme to today's Székelykeve. What is more, before the invasion of the Turks in the late Middle Ages, there was in this region of the Hungarian Kingdom a county that was called "Keve". When the Turks were expelled and this region became again the part of the Hungarian crown, the new counties that were established here were called Torontál and Temes county. The old Keve county was not reestablished, just as the county of Bodrog was not reestablished either in Backa, but it became Bács-Bodrog.

Keve used to have also a meaning of a place where people (the Huns?) were buried, that is to say a sort of cimitery.

Keve might also mean "small stone", "pebble", from the word kő, the deminutive of which is today kavics, but it used to be keve before Hungarian language was "modernized" in the early 19th century.

To conclude: Your theory of Kovin-Ráckeve connection does not quite seem to be convincing. --Vedran.b 16:16, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Answer

First, it is not "my theory", but I just translated that from the book "Srbi u Vojvodini" written by D.J. Popović. Second, I have no intention to comment racist theories about "wild Serbs" (if Serbs were "wild", why those who considered themselves "civilized" killed so many Serb civilians during the history? I just would like to know what exactly is so "civilized" in that?). PANONIAN (talk) 14:08, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

I tried to explain the term "rác"; the use of adjective "vad" with this name is a historical fact. 'Civilized' means, firt of all, to live under civic rules, I gues. It is, again, a fact that quite a substantial number of Serbs, still in the 19th century, preferd militantism instead of being integrated into civic circumstances like mamy members of other nationalities did. As for the killing you mentioned: Do Serbs really have a good reputation in this reagard? Just think a moment of Vukovar, of Srebrenica, of Kosovo in the 1990ies, or what did mostly Serb partisans do to hundreds of thousends of German civilians in Vojvodina in 1944, or to the tens of thousends of Hungarians in Backa, the Bleiburg massacre of thousends of Croatians, etc. Yet, I agree, it is unfair to use 'vad rácok' for Serbs today. --Vedran.b 01:02, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

Sorry Vedran, but if you see what some members of Croatian, Hungarian and German ethnic groups done in the history (especially in World War II) then you will also see that they are no different from some members of Serb ethnic group that done those things. In another words, in every nation you have those "wild people" and it is nothing but racism to proclaim that entire nation is "wild". PANONIAN (talk) 12:11, 6 April 2007 (UTC)