The municipality of Srbobran encompasses of town of Srbobran, and two villages: Nadalj and Turija.
Name
In Serbian, the town is known as Srbobran (Србобран); in Hungarian as Szenttamás (pronounced[ˈsɛntɒmaːʃ]) or Szrbobran (formerly also Bács-Szenttamás); in Rusyn (a Cyrillic-only language) as /Србобран/; in Slovak as Srbobran; and in German as Thomasberg or Sankt Thomas. The name Srbobran means Serb defender" in Serbian. Older Serbian name used for the town was Sentomaš (Сентомаш).[5]
History
Archaeological records indicate that there has been human settlement in the territory of present-day Srbobran since prehistoric times. The first written record of settlement is from 1338, in which Srbobran is mentioned under name Sentomas, which means Saint Thomas, i.e. the apostle Thomas, who was the patron saint of a monastery and of the village around it in the Middle Ages. During this time, the area was under administration of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary and was part of Bacsensis County. This village, together with the monastery, was destroyed during the Ottoman conquest in the 16th century. Its former population left the region and fled towards north to Habsburg Hungary. During the period of Ottoman administration, the settlement of Sentomaš was rebuilt and populated by ethnic Serbs. It was part of the Ottoman Sanjak of Segedin.
After the Bačka region was captured by Habsburg troops led by Prince Eugene of Savoy in the end of the 17th century, Sentomaš came under Habsburg rule and was populated by new colonists, mainly ethnic Serbs from the south, but also (since the second half of the 18th century) by ethnic Hungarians from the north, who became the second largest ethnic group in the settlement (after Serbs). The settlement was part of the Military Frontier until 1751, when it came under the civil administration. A document from 1751 indicates that besides the name Sentomaš, Srbograd ("Serb Town") was also used as an unofficial name for the town. The town grew quickly; in 1787 its population was 3,532, while in 1836 this number rose to 11,321. After 1751 the town was part of the Theiss district within Batsch-Bodrog County and the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary.
Map of Srbobran municipality
The name Srbobran dates from the time of the 1848/1849 revolutions in the Habsburg Monarchy, but has been officially used since 1918. In 1848–1849, the town was part of the Serbian Voivodship, a Serbian autonomous region within the Austrian Empire. The Serbian defense line was located near this town, hence the name Srbobran, which means "Serbs's defender". On July 14, 1848, the first siege of the town by Hungarian forces began under Baron Fülöp Berchtold who was forced to retreat due to a strong Serbian defense. The Hungarian troops captured Sentomaš on the fourth attempt, on April 4, 1849, and burned the town to the ground. Having suppressed the Hungarian anti-Habsburg movement (in 1849), Austrian authorities established a new province to which Sentomaš belonged to: the Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar, which existed until 1860. In 1850, the population of Sentomaš was 5,630 people, which was only about half of the population recorded in 1836. After the abolishment of the voivodeship in 1860, Sentomaš was again a part of Batsch-Bodrog County. After the establishment of the dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1867, the town was located within the Hungarian part of the Monarchy. According to the official census of 1910, Sentomaš had 14,335 inhabitants; among them 7,808 (54.47%) spoke Serbian, 6,031 (42.07%) spoke Hungarian, and 430 (3%) spoke German.
All of the three settlements in the municipality have an ethnic Serb majority. The Serbian and Hungarian language are officially used by municipal authorities.[8]
The following table gives a preview of total number of employed people per their core activity (as of 2017):[9]
Activity
Total
Agriculture, forestry and fishing
427
Mining
18
Processing industry
459
Distribution of power, gas and water
61
Distribution of water and water waste management
48
Construction
106
Wholesale and retail, repair
465
Traffic, storage and communication
135
Hotels and restaurants
77
Media and telecommunications
12
Finance and insurance
20
Property stock and charter
2
Professional, scientific, innovative and technical activities
89
Administrative and other services
43
Administration and social assurance
176
Education
190
Healthcare and social work
176
Art, leisure and recreation
23
Other services
77
Total
2,604
Transport
Town is located near to the M22 motorway between Belgrade and Subotica. There are two national highways that run through the town, highways 3 and 22. These three important routes make the town an important transport link.
Highway 3 runs west to Sombor, and east to Bečej. Highway 22 runs to Budapest in Hungary to the north changing to Highway 5 in Hungary, and to Ribarice, in the south of Serbia.
Architecture
There are two notable buildings in Srbobran, both of which are churches (one is Serb Orthodox, the other one is Roman Catholic) and both are built in highly sophisticated late baroque style.
Srbobran is the birthplace of Nándor Gion (1941–2002), one of the best-known Hungarian writers, who was born and mostly lived in the region of Vojvodina. In his books he describes, first of all, his home-town, "Szenttamás", during the tragic years of the world wars.
^Општина Србобран: Локална самоуправа (in Serbian). Municipality of Srbobran. Retrieved 2013-02-06. On the territory of the Municipality in official use are Serbian language and Cyrillic script and Hungarian language and script
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