Frontier Mentality – On The Margins In Beli Manastir (Lost Lands #96)

I always try to learn a few things about a place before I visit it. Context added to curiosity makes for a richer experience. It can also be anti-climactic, draining a place of drama. This has never stopped me from gaining a bit of cursory knowledge prior to a visit. This is the same kind of behavior I exhibited as a child searching for my Christmas gifts before the big day. A few times I found the gifts. Those sneak peeks were exceeded emotionally by the letdown I felt on Christmas morning. I was my own worst enemy, letting my curiosity get the better of me killed the thrill of surprise. The same thing will likely happen when I visit Beli Manastir, which happens to be the largest town in Baranja region and the next stop on my tour of the lost lands beyond Hungary’s borders.

Exit Ramp - On The Road

From what I have discovered in advance about Beli Manastir, I will not have to worry about a letdown when I arrive. My sense of expectation was deflated with less than intriguing information such as the town of 7,900 being known for producing alcohol, starch, and vinegar. This is not exactly what I had in mind when I selected Beli Manastir as a place worth visiting. To be honest, my selection was mainly based upon its size rather than any sort of intriguing possibilities to be found there. When a place’s most notable commercial enterprise is a steel wheel factory, the excitement tends to fade. I imagined that Beli Manastir would be so much more. When I learned that the town’s name means “white monastery”, I had visions of a monastic complex crowning the top of a hill. My searches have found nothing of the sort. That is not surprising when the tumultuous history of Beli Manastir is taken into consideration. The town has been located near geopolitical fault lines for centuries.

Beli Manastir is a frontier town. Like the region it is part of, the town occupies an in-between space where few travelers tread except when passing through on the way to somewhere else. The lack of notoriety is one of the reasons I want to visit it. I am hoping to discover something in the town that will surpass my admittedly modest expectations. The phrase middle of nowhere gets overused, but Beli Manastir meets that definition when proximity is taken into consideration. Zagreb is 240 kilometers by road to the west, Budapest is 300 kilometers to the north. On a more provincial note, Osijek is just half an hour by car, and Pecs less than an hour. Beli Manastir is a pitstop for those who just crossed the border into Croatia, or a final stop for those about to cross into Hungary. The town’s position reminds me of those places in America that are known only due to their proximity to travel routes. When motorways become the major factor in a town's existence, the town?becomes little more than a name on an exit ramp. Petrol stations and roadside restaurants do not make a town, but they can come to define one.?

Fatal Futures - Mixed Emotions

The best way to understand Beli Manastir is by its history as part of frontiers. Which frontier depends upon the historical period. Beli Manastir did not move, but those who did disappeared, disintegrated, or dissolved. Croatia is the last in a long line of overlords. Its 20th century history illustrates this rather well. War was the agent of change again and again. The post-World War I Treaty of Trianon brought a lot of changes to the town. Hungarian Pelmonostor (up to 1920) became Yugoslavian Beli Manastir (1920 –91). After Yugoslavia dissolved, the town found itself not far from the frontlines during the Croatian War of Independence, but it was not yet part of Croatia. Instead, it was forced into the short-lived Republic of Serbian Krajina from 1991 – 95.? The meaning of Krajina in the Serbo-Croatian language is frontier. This was a throwback to the Military Frontier set up by the Habsburg Empire beginning in the 16th century to hold back the Ottoman Turks push into the heart of Europe. When the Ottomans began to retreat from the area, many ethnic Serbs resettled in the Baranja, as did ethnic Germans. ?The frontier became ethnically mixed. These settlement patterns would lead to future problems which came to a head in the 20th century.

The military frontier has long since been an anachronism. What came to replace it were national frontiers. Beli Manastir went from being deep inside the Kingdom of Hungary (as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) to part of Yugoslavia, which was at odds with Hungary. And Yugoslavia in turn, was at odds with Croatian nationalism. Following the Croatian War of Independence and a short period when the region was administered by the United Nations, Beli Manastir became part of Croatia where it has stayed since 1998. The most recent and important change occurred when Hungary (2004) and Croatia (2013) joined the European Union. A few years after their accessions both countries were part of the Schengen Zone. Border controls have now been dismantled. Anyone who holds citizenship in a European Union member state can come and go without hindrance, just as they did when the town was part of sprawling kingdoms and empires in past centuries. These changes in border control are a sign of the progress that has been made in Baranja since the war ended.

Opportunity Costs - Cutting Both Ways

Beli Manastir’s position on a political frontier has lessened due to Croatia’s membership in the European Union. Relations between Croatia and Hungary are as good as they have ever been. The focus now is on economic development. This has been a double-edged sword as it opens new opportunities for Beli Manastir’s inhabitants. Mainly by allowing them to migrate to more prosperous parts of Europe where they can find better job opportunities and higher wages. Beli Manastir has always been on the economic fringes, and no matter how much borders change that is one thing on this frontier that stays the same.