Getting In The Way – Past & Present in Senta (Lost Lands #108)

Many years ago, when I lived on the Great Plains, I made several trips by car across South Dakota on Interstate 90. To the untrained eye the landscape looks largely featureless. The earth stretches outward in every direction beneath an enormous sky. The horizon seems infinite and unattainable. At the midpoint of this journey the landscape takes a downward dive to the Missouri River. The town of Chamberlain is tucked in the bluffs on the river’s east bank. The town has been along major transportation networks since its founding. ?Chamberlain is small, but essential. If Chamberlain did not exist, someone would have to build it.

I feel the same about the town of Senta along the Tisza River in northern Serbia, as I do about Chamberlain. Senta might not be on any tourist’s list of preferred destinations, but throughout history it has been an essential place. Senta and the Tisza complement each other.? The town has been the site of a popular river crossing going back to the earliest days of human habitation in the area. That is still true today as a bridge carries automobile traffic over the placid and gray waters of the Tisza.?

Finding The Way - Visitors From Afar

My itinerary for the lost lands beyond Hungary’s borders demands that I visit Senta. It is too good of an opportunity to pass up. As usual, I am enchanted by a place that is obscure and overlooked. Senta seemingly arrives out of nowhere. In a landscape that is generally flat and without distinguishing topographical characteristics, to discover Senta standing quietly by the banks of the Tisza is like magic. I imagine Senta as one of those places that has always been there, and very few travelers have the time or inclination to take notice. That is until one day all is revealed for the few travelers who happen upon it.

From my preliminary research on Senta I have learned that the town has a lot more going on than might be expected for a place of modest size (population 18,302) on the periphery of the Balkans.? Historically, Senta was on the frontier of Hungarian lands. The town’s remoteness did it very few favors. Senta could not escape the same whirlwinds of history that wreaked havoc on Eastern Europe and the Balkans. The Mongols, Ottoman Turks, and Habsburgs all had their way with the town. These powerful empires either destroyed, co-opted, or imposed themselves upon Senta. In more recent times, the same was true for Yugoslavia, and Fascist Hungary. The one constant that runs as a thread throughout Senta’s history has been the various armies which swept through it.

Travelers have been much rarer than soldiers when it comes to visiting Senta. While few travelers visit the town today, one of the greatest travelers in world history did. The Ottoman Explorer Evliya Celebi visited Senta during his travels around the Balkans during the 1660’s. Celebi noted a fort which helped the Ottomans to control the Tisza River. Prior to the advent of railroads and automobiles, rivers were the main transport arteries and facilitated trade. Whoever controlled Senta, controlled the Tisza.?The river was as powerful a force as any empire.

Standing Guard – On The Military Frontier

Senta has played host to hundreds of thousands of soldiers throughout its history. There is a very good reason for that. On many occasions, the town did not have any choice in the matter. Disobeying the bayonets of whatever army found their way to Senta could lead to deadly consequences for the inhabitants. From the 16th until the mid-18th century, Senta was in the unfortunate position of being in the eye of the storm for the Ottoman-Hungarian/Habsburg conflicts which plagued the region. After the Battle of Mohacs in 1526 with Hungary on the verge of being overrun by the Turks, Senta fell under the sway of Serbian despots. Before long, they too were swept away by the Turkish tide. Much later, Serbs would reestablish their presence in the area by helping staff the military frontier expanded after the Holy League’s forces dealt the Ottomans a mortal blow at the Battle of Zenta.

As the military frontier increasingly became an anachronism, Hungarians and other groups such as ethnic Germans who were brought in to repopulate the area dominated Senta. Serbian control would not be reasserted until the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (renamed Yugoslavia in 1929) took control of the area following World War I. Their control was threatened by the Hungarian reoccupation which accompanied Nazi Germany’s invasion of Yugoslavia. This short, violent, and disastrous period only lasted three years. Near the end of World War II, Yugoslavia regained control of the area. Senta’s geographical remoteness helped it weathered the collapse of Yugoslavia. By the turn of the 21st century, the town was part of Serbia.

Ideal Isolation – Keeping To Themselves

For me, Senta holds an exalted place in the lost lands because it is the largest majority Hungarian town in Serbia. Close to 80% of its 18,000 inhabitants are ethnic Hungarians according to the last census done in 2011. The treatment of ethnic Hungarians since World War II has been relatively benign in Yugoslavia and then Serbia. Compared to what Hungarians suffered during the rule of Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania, Tito-era Yugoslavia was ideal. Senta was part of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina during Yugoslav times. This gave the Hungarian language and culture more room to thrive. This situation did not survive the fanatical Serbian nationalism propagated by Slobodan Milosevic that led to the disintegration of Yugoslavia.

Hungarians were not immune to discrimination or conscription during the Yugoslav Wars, but they did not suffer the same violent excesses which happened to Bosnians, Croats, Kosovars, and Serbs. The Hungarian community in Senta is still intact. Like many ethnic Hungarian communities in the lost lands this one is not far from the border with Hungary. Senta’s isolation has proven ideal for maintaining a demographic advantage. That is likely to continue well into the future. The Hungarian community in Senta is stable and shows no signs of weakening. That is quite an accomplishment. One that has proven elusive for many ethnic Hungarian communities in the lost lands.