Trpinja

The villages of Trpinja, Bobota and Vera share a common legend about the origin of their names. According to local oral tradition, the forebears of today’s inhabitants settled in the area during the Great Migrations of the Serbs led by Arsenije III Čarnojević. These settlers, known as the Bobe, were said to have fled the advancing Ottoman Empire forces in the Balkans in order to safeguard their religious freedom.

Their legendary devotion to Eastern Orthodoxy was coined in the phrase “Bobe endured for the faith” (Serbian: Bobe trpiše za veru). In this interpretation, the name Bobota derives from the family name Bobe, Trpinja from the verb trpiti (“to endure”); and Vera from the word vera (“faith”).^[8]

An alternative account attributes the name Trpinja to a landowner named Trpimir, who is believed to have held estates in the surrounding area.^[8]

The municipality is located on the border between historical regions of Slavonia and Syrmia, in the southern part of Pannonian Basin in the Podunavlje region. The total area of the municipality is 123.87 km² (47.8 sq mi).^[9] The river Vuka flows through the municipality in length of 8 kilometers as well as an artificial Bobota Canal in the length of 20 kilometers. The territory of the municipality is completely flat, with very fertile black soil. The municipality shares borders with Borovo, Bogdanovci, Nuštar, Tordinci, Šodolovci and Erdut municipalities, with the town of Vukovar and the city of Osijek.

Name of the Trpinja settlement was first mentioned in 1329 in one document issued in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. Document is today kept in Budapest, Hungary.^[8] In fact in this period at the place of present Trpinja were settlements Mala Trpinja, Velika Trpinja and Slavenska Trpinja.^[8] Villages were owned by the gentry until they were conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1536.^[8] Ottoman authorities settled Serb population in this area, which resulted in decreased percentage of local Hungarians. Area was under Ottoman administration until 1691, when it was conquered by the Habsburg Monarchy. According to the census of 1732, Trpinja had 109 Serb families. Construction of the Serbian Orthodox church began in 1750 and was completed in 1755. The first school in Trpinja was opened in 1776, while in 1859 Trpinja had a factory for spinning silk.^[8] In 1882, population of Trpinja numbered about 1,800 people in 400 homes. The inhabitants were Christian Orthodox Serbs, except 2-3 families who were of Roman Catholic faith.^[8] Although the period of First World War in the village was marked by disease and poverty, Trpinja residents hosted the population of the village of Jakovo. From 27 December 1920 (when they arrived in Vukovar) soldiers and families of the White Russian émigrés who were followers of Pyotr Wrangel settled in Bobota, Pačetin, Bršadin, Trpinja and Vera.^[10] The villagers participated in the anti-fascist struggle during World War II, and one number of them ended up in concentration camps of Independent State of Croatia.^[8] During the war, 452 soldiers from Trpinja fought in the 9th Slavonian Brigade, of which 75 were killed.^[8] 170 Romani people from Trpinja were arrested by Ustaše and taken to Jasenovac concentration camp in 1942, no one of them returned.^[8] According to the 1981 census, Trpinja had 2,243 inhabitants.

Between 1991 and 1997, Trpinja was controlled by the Serbs who rebelled against the democratically elected Croatian Government. During that time, the non-Serb population was subjected to unlawful arrests, imprisonment, physical, mental and sexual abuse and killings by the members of local Serb paramilitary formations. Civilians were physically and mentally abused on a daily basis, forced to sing Chetnik songs, threatened with mutilation by cutting off limbs and body parts, men were forced to kneel in the village center and graze the grass, women were threatened with rape, with one being raped and another forced to drink blood that was leaking from the broken nose of an abused man. Ten captives from Trpinja, as well as civilians captured in Borovo and severely wounded civilians from the Borovo Commerce hospital, who had previously been brutally beaten, had been executed in the nearby Bobotski kanal. In 2016, 10 Serbs were convicted for war crimes against prisoners of war and civilians to prison sentences ranging between 5 and 20 years.^[11][12][13] During the Battle of Vukovar, Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and various paramilitary forces from Serbia tried to break through the Vukovar defense from the direction of Trpinja, namely through Trpinjska cesta, the road that connected Trpinja and Vukovar. However, the Croatian soldiers of the Croatian National Guard (ZNG) and civilian volunteers, led by Major general Blago Zadro, offered strong resistance, during which they destroyed about 30 JNA tanks and armored vehicles which gave road the nickname "tank graveyard".^[14] Trpinja was reintegrated into Croatia with the Erdut Agreement.

Trpinja is an underdeveloped municipality which is statistically classified as the First Category Area of Special State Concern by the Government of Croatia.^[23] The most common economic activities are tillage and animal husbandry.

Elementary School in Trpinja is one of the oldest schools in the region, established in 1776. Classes at the school take place exclusively in the Serbian (exceptions are Croatian and foreign languages).^[24] Upon completion of eight years of elementary school, students usually continue their education in secondary schools in Vukovar where they could attend classes in Serbian. The three most popular universities after high school are University of Novi Sad, University of Osijek and University of Belgrade.

In the village exist a volunteer fire department Trpinja,^[27] folk Cultural and Artistic Association "MLADOST", Serbian Cultural Society "Prosvjeta",^[28] football club "Sinđelić", chess club "Trpinja",^[29] Hunting Association "Srndać" and Hunting Association "Trpinja",^[30] Association of subsidiaries of pensioners of Trpinja municipality and Subsidiary of pensioners of Trpinja,^[31] "Treća životna dob" ("Third age"), The association of anti-fascist fighters of the National Liberation War and Anti-Fascists of Trpinja municipality.^[32]

There are seven villages in the municipality.^[33]

Local amateur football club Sinđelić, which is named after Stevan Sinđelić, has won several lower-league championships. In 2011 Sinđelić was a champion of the regional Veterans League of Joint Council of Municipalities. The Chess Club Trpinja is also active.

• Josif Milovuk, publisher and founder of Matica Srpska
• Katarina Bogdanović, writer, teacher, women's rights activist and philosopher
• Slavko Dokmanović, politician
• Jovan Perajlić, singer
• Spasoje Vukotić, priest, writer and translator

• Bačka Palanka, Serbia^[34]

• Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, Trpinja
• Joint Council of Municipalities
• Podunavlje (Croatia)