THE EXODUS OF LETNICA - CROATIAN REFUGEES FROM KOSOVO IN WESTERN SLAVONIA A Chronicle

Abstract

Riječ je o etnografskom izvješću o zbivanjima koja su uzrokovala gotovo potpun egzodus iz Letnice, male hrvatske enklave na Kosovu. Kronika ovoga egzodusa uključuje i povijest naseljavanja hrvatskog stanovništva s Kosova u zapadnu Slavoniju. Autor se usredotočuje na teškoće s kojima su se izbjeglice susrele, nastojeći se prilagoditi svojoj novoj situaciji.This is primarily an etnographic account of events that led to the almost complete exodus of Letnica, a small Croatian enclave in Kosovo. In 1992, during author\u27s fieldwork there, the population of Letnica and the surrounding villages fled to Croatia, mainly due to existential fear and insecurity caused by the war in Croatia, and locally fueled by threats from armed Serbian extremists. This exodus is described against the background of similar events in the Vojvodina. The chronicle includes the history of their resettlement in Western Slavonia, in five mainly Serbian villages that were ravaged during the war (1991) and have been deserted by their original inhabitants. The author focuses on the difficulties these refugees have encountered in adapting to their new situation, and attempts - on the basis of these first-hand ethnographic data - on formulate some general questions for future research