Molise Croats
Moliseslawen ( moliseslawisch Zlav, outdated also Škavun ), also called Molisekroaten ( kroat. moliški hrvati ) are an ethnic minority in the Italian region Molise, the vast majority in the villages Acquaviva Colle Croce ( Kruč ) Montemitro ( Mundimitar ) and San Felice del Molise ( Štifilić ) settled. In Italy, the population minoranza Croata is called. In the former two towns it forms the majority. There are about 1,700 speakers of Moliseslawischen.
In the 18th and 19th centuries it was believed the ancestors of today Moliseslawen immigrated in the 13th century. Due to historical and linguistic arguments is, however, assumed today that the migration took place in 1500. The emigration territory of the former migrants is controversial: the majority of researchers takes Istria as a source region, but there are also voices that favor the Dalmatian hinterland of the Neretvagebiets in the Herzegovina region of origin.
Long the Moliseslawen in Italy enjoyed no official minority status and have, apart from the World Wide Web, through any mass media vehicle. Since mid-1997, " Croatian " ( il croato ) is recognized as a minority language in the province of Campobasso.
The population in the three villages inhabited by Moliseslawen has been declining for decades; a large number of Moliseslawen is particularly emigrated to Argentina and Western Australia. From the Croatian side, a membership is propagated to Kroatentum that is widely accepted in Montemitro in Acquaviva but not fertilized. Although still in 1913 their Sprachkonservativität highlighted the Moliseslawen today are bilingual and also speak Italian.
In September 1884 searched Risto Kovačić, member of the Serbian society of educated people ( " Srpsko uceno drustvo " ), Slavic professor at the University of Rome, the approximately 4,000 residents comprehensive Slavic -speaking community in Molise. Kovačić described that Moliseslawen then they call themselves " Slavi Serbi " used an older Serbian dialect languages, and practiced the typical Orthodox Serbs custom of Badnjakverbrennens for Christmas. In houses of wealthy Moliseserben is full of portraits of King Milan Obrenović and his wife Natalie, Petar II Petrović - Njegoš ' Dositej Obradovićs, Vuk Karadžić and Branko Radičevićs befänden. However, only older people speak the Serbian language.