wP oles in Vojvodina At the beginning of the 19th century, highlander Protestants from Wisła settled in Vojvodina, which at that time was under Hungarian rule. Miners from the Beskids came there to sell nitrate. They usually came in summer, but in late autumn they would return to their homeland. Some, however, decided to settle down there for good. Soon they started farming, growing rye, wheat, barley, oats, corn, sugar beet and tobacco. They also readily took up growing the vegetables that were the most popular in their homeland – potatoes and cabbage. Nowadays, there is still an autochthonous Polish community of about 200 people in Ostojićevo, Serbia. Poles willingly identify themselves as such, they embrace their Polish roots and pray in an Evangelical church built before the war. Some of them also use the Cieszyn dialect. These self-identifying Serbian-Poles maintain contacts with their homeland both individuallyand through Polish diaspora organisations. The largest is the Serbian-Polish Friendship Association ‘YU-Polonia’. In addition, Ostojićevo has Polish associations cultivating national traditions and children’s folklore ensembles.
Emil Bujak, son of Paweł – a teacher and nitrate miner, one of the first settlers in Tisha-Szent-Miklós (Ostojićevo) and their leader. Paweł Bujak actually originated the settlement of highlanders there. The son continued his father’s mission and brought great merit to the whole community of former residents of Wisła in Ostojićevo. Source: Archive of the Evangelical Church in Ostojićevo
Descendants of the Wisła highlanders in Ostojićevo during the visit of Andrzej Wantuła, bishop of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession, 1967. Source: Archive of the Evangelical Church in Ostojićevo
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