THE PATRIARCH GEORGIJE BRANKOVIĆ AND ANTI-SERBIAN DEMONSTRATIONS IN ZAGREB IN 1895

Abstract

During the visit of the Emperor Franz Josef to Zagreb in October 1895, there was an attack on the Serbian church, the flag, and several Serbian institutions in Zagreb. The Patriarch Georgije was also attacked, as well as a few prominent Serbs. Priests were harassed, and a lot of Serbs who were in the church of the Transfiguration of the Lord to greet the monarch, were subjected to insults and physical attacks after the visit. Reaction of the Serbian political scene was brisk. Liberals and radicals unanimously condemned the attacks, characterizing them as unworthy of the times in which they lived, and unworthy of Europe which Croatian political elite was praising of, presenting themselves as carriers of the Western culture to the East. For some time, especially the Serbian press wrote and analyzed these events in the light of the Serbo-Croatian conflict.