Katoličtí Srbové z oblasti Dubrovníku a Dalmácie

The goal of this study is to introduce, on the basis of secondary sources, the origin, expansion, and to a limited extent (owing to the heretofore unutilized sources) also the demise of the community of Dalmatian Roman Catholic Serbs. Preferential treatment was afforded to the community’s local center of Dubrovnik with attention paid both to its practical and also symbolic meaning, on account of the numerousness of the local Catholic Serb population there and in the second case also the cultural heritage associated with them. Their ethnic roots as well as their relations with Orthodox Serbs, local Croats and also the Catholic Church are also discussed. More familiarity with the history this community also contributes to filling in our knowledge about the national movements of both nations, including their national ideologies and relations within the Catholic Church in the Kingdom of Dalmatia. The goal was to present this marginalized minority and, along with it, also the complexity of the nation-building process in Dalmatia, particularly in the area of the historical Republic of Dubrovnik. Even today, the existence of this group represents a fairly sore spot within the scope of Serbian and Croatian historiography. It is primarily the period of time from the 1840s to the 1940s that is captured, when the Dalmatian Catholic Serbs acted as a self-reflective historical entity.