SERBIA. At the end of December, the northern Vojvodina town of Subotica granted the local Society of Rusyns office space that will serve as the organization’s headquarters. The Society has been active for several years, but was only officially registered in 2001. While its basic goal is to strengthen the national identity of the local Rusyns, membership is open to anyone interested in Rusyn language and culture.

Society of Rusyns member Ksenija Palatinus told Subotičke Novine that “[t]he goal of our Society is to use our activities, abilities, will and material resources to foster the traditions of the Rusyn language in private life, science, literature and information as well as in parochial and civil education.”

According to Society of Rusyns statistics, there are between 150 and 200 Rusyns living in Subotica. They are relative newcomers to the city; Palatinus told Subotičke Novine that most come to the city to study, and many remain and start families there.

Since October 2000, the Society of Rusyns has held Rusyn-language classes at the local Sonja Marinković elementary school. Sixteen children are participating, ranging from first- to eighth-graders. In fall 2001, they also started a nursery school for Rusyn children. Subotica has more than 150,000 inhabitants, of which roughly half are Hungarian. The city is home to cultural centers for the local Serbian, Hungarian, Bunjevac, Croatian, Romany, German and Jewish communities.

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