Mother Serbia (Serbian: Мајка Србија / Majka Srbija; Србија мати / Srbija mati ), Serb Mother (Serbian: Српска мајка / Srpska majka) or Mother of All Serbs[1] (Serbian: Мајка свих Срба / Majka svih Srba), is a female national personification of Serbia, the nation-state of Serbs.
The nation of Serbia has historically been portrayed as a motherland (sometimes also being referred to as the fatherland i.e. Otadžbina), with all visual personifications of the nation represented as a woman. She was used as the metaphoric mother of all Serbs.[1] Serbian national myths and poems constantly invoke Mother Serbia. She was also used to symbolize the early feminist movements in Serbia and Yugoslavia, such as the Circle of Serbian Sisters which formed in 1903 and lasted until 1942, only to be re-established in 1990.[2][3]
The territories inhabited by ethnic Serbs outside Serbia can be represented as the children of Mother Serbia.[4] Serbia may also be described as a daughter of Mother Serbia, alongside other Serb territories, as in Dragoslav Knežević's poem Mother Serbia: "One sister younger than the older Montenegro and Serbia, In peacetime and in war Krajina joins the Serbian flock".[4] Personifications of Yugoslavia would parallel the ones of Serbia and Croatia in appearance, largely due to similar artists and sculptors depicting both personifications, as well as the spread of Yugoslavism. Most depictions of Yugoslavia in Serbia would later be renamed and/or represent Mother Serbia, due to Serbia being the main founder and successor of both royal and socialist Yugoslavia.
While visual personifications of Serbia existed before the 19th century and the archetype of a motherly figure having a great significance among all Slavs, the concept of Mother Serbia solidified around the time of Serbia's liberation from Ottoman rule, the Serbian national awakening, and the spread of the Enlightenment among the Serbs.
Dositej Obradović (1739–1811) extensively used Mother Serbia in his works.[5] The concept and term was used in many patriotic songs, such as Vostani Serbije, Oj Srbijo, mila mati, Oj Srbijo mati, etc.
On February 24, 1874, the "Serbian Liberation Committee for the Sanjak of Niš", known simply as the Niš Committee, was founded by local notables. Orthodox priest Petar Ikonomović swore Oath on the Christian cross and Gospel, reminiscent of the Orašac Assembly (1804).[6] Ikonomović said:
So together, brothers, and the Almighty shall help us all in his mercy, and soon permit us to weave the triumphal flag of our only faithful IV Obrenović on the Niš fortification. Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Long live our beloved knightly Prince Milan M. Obrenović IV. Long live Mother Serbia!
— Petar Ikonomović, priest of Niš (February 24, 1874)[7]
With the rise of the Kingdom of Serbia on the political stage, King Alexander I Obrenović commissioned several sculptures and monuments depicting Mother Serbia to be made by Đorđe Jovanović, to glorify Serbia's war victories and history. The sculptor was instrumental in creating the most widely recognizable appearances of Mother Serbia, a woman with ether a crown made of metal or plants, usually holding a crown, a shield (with the nations heraldry), and/or a flag. Further art commissions were done by King Peter I Karađorđević before the outbreak of the First World War. Some sculptures got international praise, like the "Monument to the heroes of Kosovo" showcased at the Exposition Universelle in 1900,[8] or other Jovanović′s work in the International Exhibition of Art of 1911.[9]
There were several allied made lithographs, posters, and postcards done depicting the female personification of Serbia, often in traditional Serbian clothing and in Serbian war uniform. They were sold to support the war effort throughout 1914–1918. Some posters promoted international aid for the nation of Serbia and its people. Later victorious World War I depictions of Serbia (often next to the personification of Montenegro and other allied nations) would be made throughout Europe in the early 1920s.
With the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, personifications of Mother Serbia were often intermixed with the personifications of Yugoslavia, due to the ruling monarchy stemming from previous Kingdom of Serbia, as well as Alexander I Karađorđević attempts to unify the identities of all Yugoslavia's ethnic groups into one Yugoslav identity.
She [Serbia] sacrificed hundreds of thousands of her best sons, gave up her name, flag, existence, and eventually the blood of her king. But still they aren't satisfied and want more, they want to kill her spirit, rip out her heart, wipe out every trace of her, but this will never be! Mother Serbia will give more sacrifices, take more blows for the good of the King and our fatherland Yugoslavia, but she will endure.
— President of the Serbian women organisation "Dobrotvorna Zadruga Srpkinja" in Sarajevo, during the inter-war period.[10]
In 1940, Pavle Tatić wrote the drama Srpska majka.[11]
The propaganda of the Serbian puppet Government of National Salvation included promoting Milan Nedić as "Mother of the Serbs", claiming that he cared and shielded the Serbs.[12]
Other personifications of Mother Serbia at the time depicted her as a regular Serbian mothers enduring wartime hardships, such as those fleeing the terror of the Croatian Ustasha.
After the war, most public depictions of the personification of Yugoslavia and Serbia were ether removed or altered to better suit the socialist ideology of Tito's Yugoslavia. More emphasis was placed upon visual representations of ordinary people from various labor backgrounds, instead of a unified and glorified personification of the nation.
The expression was used during the Yugoslav Wars, referring to Mother Serbia's children in the west (outside Serbia and Montenegro) as the Republic of Serbian Krajina and Republika Srpska.[citation needed]
Milan Martić, President of the Republic of Serbian Krajina , argued, after the fall of Serbian Krajina (Operation Storm), that "the people felt they had been deceived and abandoned by mother Serbia" for not protecting Serbian Krajina.[13]
Most modern visual depictions of Mother Serbia take inspirations from Đorđe Jovanović's work, while some depict her as a woman wearing traditional Serbian clothing.
Serbia had numerous personified depictions since as early as the 18th century. Mother Serbia was constantly represented and referenced through art, literature, and music. During Yugoslav period, her form would often intermix with the personification of Yugoslavia.
Personifications of Yugoslavia and Serbia were done on several banknotes of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Serbia. Krone and dinar banknotes of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia depicting personifications would be done from 1919 to 1941. Socialist Yugoslavia would remove personified depictions of the nation, instead representing the people, industry, and agriculture of the country. After the fall of Yugoslavia, a personification would appear on the 5000 Serbian dinar banknote, the statue next to Slobodan Jovanović.