Rogatica

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Rogatica
Рогатица
Location of Rogatica within Republika Srpska
Location of Rogatica within Republika Srpska
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Country Bosnia and Herzegovina
Entity Republika Srpska
Government
 • Mayor Radomir Jovičić (Alliance of Independent Social Democrats)
Area
 • Total 645 km2 (249 sq mi)
Population (2013 census)
 • Total 11,603
 • Density 18/km2 (50/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Area code(s) 57
Website City of Rogatica

Rogatica (Serbian Cyrillic: Рогатица) is a municipality and town in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina located 60 kilometres northeast of Sarajevo; midway on the road from Goražde towards Sokolac. Rogatica and the town of Žepa are located in the Rogatica municipality in the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Demographics

1971

25.501 total

1991

In the census of 1991, the municipality had 21,812 residents, the ethnic distribution of which were;

  • 15,374 Bosniaks (60.38%)
  • 10,169 Serbs (30.48%)
  • 185 Yugoslavs (0.85%)
  • 18 Croats (0.08%)
  • 66 others (0.30%)

The town of Rogatica itself had 8,930 inhabitants:

  • 5,662 Bosniaks (63%)
  • 3,062 Serbs (34%)
  • 139 Yugoslavs (2%)
  • others (1%)

From 1991, no census was conducted until 2013, but the results of that census will not be known until sometime in 2014.[1]

1946

A pen portrait of the situation facing the town in mid-20th century appears in Francesca M.Wilson's book Aftermath in which she describes her work with UNRRA in 1946, a year after the end of the Second World War. She meets a Russian émigré who is helping to build the new Yugoslavia. "It was an old Muslim town and rich, but built in a haphazard way, just as it grew. It was famous for its artisans and the fine boots they made - the best in Bosnia. The Orthodox lived in the surrounding country. There was a market and much traffic in livestock and timber and, of course, boots. The Ustaše demolished the Orthodox Church the first day they came in. Then the Orthodox came from nearby and burnt down houses. In the autumn of 1941 the Partisans took the village and held it for six months. When they were forced to leave they also burnt what they could. Rogatica changed hands six times and each time was burnt. Only the Germans could spare ammunition - they put mines and blew buildings up. " [1]

In due course we reached Rogatica, a model little Turkish village of some two thousand inhabitants, possessing many graceful mosques, its streets alive with the warmth and colour of the East, and its bazaar the same enchanting, but now very familiar pageant of Muslim life Rogatica is, in fact, "Tshelebi Bazar"of the Muslim, and renowned throughout all Islam ; it is still to a certain extent a sacred city, and the numerous cupolas and minarets portend more than the traveller realises. The place has always had a reputation for fanaticism and intolerance, and so strict are the Muslims that during Ramadan the elders watch in the cafes to see that none of the Faithful smoke and to inflict punishment upon any delinquent. Rogatica is a Muslim stronghold, and not the least remarkable fact is that the Christian community, which numbers only about ten per cent of the total inhabitants, should live upon such good terms and in such security. Rogatica is the most conservative town in Bosnia, and several great families have their origin here ; to-day many of its principal men are Begs, and there resides in the neighbourhood the famous family of Sokolovitsh, whose distinguished ancestor in the fifteenth century, Mehemmet-Beg Sokolovitsh, one of the founders of Sarajevo, built the beautiful bridge that we shall see at Višegrad [2]

Notable people

References

  1. Francesca M.Wilson, Aftermath Penguin Books no. 614 September 1947
  2. My Balcan Tour by Roy Trevor (1908)

External links