Second, expanded edition of Slovaks in Serbia in Terms of Culture has been published

Much has been said about this publication, the preparations and scientific-research work of the publishing team, as well as about the numerous promotions at home and abroad, and achieved sucesses.

The fact that the book has awakened public interest is best illustrated by the fact that the first issue of 1000 copies was sold in a very short time, just a few months after being published in 2012. The preparations of the second, expanded edition began immediately after that.  

We have to point out that after the first promotion in the hall of the Government of AP Vojvodina (On January 18th 2012.), the book was presented in fourteen places in Vojvodina (Kisač, Silbaš, Pivnice, Kovačica, Lalić, Novi Sad (3 promotions), Hajdučica, Janošik, Gložan, Stara Pazova, Aradac, Vojlovica, Padina, Bački Petrovac), as well as in Bratislava, Melbourne, Toronto and Windsor. Each presentation was characterized by the original program, the warmth and gratitude of the hosts who took care of the advertising the events in their local communities. As a sign of gratitude for the effort and work, CIVS donated copies of the book to the Slovak libraries, schools, church communities, local communities, local committees of the Slovak Matica, to associations and other organizations that deal with the Slovak culture in the local community in which we organized the promotion.

The editors of this publication, Milina Sklabinski and Katarina Mosnak, received a great honor at the 18th International Book Fair in Novi Sad, where they received a special award for the publishing project of the year. The award was presented by the President of the commission, Nenad Šaponja, with justification that the special prize is awarded only for the thorough and precise overview of the cultural development of the Slovak minority in Serbia, made according to high graphic - editorial standards.

This book received another reward in the opening program of the Slovak folk festival, for which Milina Sklabinski wrote the script and it was directed by Miroslav Benko. The program called An Open Noble Book - as the journalist Juraj Bartoš later wrote - was on one hand an ode to the publication Slovaks in Serbia in Terms of Culture and on the other hand wore a seal of harvested success they have individually achieved in music, literature, art, folklore ensembles, theater arts and other forms of cultural creativity of Vojvodina’s Slovaks.

This program has the goal to stimulate the contemporary generation of Vojvodina's Slovaks to add new sentences to this publication with their noble work in the field of Slovak culture. 

And these new sentences were also included in the second edition, which appeared in the press on June 1st 2013. These are primarily chapters about Slovaks living in Sremska Mitrovica (author Marijan Pavlov) and in Savino Selo (author Juraj Bartoš). The book Slovaks in Serbia inTerms of Culture this time focuses on a total of 36 places, in which the Slovaks have or have had an organized cultural life. Places are represented by the corresponding text and photographs, archival documents, as well as contemporary illustrations of the original copyright.

The first edition has been expanded with valuable materials, provided by the Slovak National Museum, the Slovak National Library and its Archives of Literature and Art in Martin. This edition was also helped by individuals, who warned about the deficiencies and opportunities to improve the quality of the first edition. On page 21, the table with data on population according to the last census is shown, and that information is provided by the Statistical Office of Republic of Serbia. Compared with the data mentioned in the book, according to the 2002 census, we can see that the number of Slovaks in Serbia in year 2011 decreased from 59 061 to 52 750, which is less by seven thousand Slovaks.

Printing of the second edition was partially financially supported by the Office for Slovaks Abroad, whose President, Igor Furđik, wrote the preface for this edition.

We take this opportunity to thank you all for words of support, as for the help and cooperation on preparation of both, the first and second editions of publication Slovaks in Serbia in Terms of Culture.

The book has recently been presented in Šid, and it still has a lot of places to travel to. And of course, it is waiting for the new readers who can buy it in the Cultural Institute of Vojvodina’s Slovaks (Njegoševa 16, Novi Sad) for 2000 dinars.