Grigoriy Stepanovich Shcherbina (1868-1903) in the culture of the Kosovo Serbs

The authors carried out research on the paper topic in the framework of a research task involving the perception of the place of the historical epopee of Russian consul Grigoriy Stepanovich Shcherbina (1868-1903) in the culture of the Kosovo Serbs. The objective of the paper is to show the extent to which the death of Russian consul Shcherbina in Kosovska Mitrovica was an important event in the culture of remembrance of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. The research has reached a conclusion that Shcherbina's epopee remained woven into the tradition and culture of the Kosovo Serbs, and for more than a century it personified the hope of the Serbs for the Russian support for the preservation of Kosovo and Metohija in the Serbian state. The basic research of the topic by the data of literature on history, literature and art, i.e. culture in general, entailed the use of analysis and synthesis, as well as logical and cognitive methods and procedures. The choice of the method was influenced by the nature of the research problem, i.e. the type and content of sources, as well as the nature of the content that was researched; thus, the historical method was applied. At the time when the Serbs fought for the liberation of Kosovo and Metohija from the Turks, Russian consul Grigoriy Stepanovich Shcherbinaarrived to Kosovska Mitrovica. Albanian riots, caused by the establishment of the Russian Consulate, culminated in the attack on the Serbs in Vucitrn, and then also in the attack on Mitrovica on 30th March 1903. Shcherbina, along with his escort, went to visit defense positions in Mitrovica, and on 31st March 1903, he was assassinated by an Albanian and died of the wounds on 10th April 1903. Seriously wounded, being in the epicenter of the Serbian historical drama at the time, he said a legendary thought: "I am the first victim in the recent Serbian history for the liberation of Old Serbia." The Kosovo Serbs experienced Shcherbina's death as a national tragedy, because he fell in the struggle for Orthodoxy and freedom of the Serbian people. In the cultural memory of the Serbian people, Shcherbina indeed stood alongside the other heroes of Kosovo. His suffering occupied a place in the Serbian cultural creativity forever. A reflexive-lyrical poem of Filip Djukanovic, "A Serb", was among the first poetic achievements on this subject. It was written between the two world wars, in 1929, and it is completely marked by a hymnlike mood of grateful Serbs, who, on the periphery of Kosovska Mitrovica, built a monument to the tragically murdered Russian consul Shcherbina. Shcherbina ascended into immortality when he replied to Serbian requests to stay safe: "You, Serbs, are not so lucky to see me die. My death would bring you freedom." For the reasons of great respect, love, and the need to express gratitude to the man who gave his life and his Russian blood for the well-being of his Serbian brothers, a monument to the Russian consul was built on a piece of Kosovan land in 1928. The death of the Russian consul befell the Serbian people in Kosovo, who saw him as the personification of the Russian support for the liberation of the area from the Turks. His commitment and suffering became synonymous to the Serbian-Russian unity regarding Kosovo, and the fight for this region to remain part of the Serbian state. The monuments to Shcherbina in Kosovo were rebuilt from the ashes several times, and the culture of remembrance of him has never disappeared in the traditions and the historical consciousness of the Serbs. Shcherbina's epopee was and still is an inspiration to Serbian culture and historiography. In 2007, in the central square of Kosovska Mitrovica, the Serbs built a monument to Shcherbina, cast in bronze, to witness the resistance of the Serbs and to be a symbol of hope that Russia would support them in the fight for the territorial integrity of Serbia.

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