Glogonj

Throughout its history, Glogonj was colonized during several different periods.[3] The first of these occurred during Austro-Hungarian rule with the arrival of German inhabitants.[4] In 1718 the Habsburg Monarchy had captured much of the Banat Region from the Ottomans and by the 1760s, they were fortifying the border regions of the Banat with German-speaking colonists from all over Central Europe, (Danube Swabians). The Danube River became the natural border between the Austrian Empire and Turkish-occupied Serbia. German-speaking Catholics began to settle in and around Glogon in the 1770s and 1780s to farm the land. A Catholic church (St. Anna) was first built during this era.[5]

Romanian settlers arrived in the early 19th century. In 1806 an Orthodox Church was built. In 1812, a nursery of fruit trees was established in Glogon.[5]

The population of Glogon for most of the 19th century was about a couple thousand people and most of the people spoke German. There was also a Romanian minority living there. After the formation of Austria-Hungary in 1867, Glogon and the neighboring villages fell under Hungarian jurisdiction. The Hungarian name of the village was 'Galagonyás'.[6]

By the late 1890s and early 1900s, many young men and their families from Glogon, and the neighboring villages, left their homes to migrate to the United States and Canada to start a new life.[7]

After the end of WWI, with the in 1920, Glogon and the surrounding areas of the Banat become part of the newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes with Belgrade as its capital. German-speaking villages, such as Glogon, kept their autonomy [8]

In 1935, the village founded an amateur Football/Soccer Team, FK Glogonj.[9]

In April 1941, Nazi Germany Invaded Yugoslavia. The Panzer-Grenadier-Division 'Grossdeutschland' occupied Glogon and other surrounding villages as they captured Belgrade. Ethnic German men in the Banat were recruited by force to join the German 'Wehrmacht', while others wilfully joined the 'Waffen-SS'.

Between 1941 and 1944, at an execution site near the village of Jabuka (south of Glogon), more than 600 Serbs, Jews and Roma were killed by German forces.[10]

On October 1944, the Soviet Red Army and Yugoslav Partisans captured Glogon and the surrounding villages during the 'Belgrade Offensive'. Many of the ethnic Germans in Glogon were shot, the local Catholic priest was hung in the bell tower and some of the women were raped and found dead. The new communist Yugoslav regime began reprisals and deprived all ethnic Germans their citizenship and civil rights. On October 30, 1944, special detachments of the Yugoslav People's Liberation Committee shot 128 residents from Glogon on site. The surviving ethnic Germans were taken to labor camps in nearby areas, (such as Rudolfsgnad) where most would die of disease, starvation and the cold. The empty villages were fenced off, houses boarded up and remained abandoned for years.[11][12]

After the war, the village was repopulated with Serbs. Many Serbian citizens from undeveloped mountainous villages from the south of Serbia came to Glogonj, because of its fertile agricultural land and electrification.[4] They inhabited "Swabian houses" and were given possession of several square meters of land. These Swabian houses were built prior to 1940 by the German settlers.[4] During the Yugoslav era, some memorable scenes in Yugoslav films were shot in the village.[4]

After the fall of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989, and the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1991, Glogonj was unaffected during the Yugoslav Wars. After the wars, ethnic German historians began to visit the Banat areas of their Danube-Swabian ancestors, such as in Glogonj. In the early 2000s a project was underway to renovate and repair the old German Roman Catholic cemetery outside of Glogonj. In June 2009, historian Anton Nahm, whose ancestors lived in Glogon, along with other political and church leaders, officially rededicated the cemetery and its new chapel.[13]