Demolition of the church in Titel: Excavator on the belfry

An excavator with, as it is professionally called, an extended arrow, stopped in front of the building of the Evangelical Church in Titel, aimed the arrow at the top of the tower, and after less than a minute, the bell tower fell backwards, to the place where the previously demolished nave of the temple once stood.

What does the municipality say?

"Dear fellow citizens, the Evangelical Church in Titel has been in a very bad condition for a long time and is a threat to the safety of the residents of Titel. On this occasion, the Municipality of Titel undertook all actions within its jurisdiction and contacted the owners of the building in order to find the best solution. Through several meetings, the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession based in Subotica, headed by Bishop Robert Balog, made a decision to remove the building. We inform you that the works will the removal will begin in the next few days, and they will be carried out by the company 'Šuša' with the blessing of the competent institution, i.e., the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Serbia - Vojvodina", reads the announcement of the Municipality of Titel on their official website.

It is not clear who exactly the municipal officials talked to, since the highest representative of the Evangelical Christian Church of the Augsburg denomination in Serbia is Deputy Bishop Arpad Dolinski. Balog is only the secretary of this church community.

There is no information available on the Internet about the exact year of construction of this church, but the bell, which was photographed by one of the locals lying in the rubble among the bricks and mortar, is written in 1890.

Number of views

The video of the demolition of this church that I posted on social media broke the number of views of the post about the demolition the house where Laza Kostić lived in Sombor. On Instagram alone, in less than 24 hours after being posted, as I write this text, it has been viewed by 433.000 people and 1.046 people have left their comments.

In contrast to the demolition of Laza Kostić's house, when almost everyone in the comments condemned such an attitude towards cultural heritage, here, since it is a "Swabian church", almost half of the comments "have understanding" for such a move ("It was in ruins, someone could have died!") or openly seri ("It should have been done earlier, how many crimes Volksdeutsche committed in Vojvodina!").

The argument promoted by a large number of comments that Germans no longer live in Titel and the church should be demolished is as valid as the idea that Serbian monasteries in Kosovo and Metohija should become "Kosovo monasteries" because there are no longer Serbs in those villages and towns. There are no old Romans in Pula anymore, so no one thinks of demolishing the Arena.

Two years ago, after the storm brought down the tower of the Roman Catholic Church in Obrovac, I wrote an article for "Vreme" The fate of the 'Swabian' churches but at that moment we don't have complete information about how many German churches in Vojvodina were destroyed from 1945 until today. The exact table was provided to me by Boris Mašić, the founder of the Danube-German Church Museum in Apatin. According to the data collected by him, from the end of the Second World War until today in Vojvodina (with Zemun and Surčin) as many as 70 churches have been completely demolished: 39 Roman Catholic, 28 Evangelical and 3 Reformed.

Huge list

The most extreme is the case of Ravni Selo, where all three churches were demolished: Roman Catholic, Evangelical and Reformed. The list of other places where one or two churches were demolished is long: Zmajevo, Bački Jarak, Banatski Bresotvac, Banatski Despotovac, Bačka Palanka, Banatsko Veliko Selo, Bečmen Beška, Bežanija, Budisava, Čalma, Čestereg, Crvenka, Dobanovci, Dužine, Bački Gračac, Nova Gajdobra, Gakovo, Gospodinci, Grgurevci, Gaj, Jabuka, Kać, Kačarevo, Klenak, Klek, Knićanin, Krajišnik, Krčedin, Kruševlje, Kucura, Lazarevo, Lukićevo, Majdan, Molidorf (the village no longer exists), Mramorak, Nadalj, Nakovo, Nova Pazova, Novi Banovci, Novi Kozarci, Obrež, Omoljica, Pivnice, Šajkaš, Sakule, Sutjeska, Lovćenac, Sečanj, Dužine, Sivac, Surčin, Titel, Topolovac, Velika Greda, Voganj, Žabalj, Zemun and Žitiste.

The majority Swabian churches in Vojvodina, it was demolished immediately after liberation and in the following 10 years, when a similar fate befell over 60 synagogues that survived the Holocaust but not the new era. The owners of the buildings - religious communities, left without a shepherd, sold the temples, and the local communities had no relation to the fact that these buildings represent cultural heritage and can be used for other purposes.

A good example

Like the case of Bački Maglić, the former Buljkes, where the German Evangelical Church, with the joint funds of current and former residents, turns it into a multimedia cultural center.

In villages where there were also other Catholics (Hungarians, Croats...) the Roman Catholic churches were generally not demolished. The last "Swabian church" that was demolished before the one in Titel was the Roman Catholic church in Bački Gračac, formerly Filipovo, which was demolished in 1972.

When I was passing through Obrovac a few days ago, I saw that the tower of the church that was destroyed in the storm in the summer of 2023 is being restored, and that is good news. The Reformed Christian Church in Sivac, which also fell into disrepair after the Second World War when the Germans partly left and were driven out of the village, is also being renovated with the joint funds of the AP Vojvodina and the local self-government. The church in Sivac was in such bad condition that a tree grew on the top of the tower. However, before 2022, the restoration of this temple began, the tower has already shone with new glory, and the completion of the roof and facade is expected next year. The autonomous province of Vojvodina invested 18 million dinars and the local community 600.000 dinars.

Therefore, if there is the will and understanding of the local community as well as the religious community itself, it is possible to find funds and preserve the heritage.