Doboj

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Добој
Doboj
[[Image:\|center]] Coat of arms
Latitude	44.73°N
Longitude	18.09°E
Mayor	?
Surface (km²)	?
Population (2006)	27,911 [1]
Time zone (UTC)	UTC+1 Central European Time

Doboj (Cyrilic: Добој) is a town in northern Bosnia, situated on the river Bosna.

Presently, a larger part of the municipality is part of the Republika Srpska (the Doboj Region), the southern rural areas are part of the Zenica-Doboj Canton of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the eastern rural part of the municipality is part of the Tuzla Canton. The town of Doboj is in its entirety within the Republika Srpska part. The part that is in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina are the municipalities of Doboj South and Doboj East.

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History

During the rule of Slav Prince Časlav Klonomirović in the 10th century, the invading Hungarian Armies have clashed with the defending Slavic forces in the Doboj area around 959.

The first mention of the town dates from the 1415, although there are signs that the area had been inhabited ever since the early stone age, and that the Roman Empire had an army camp (Castrum) and a settlement (Canabea) in the vicinity of the town dating from the 1st century AD. Following the arrival of the Slavs in the 6th century A.D. it became a part of the region/bannate Usora (in the medieval documents sometimes put together with the nearby province Soli, hence, Usora and Soli).

The Doboj fortress, first built in the early 13th century and expanded in the early 15th century (1415), fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1476, only to be expanded yet again in 1490. Doboj was the site of a major battle between Hungarians and Bosnian/Turkish coalition in early August of 1415 in which Hungarians were heavily defeated. As an important border fortress (between Bosnian Kingdom and Hungary), it was also frequently attacked (officially recorded some 18 times)in the Austrian-Ottoman wars, and finally fell to the Habsburgs in 1878.

During World War I, Doboj was the site of the largest Austro-Hungarian concentration camp for Serbs. According to its official figures, it held, between December 27, 1915 and July 5, 1917:

16,673 men from Bosnia and Herzegovina (mostly of Serb ethnicity)
16,996 women and children from Bosnia and Herzegovina (mostly of Serb ethnicity)
9,172 soldiers and civilians (men, women, children) from the Kingdom of Serbia
2,950 soldiers and civilians from the Kingdom of Montenegro

In total, 45,791 persons.

By February 1916, the authorities began redirecting the prisoners to other camps. The Serbs from Bosnia were mostly sent to Győr (Sopronyek, Šopronjek/Шопроњек).

Most of the interned from Bosnia were whole families from the border regions of eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is said that 5,000 families alone were uprooted from the Sarajevo district in eastern Bosnia along the border with the Kingdoms of Serbia & Montenegro.

Nobel-laureate Ivo Andrić was also an inmate of the camp.

During World War II, Doboj was an important site for the partisan resistance movement. From their initial uprising in August 1941 up until the end of the war, the Ozren partisan squad carried out numerous diversions against the occupation forces, among the first successful operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The town was liberated on April 17, 1945.

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Bosnian War in Doboj and Peace Implementation Process

Prior to the Yugoslav wars, the Doboj district was inhabited by 102,519 people and was one of the largest railway centers in SE Europe. At that time, there were 41,241 Bosniaks (40.2%), 40,020 Serbs (39%), 13,283 Croats (13%), 5,637 Yugoslavs (5.5%) and 2,338 others (2.3%). The majority of non-Serb population fled the Serb-held municipal area during the war in Bosnia, while the town saw a huge influx of Serb refugees from the surrounding Bosniak-held areas. This effectively changed the area's demographic creating ethinically monolitical areas dominated by Serbs in the Republika Srpska, and mainly Bosniaks in the neighboring Federation municipalities.

Croat-populated parts of the pre-war Doboj municipality and the municipality of Tesanj, both of which have been in the Federation since 1992, have been consolidated into the Municipality of Usora. Usora, a historic local toponym, is also a suburb of Doboj and the nearby river.

It is relevant to note that figures above pertain to the pre-war municipality of which parts are in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and are predominantly Bosniak (namely the Federation municipalities of Doboj East and Doboj South which are over 95% Bosniak, and Usora, which is Croat), which reduces the figures pertaining to the number of Bosniaks and Croats in the territory of the municipality within the boundaries of the Republika Srpska (to around 25 thousand Bosniaks and around 9 thousand Croats).

Doboj saw the overwhelming Bosniak return (around 15,000 in 2001, according to the UNHCR figures) to the municipal area in the RS as well as the near perfect completion of the process of property reposessions. In addition, the numbers have increased further since 2001. These processes have been implemented by the UNHCR, OSCE and the Office of the High Representative in cooperation with municipal authorities. Many Bosniaks have returned to town, while many Serb displaced persons remained in it as well.

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