Serbophilia

Serbophilia (Serbian: Србофилија, romanized:Srbofilija) is the admiration, appreciation and/or emulation of a non-Serbian person who expresses a strong interest, positive predisposition or appreciation for the Serbs, Serbia, Republika Srpska, Serbian language, culture or history. Its opposite is Serbophobia.

History

20th century

World War I

During World War I, Serbophilia was present in western countries.

Breakup of Yugoslavia

Political scientist Sabrina P. Ramet writes that Serbophilia in France during the 1990s was "traditional", partly as a response to the closeness between Germany and Croatia. Business ties continued during the war and fostered a desire for economic normalization.

Serbophiles

Jacob Grimm — German philologist, jurist and mythologist. Learnt Serbian in order to read Serbian epic poetry.
Archibald Reiss — German-Swiss publicist, chemist, forensic scientist, a professor at the University of Lausanne.
Victor Hugo — French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. Hugo wrote the speech Pour la Serbie.[citation needed]
Alphonse de Lamartine — French author, poet, and statesman.
Helen of Anjou — French noblewoman who became queen consort of the Serbian Kingdom.[citation needed]
Mircea I and Vlad III Dracula
Several notable composers used motifs from Serbian folk music and composed works inspired by Serbian history or culture, such as: Johannes Brahms— German composer, pianist, and conductor of the Romantic period.[page needed] Franz Liszt — Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, music teacher, arranger, and organist of the Romantic era.[page needed] Arthur Rubinstein — Polish-American classical pianist.[page needed] Antonín Dvořák — Czech composer, one of the first to achieve worldwide recognition.[page needed] Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky — Russian composer of the Romantic period (See Serbo-Russian March).[page needed] Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov — Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five (See Fantasy on Serbian Themes).[page needed] Franz Schubert — Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras.[page needed] Hans Huber — Swiss composer. Between 1894 and 1918, he composed five operas.[page needed]
Rebecca West (1892–1983) — British travel writer. Was described by American media as having a pro-Serbian stance.
Flora Sandes — British Irish volunteer in World War I.
Ruth Mitchell — American volunteer in the Chetniks, World War II. Sister of Billy Mitchell.
Richard Grenell — American diplomat, public official, and Trump administration official.
Robert De Niro — American actor
Johnny Depp — American actor and musician
John Challis — English actor best known for portraying Terrance Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce in the BBC Television sitcom Only Fools and Horses (1981–2003) and its sequel/spin-off The Green Green Grass (2005–2009)
Peter Handke — Austrian novelist and playwright, Nobel Prize winner. Supported Serbia in the Yugoslav Wars.
Eduard Limonov — Russian writer and poet.
Ángel Pulido — Spanish physician, publicist and politician, who stood out as prominent philosephardite during the Restoration [failed verification]
Essad Pasha Toptani — Ottoman Albanian politician.
Anna Dandolo— Venetian noblewoman who became Queen of Serbia.
Józef Bartłomiej Zimorowic — Polish poet and historian of the Baroque era.[failed verification]
Adam Jerzy Czartoryski — Polish nobleman, statesman, diplomat and author.[citation needed]
Pavel Jozef Šafárik — Slovak philologist, poet, literary historian, historian and ethnographer in the Kingdom of Hungary. He was one of the first scientific Slavistics.[citation needed]
Ján Kollár — Slovak writer (mainly poet), archaeologist, scientist, politician, and main ideologist of Pan-Slavism.[citation needed]
Ľudovít Štúr — Slovak revolutionary politician and writer.[citation needed]
Henry Bax-Ironside — British diplomat.
Eleftherios Venizelos — Greek statesman and a prominent leader of the Greek national liberation movement.[citation needed]
Dimitrios Karatasos — Greek armatolos who participated in the Greek War of Independence, and several other rebellions, seeking to liberate his native Greek Macedonia.
Herbert Vivian — British journalist and author of Servia: The Poor Man's Paradise and The Servian Tragedy: With Some Impressions of Macedonia.
Alexander Kolchak — Imperial Russian admiral, military leader and polar explorer.
Yu Hua — Chinese author.
František Zach — Czech soldier and military theorist.
Viktor Orbán - Prime Minister of Hungary.[dubious – discuss]
Steve Wozniak - Co-founder of Apple Inc.

Gallery

"A Threatening Situation", a comic published in the American newspaper the Brooklyn Eagle in July 1914
Departure for Serbia
WWI poster - Kosovo Day, June 28, 1916, published in solidarity with the Serb allies
WWI poster - Save Serbia (1915)
American poster of the Serbian Relief Fund, organised by Mabel Grouitch, asking for donations to help Serbia on the brink of famine.

Sources

Sells, David (1997). Serb 'Demons' Strike Back (Royal Institute of International Affairs) Vol. 53, No. 2
Tomić, Dejan (2019). [Serbs and European composers: Serbian music and Serbs in the works of European composers, from the 19th to the beginning of the 21st century]. JMU Radio-televizija Srbije. ISBN 978-8-66195-173-2.

External links

The dictionary definition of serbophilia at Wiktionary