Genealogy of the Serbs and Croats

By
George Ljepojevic
This article is very close to my heart I was born in the former Yugoslavia ( Croatia- Rijeka ) to
Serbian parents. I have always wanted to know why there was that brutal hatred between
the two peoples? Modern Serbs are a south Slavic people, the former country Yugoslavia
means “land of the southern Slavs” The Slavic people are intermixed hence the never ending
conflicts, that has existed in the Balkans. The people of the Balkans will not agree that they
are intermixed, the history of these people has been so distorted that now, in the twentieth
century they want to recognize their sovereignty even if it’s distorted. Could the Croats
subconsciously or purposefully ( from quote “intellectuals” who know that they are the one
and same tribe- the Serbs ) be destroying traces of their true origin? Many features of the
Serbian cultural and linguistic origins can be traced back to the early middle ages. I
personally believe that the Serbs existed from the 6th to the 3rd millennium B.C. and were
known as the Vinca people “ the oldest Europeans” but, they were a forgotten race of
people…purposefully? There were also other ethnic groups that are known today as
Bulgarians, Romanians, Illyrians ( the present day Bosnians ) The geographical region of
southeast Europe is the area know as the Balkans hence the name, the Balkans. The
mountains that stretch from eastern Serbia to the black sea and to the east of Bulgaria also
are named the Balkans. The Illyrian people were a number of tribes known as the Arber, or
Arbereshe and later became known as the Albanoi ( Albanians ) Many Serbian historians
have ignored the fact that some Serbians called themselves Illyrians purposefully or
unknowingly. I as a Serb have never heard a Serb call him/herself an IIlyrian. This does not
mean that there are not any that don’t call themselves Illyrians. If they do then they more
than likely, have this knowledge passed on orally.

In a Serb village ( in 1593 ) in the Istrian peninsula, the villagers rioted demanding that a
priest be sent to their village that was conversant in the Illyrian language and script, and that
also could sing in Slavonic. In the 1820’s there was a dictionary of the Illyrian language
supposedly based on the dialect of the Bosnian Serbs, also the Croats and Serbs of that time
formed an “Illyrian movement” to unite the Illyirian people. I personally disagree with this
why would the Serbs and Croats want to do this? There is no logical reason behind it and, it
would not have been of any benefit to either tribe. There was another story that mentioned
that there were groups of Serbs that “Serbinized” a majority of Illyrians. The Serbs according
to Herodotus ( during the Persian wars ) lived behind the Caucasus near the hinterland of
the black sea. Also to support this statement the Roman Emperor Licinius called the
Carpathians “ Serb mountains” In the fourth century the Carpathians were mentioned as “
montes Serrorum”…Serb mountains. These Serbs were also known as white Serbs. This is
very interesting from my perspective and could open up the anticipated connection between
the Serbs and Croats. The Croats themselves were also known as the red and white Croats.
The original Serbs were also known as the Serboi? And may have come from the Sarmatian
( Persian )tribe just one of a number of Persian tribes. These ethnic tribe moved to central
Europe and were to dwell near the Elbe in a region designated as “white Serbia” The Serbs
probably intermarried with the then indigenous Slavs of that period. This region is now
recognised as Western Poland and eastern Germany. Several historians maintain that the
Serbian caste had shared the same origin as the Croats. According to the views of professor
Malcolm who wrote the book called “Bosnia” he clearly elucidated the Iranic origin of both
the Serbs and Croats who adopted the Slavic language. Croats always have thought of
themselves as not a Balkan country but a European one, first and foremost. When the
Ottoman Turks invaded Europe the Austro-Hungarian Empire enforced a policy of enticing
people mostly Vlachs and Serbs to settle as free peasant soldiers in the Croatian Military
Grenze, by guaranteeing their religious freedom for their services. In the 16 th century Vlachs
and Serbs in Croatia were called GRENZERS( or Krajisnici )How are tribes composed
genealogically is a question that is still to be answered but, at this point in time I will look at
other clues as to the origins of both of these tribes. The flags of the Serbs and Croats are
distinctly different or are they? The Croatian flag consists of three equal size horizontal
stripes in colours red , white and blue. The Serbian flag itself has these three colours also. In
the middle ( Croatian flag ) is the coat of arms of Croatia. The flag also combines the colours
of the kingdom of Croatia ( red and white ) Dalmatia ( white and blue ) and Slavonia ( white
and blue ) these three kingdoms are the constituent historic states of the Croatian kingdom.

The current flag and the coat of arms were officially only recently adopted back in
1990. The main coat of arms is a checkerboard that consists of 13red and 12 white “fields”
the five smaller shields represent five the five historical regions within Croatia. The
checkerboard coat of arms ( sahovnica )was first to become the symbol of the Croatian
kingdom on an ‘Innsbruck tower’ that depicted the emblem of Maximilian the 1 st , the
Archduke of Austria in 1495. It appeared on a seal from the “Cetingrad Charter” that went
on to confirm the 1527 election of Ferdinand the 1,st Archduke of Austria as the king of
Croatia in Cetin. The Ustasha regime which had ruled Croatia for the duration of the second
world war superimposed their ideological symbol, the letter “U’’ which stood for Ustasha.
The first of the five crowning shields of Croatia in origin from left to right are as follows ( in
brief )the first is the oldest bleu celeste, a mullet of six points surmounted above a crescent
Argent. The golden six pointed star represents the “morning star” Traditionally this coat of
arms was depicted as the flag of the triune kingdom by Josip Jelacic. This coat of arms was
also commonly associated with the Illyrian movement. The second coat of arms come from
the Dubrovnik region it was used by the Dubrovnik republic since the 14 th century. The
original coat of arms was of the Arpad dynasty and was granted to the republic of Dubrovnik
by King Loui 1st in 1358. The Dalmatian coat of arms, the bleu celeste, with three leopard’s
heads, two over one on a blue shield was also connected to King Louis 1st and ,his daughter
Queen Mary who both used an earlier version of the shield as their personal coat of arms. I
will jump to the last coat of arms it comes from Slavonia, consisting of a bleu celeste
surmounted by a six points star above two silver stripes on a blue shield which represents
the rivers Drava and Sava. This coat of arms was officially granted BY King Vladislaus II
Jagiellon on December 8, 1496.What was of great interest, was the Banovina region of
Croatia flag it is no longer used. It had the double headed eagle with a crown sitting on both
heads and the coat of arms as the body of the eagle. I at first thought the flag may have been
connected to the Croatian Serbs, but no it is Croatian. The Russians and the Albanians and
also a couple of other countries also have the double headed eagle as their flag.

When I decided to look up the Serbian flag I was surprised to find that it ,too had a
number of flags. One such flag was the flag of Stefan Vladislav, the son of king Stefan
Vladislav, Zupan Desa sent delegates to Dubrovnik ( Ragusa ) to bring back things from the
king’s treasurer and the one thing that took their interest was a flag of red and blue colour.
Until 1472 the city of Dubronik spoke latin and it’s population was mainly Illyrian, at the
time. So the oldest known Serbian flag was red and blue. This definitely points to a royal
connection between the Serbs and Croatians. Did the Serbs and Croats fight side by side at
any time in their respective history? Yes they did,in the second world war there were
Croatian partisans as well as Serbs and Bosnian Muslim combatants led by Tito, who was a
Croatian. In the most recent civil war there were enclaves which was made up of the three
warring factions who put aside differences to repel whoever attacked them. Some of these
enclaves had mixed marriages in them, hence them standing side by side. This however did
not happen in other enclaves where neighbours fought one another. Even if the truth comes
out that the Serbs and Croats are one people I ( from a personal perspective )the time for
redemption for both side may be too late. The bloodletting by both sides is still fresh, the
youth of each side has to find the strength to say enough is enough we are one people! This
is no longer here say and gossip in café’s It has been scientifically proven that the Serbs and
Croats are the same race. The research was done by the prominent Croatian F.A. Institute in
Zagreb ( Croatia’s capital ) it was undertaken during nine years of research in the genetics of
7320 Croatian citizens. The highest genetic correlation was received with the Y chromosome
and haplotype of the Slavic happlotype of the Serbian people from the 10 th century. What is
of importance ( in reference to validity ) is that the Croatians themselves did this research
and not the Serbs. I was right on target when found out that both tribes ( before the fall of
the western Roman Empire) were/are of Iranian origin.

The original Serbs and Croats ( during and before the great migration ) were known as
Scythians also Sarmatians and Alans, Buyids,Ayyubids, Sassanid Persians, Achaemenid
Persians and Medes. One thing that apart from the Y chromosome that identified, these
tribes was that they were ‘white’ people/tribes. Today’s only people that are descendants of
the ancient Iranian tribes are the Serbs and Croats. These ancient warrior Caucasian people
were also known as Ossetians. It is said that according to the research at the institute of
Zagreb the Haplotype EU7 ( Croatian ) does not connect with any other haplotype but with
the EU13 haplotype of the so-called “Old Serbian” which belongs to the 10 th century Serbs. It
was also during the 10th century when the Croats took the name CROATS ( in latin Skorbatu )
It took a long time for the haplotype EU7 and EU13 to be connected according to doctor
Milorad Paric of the research institute of Zagreb because samples were not taken from
Bosnia or any other parts of the Balkans but, from Serbia itself, which further validates the
work undertaken by the Croatian scientists. The Croatian gene is actually more closely
related to the genes of the Serbians of “old,” than genetic structure of today’s Serbs. There
had to have been Croatians who knew all along that they were related to Serbs, more than
likely religious individual clerics, who then set out to destroy the ‘’evidence” making sure
that the hatred between the two tribes would create that rift…it did! There was also
outright interference by the various controlling Nations who added further to the separation
of the two peoples. I wonder how many Croats and Serbs there are today who are
contemplating the thought of the two people reunited as one? Scientific proof cannot be
disputed, however ignorance and hatred is hard to overcome. It requires courage from both
sides to look within and realize that both peoples have been used for centuries as cannon
fodder, fighting other nation’s battles for them, which has always been the norm. To reunite
the Serbs and Croats under the one banner is not what the Catholic church wants. Both
religions can live side by side but, they have to do so without outside interference, sadly this
won’t happen. The geographical location of the two people surrounded by something like 50
other nations makes Europe a powder keg. There is nothing wrong with wanting to know
from whence we come. In all past wars and conflicts there have and still, are conversions of
ethnic peoples of all races bar non who have intermixed with other races. Let’s face hard
cold facts from an indigenous ‘ABORIGINAL’ point of view, no one race of people has the god
given right to call any part of the world as their own. We all have migrated just as other
living creatures have over the millennia, it’s called ‘survival instinct.’ Here we are today still
killing each other in the name of religion and, in the name of the God that no one has ever
seen. The ideologies of individuals is what kick started wholesale slaughter and historians
call these parasites ‘Great’ Can you picture Attila the Hun bearing down on your township
with his horde and, you realize you and your entire family are about to be killed. I really
don’t think that the last thing going through the mind, of the man facing them would be
“gee one day this man and his tribe will be great! Amplify this thought throughout the
histories, and I’ll bet my house on the fact that no such thought has ever entered man’s
heads. So why still call these mass murderers great?

Since the introduction of religions ( to control man via superstition )instead of

declining killings have escalated. There is a great secret in the Old Testament that is there to
be seen, in Genesis 6:4 ( just food for thought 6+4=10 and,10 is ONE the zero is a separator )
It says The Nephilim were on earth in those days-and also afterward, when the daughters of
HUMANS went to the sons of GOD who bore children to them” Man was taught a distorted
religion by the ones that created him, who in turn were created by who we call God who has
as, many names as the 72 established nations of mother earth and other smaller nations
that cling to the bigger ones via royal intermarriages. today’s modern man was moulded
from the ancient man. Our scientists could not explain the 70,000 year gap between the
ancient cave man and the sudden appearance of the Homo sapien sapien man. Adam and
Eve were not the only people on earth. But this is another story, today what science has
found out is, the fact that human Y-chromosome DNA can be decoded in genealogical
groups that share the common ancestor. It is these groups that are referred to as haplotype
groups. It was during the bronze age imigratiion that the Bosnian Croat and Serb showed up
in the genealogy ( family?DNA ) tree, the RI a chart as follows the Croats 12 and the Serbs
13.5 making them the closest genetic people… it’s a scientific fact, whether both sides like it
or not! There is no reason to change names but also no reason why borders cannot be
reopened as a sign of reconciliation and the realization that both people are one and the
same, separated by nations who do not, have not ever had the welfare of either people at
heart.