Ethnographic motifs of Slavonia on banknotes

The main motif on modern Croatian banknotes is reserved exclusively for prominent and significant individuals from Croatia's long history, but an earlier period in numismatics visually records the rich tradition and heritage of folk attire in Slavonia on its banknotes. These ethnographic motifs of Slavonia are present on two banknotes, both of which belong to the numismatic area of the Independent State of Croatia.

Obverse (face) of the 1,000 kuna banknote dated May 26, 1941. The item is part of the author's personal collection.

One of them is the 1000 kuna banknote with an issue date of May 26, 1941. It was put into circulation on July 26, 1941, and completely ceased to be a legal tender on July 9, 1945. For almost three full years, this was also the largest denomination in use, until the introduction of the 5000 kuna banknote in late May 1944. The author of the banknote design was the Croatian painter and art historian Ljubo Babić, and its production was entrusted to the Giesecke & Devrient printing house in Leipzig. It is the only banknote by this author that features a drawing of a person in its design.

Most numismatic catalogs that offer a description of this banknote meagerly state that it features a portrait of a (village) girl. However, precisely a detail in the portrait of the aforementioned banknote represents an important ethnographic element that we recognize in the traditional Slavonian hairstyle of the girl in the drawing (graphic) on the banknote. The author of the banknote himself states during its presentation to the public, a month before the banknote was put into circulation, that inside the oval frame is the head of a young Slavonian woman with a characteristic hairstyle, and that this head, in its liveliness, immediacy, and perfect technical execution, is a first-class work of this kind.

The selection of precisely this ethnographic motif for the highest denomination was the result of the national cultural, social, and historical awareness of the time, as well as the prevailing political atmosphere. We are speaking exclusively of a traditional feature of the Slavonia region, which traces its origins back to Roman times. There is a series of evidence indicating that identical hairstyles were worn by Roman empresses and noblewomen, as attested to, among other things, by portraits on Roman coins. A respected hypothesis by the late ethnologist Dr. Jelka Radauš Ribarić is that the Croats of Slavonia assimilated the Roman indigenous population into their own ethnicity and adopted certain elements of cultural heritage from them. Among the assimilated elements is the Roman way of hairstyling, which for certain reasons became limited to the group of maidens.

According to ethnographic research and well-known literature, this traditional hairstyling is present exclusively among the Croatian population in the Pannonian region, from Nova Gradiška in the west, the Sava River in the south, Šid in the east, and to the north in the villages around Požega, Đakovo, Vinkovci, Vukovar to Ilok, and across the Danube in Bač. It also appears in a separate territorial unit in the Croatian villages of the Danubian part of Baranja, and on the other side of the Danube in Hungary, where the Croatian minority is present. Although this traditional and specific way of hairstyling shares common basic characteristics throughout this area, there are certain typological peculiarities, locally developed and present. The peculiarities of the hairstyle of the girl from the banknote are characteristic exclusively of the Đakovo region, specifically only of 3 villages: Vrbica, Đurđanci, and Mrzović. The hairstyle braided into a "cup" is precisely the hallmark of that region.

For a hairstyle that is richly braided and precisely crafted with tiny strands, long hair is required, and girls cannot braid it themselves; it is always done by another female. Unfortunately, this tradition, like many others, is slowly dying out because there are fewer and fewer women who know how to make this hairstyle, which requires up to several hours of work depending on the skill of the maker. The back part of the hairstyle is characterized by a large braid. It is made by gathering the entire back of the hair down to the nape into one large strand using thread. Then, this strand is divided into 56 smaller strands. From these tiny strands, a braid is interwoven, which is finally lifted up and secured with a hairpin. The front part of the hairstyle, known as "počešljana na čišlju" (combed flat/neat), features characteristic curls slightly set away from the temples, and distinct locks of hair combed to the left and right of the center of the head along a parting. The styling product used when creating this hairstyle, with which the entire hair is greased, is the traditional and oldest one—water and lard. As jewelry on this hairstyle, there is a chain (which in one variation can also be gold) or a ribbon placed across the head, along with fragrant natural flowers that complete the overall impression of this hairstyle. Among domestic, natural flowers, mostly hyacinth (wild, domestic), white violet, or pelargonium with a little asparagus fern, a favorite arrangement addition, are used.

Following the decision and selection of the main motif for the obverse (front) of the banknote, its author needed a specific template for the drawing. For years, there was an enigma as to whether it was a drawing of a fictitious character on the banknote or a real person. Due to a combination of circumstances, today we can claim with absolute certainty that it is a real person whose identity is known, as well as the way in which the person in question ended up on the banknote. The aforementioned circumstances related to her identity are reflected in the fact that the girl from the banknote recognized herself upon its release into circulation, even though she had no prior knowledge of it, that she kept this information secret for a long time out of fear of potential problems with the subsequent regime in power, and that her story nevertheless became public in the late 1990s. The circumstances related to how she specifically ended up on the banknote are partly known from her story, and partly thanks indirectly to Jelka Radauš Ribarić. It was only necessary to further gather certain insights and compositionally connect all previously known and newly discovered details into a single whole.

In her text in the collection Etnographia Pannonica: Žena u seoskoj kulturi Panonije (2), Jelka Radauš Ribarić highlighted a photograph by Tošo Dabac featuring a young girl, in the context of presenting traditional Slavonian hairstyles. By comparing this photograph with the drawing on the banknote, one comes to the conclusion that this very photograph undoubtedly served the banknote author as a template for the drawing of the girl. Although the book incorrectly states that the girl is from the surroundings of Vinkovci and that the photograph was taken in 1939, the fact remains that this is crucial physical evidence of the modality used to create the drawing on this banknote.

Photograph by Tošo Dabac from the collection Woman in the Rural Culture of Pannonia.

Comparison of the drawing on the banknote and the mirrored Dabac photograph. The creation of the comparison is the work of the author of the article.

The concept of the golden age of Croatian peasant and national culture is tied to the 1930s, especially the second half. It was precisely during this period that numerous folklore festivals, at the time called festivals of Seljačka Sloga and festivals of Croatian peasant culture, were organized by Seljačka Sloga. These were the most concrete way of presenting traditional art to the Croatian public. Once a year, usually on the Sunday closest to the Radić brothers' birthday on June 11, large central (All-Croatian) festivals of peasant culture were held in Zagreb. These Zagreb festivals actually represented the folklore culmination in terms of presentation, and they aroused immense public interest, both from ordinary citizens and various artists and experts. Among them was Tošo Dabac, who seized the opportunity and took a huge number of photographs of the participants of those festivals in the original folk costumes of the regions they came from. Today, those photographs of his still represent an invaluable Croatian cultural and ethnographic treasure, and they also bear witness to a part of Croatian history.

Dabac's photograph, which served Ljubo Babić as a template for creating the drawing of the girl on the banknote, was taken at one such Zagreb festival, held on August 28, 1938. The photograph features Josipa Kovačević, originally from the village of Mrzović, about 20 kilometers east of Đakovo, today in the municipality of Semeljci. Seka or Aunt Seka, as her family and friends called her, was born on December 13, 1920. Josipa, her sister Ljubica, and brother Mijo (Miško) were members of the Peasant Harmony (Seljačka sloga) branch from their village, and with their folklore group they performed at various festivals, including the central festival in Zagreb in 1938. According to Josipa's words, numerous photographers were present at the aforementioned festival, constantly clicking away with their cameras, but out of their folklore group, they still visited her and another girl most often. One of those photographers evidently had to be Tošo Dabac.

The photograph below shows the complete folklore group from Mrzović that performed in Zagreb at that time. The photograph was taken on the very day of the performance, at the then King Alexander I Square (today's Republic of Croatia Square), in its northwestern part. Marked in blue are Josipa at just under 18 years of age (in the middle), her younger sister Ljubica (right), and brother Miško (left). The group from Mrzović performed as the third out of a total of 25 at the festival, performing two songs: „Šta se to čuje” and „Ja posija lan” (kolo). From her personal life, we can note that Josipa never married and had no children. She passed away on April 1, 2004, in Osijek, where she lived the second half of her life. The descendants of her sister Ljubica live in Đakovo today, and Miško's granddaughter lives in Vinkovci.

Folkloric group from Mrzović at the festival in Zagreb on August 28, 1938. The photograph is part of the private collection of the Biberović family from Đakovo, relatives of the late Josipa Kovačević.

Another interesting banknote featuring an ethnographic motif of Slavonia is the 500 kuna, dated September 1, 1943. This is a banknote that represents the greatest rarity and the most intriguing item of the numismatic period of the Independent State of Croatia, still shrouded in mystery today. It was not in circulation, and only about 40 specimens are known today. It holds great numismatic value due to its rarity, so only a small number of numismatics enthusiasts can boast of having this item in their collection. The design was authored by the Croatian painter and graphic artist Vladimir Kirin, and its production was also entrusted to the Giesecke & Devrient printing house in Leipzig. Although it bears the date September 1, 1943, it was printed only in late 1944. It remains unknown whether the planned printing of this denomination was fully completed, but the fact is that these banknotes were not physically delivered to Zagreb from the printing house in Leipzig. Based on an urban legend in numismatic circles, partisans set fire to the train transporting these banknotes, whereupon mostly all of them burned except for a few pieces. However, it is much more likely that these banknotes never physically left Leipzig, which by early 1945 was in Allied hands, and before that besieged and heavily bombed.

Obverse of the 500 kuna banknote dated September 1, 1943. The item is part of the private collection of Srđan Rakela from Split.

The reverse of the 500 kuna banknote dated September 1, 1943. The item is part of the private collection of Srđan Rakela from Split.

Vladimir Kirin used a slightly different template modality for the drawings on his banknotes. For this purpose, he used his own earlier drawings of people in traditional folk costumes, published in the form of postcards featuring Croatian folk costumes in the early 1940s. For the most part, these postcards depict costumes that were present at the central festivals of Croatian peasant culture held in Zagreb in the late 1930s, and Kirin largely used Tošo Dabac's photographs as a template for creating these drawings. The second modality he used for the postcard drawings was field visits to various regions and sketching the costumes on the spot. The third method of creation was characterized by borrowing costumes, bringing them to his home, and sketching them, with the author's relatives and friends serving as models on those occasions. According to his daughter, the late Maja Gluščević, he borrowed the costumes from the Ethnographic Museum in Zagreb. Unfortunately, there is no paper trail in the administrative archives of the aforementioned institution to confirm these loans. However, it should certainly be emphasized that private folk costume rental shops operated during that period, and there is a possibility that Kirin may have also used their services.

The content elements on this banknote are also largely related to the national cultural, social, and historical consciousness of the time, as well as the current political atmosphere. However, unlike the earlier banknotes from 1941 and 1942, all banknotes from the September 1, 1943 issue included ethnographic elements, which were manifested in figures dressed in folk costumes from various regions of Croatia, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was then entirely territorially involved in the NDH.

Numismatic catalogs that even offer a description of this banknote state that the reverse features a portrait of a woman in folk costume, without a deeper and more meaningful analysis. However, the woman in this drawing is dressed in one of the Slavonian folk costumes, and consequently, this very detail represents the ethnographic motif of Slavonia on this banknote.

For the drawings on this banknote, Kirin used two of his drawings from earlier postcards. On both postcards, the author states that it is a Croatian folk costume from Vinkovci.

Postcard No. 17 and No. 19, Croatian Folk Costumes: Slavonia (Vinkovci). The item is part of the author's personal collection. The publisher is unknown.

The drawing on the banknote is actually a combination of these two traditional costumes. The upper part, more precisely the head with the headdress, was used from the left postcard, and the lower part, more specifically the complete costume from the neck to approximately knee height, from the right postcard. For this reason, the costume on the banknote cannot be characterized entirely as autochthonous because it contains elements of two different costumes, although both individually are autochthonous. Also, neither of these costumes can be connected with the city of Vinkovci itself, as one might think when reading the author's description of the postcards, but possibly with the wider Vinkovci region.

It is difficult today to precisely determine the origin, that is, the locality of the traditional costume shown on the right postcard, as well as on the banknote, because the attire depicted in the costume drawing, decorated with colorful silk embroidery, is generally no longer worn. In the Vinkovci region, this type of costume was most characteristic of Otok and Privlaka. The headwear on the left postcard and on the banknote (a black "rubac zavoj" kerchief decorated with gold embroidery) is characteristic of the so-called Cvelferija region in Županja Posavina (Vrbanja, Drenovci, Račinovci, Soljani, Gunja, Đurići, Posavski Podgajci, Rajevo Selo, and Strošinci) and the so-called Srijem Šokadija (Lipovac, Podgrađe, Apševci, Donje Novo Selo, Đeletovci, and Nijemci).

Comparison of the mounted costume drawing from postcards and the drawing on the banknote. The comparison is the product of the author of the article's own observations, as well as her creation.

One can only guess the true reason for combining the costumes in the drawing from the banknote; it is quite possible that it was purely the author's artistic freedom, yet it is more likely that the intention was to include the Syrmia region in that visual as well, using something that is most recognizable when it comes to traditional attire, which is precisely that type of headwear.

It remains unknown for now which specific modality among the mentioned ones Vladimir Kirin used to create these two drawings on his postcards. By reviewing the history of folklore group performances at central festivals in Zagreb, it is evident that only one group can be associated with the possible use of an original photograph as a template for creating the drawings. This is the folklore group from Privlaka, which performed at the festival in Zagreb on June 11, 1939.

Tošo Dabac attended this event and took numerous photographs of all the folklore groups that participated. Initially, there certainly were photographs from the aforementioned performance featuring the folklore group from Privlaka, but unfortunately, none were published in the press of that era, which would have significantly eased this issue. As an alternative way to arrive at the necessary answers, finding the original photograph in the Tošo Dabac Archive would certainly help, but the biggest problem is the fact that the systematization and dating of his photographs and negatives have not yet been fully completed, due to the exceptionally rich opus of material and the sheer scale of the work required for these tasks.

Did the lower part of the costume from the drawing on the banknote belong to a girl from Privlaka who was present at the festival in Zagreb in 1939? Possible, but that is still just a hypothesis. In any case, the greatest unknown is the modality Kirin used to create the drawing on the left postcard, specifically the headdress from it that ended up on the banknote. The performance of a folklore group from the regions where this type of headdress is characteristic has not been recorded, so it is more likely that in this case the author did not use an original photograph, but something else. Is it possible that he borrowed and sketched the aforementioned costume in his home and that the woman on the banknote is one of his relatives or friends? Possible, but here too it is only a hypothesis that has yet to be confirmed or refuted.

The identity of the girl who ended up on the banknote thus remains unknown until further notice. Despite the long time that has passed since the actual events, and the scarce and vague material legacy, one should not be satisfied with the existing knowledge and stop further research aimed at complete and accurate identification. Hope should not be lost that certain written or photographic material will eventually be found to resolve this dilemma. The possibility should not be dismissed that someone reading this article might possibly have some knowledge that could help solve this enigma. It is time, after 78 years, to restore the name to the girl from the banknote.

More details on this topic, as well as on ethnographic motifs from other Croatian regions on banknotes, will soon be available to read in the upcoming book Banknotes of the NDH: Untold Stories. The book offers a wealth of new information on this numismatic field, which has hitherto been by far the scarcest in terms of factual knowledge. In addition to rich technical details, a large amount of space is dedicated to the individuals who ended up on the banknotes, and their mostly tragic life stories caused by the subsequent realization by the state authorities that they had graced the banknote of a previous currency, i.e., state. Individuals, „common people,” whose manner of dressing and presenting folk costumes at folklore festivals was captured by a camera lens or a pencil, had to bear the burden of being featured on banknotes.

1. Ceribašić, Naila. Croatian, Peasant, Old-Fashioned, and Native: History and Ethnography of Public Practice of Folk Music in Croatia. Zagreb. 2003.
2. Čorkalo, Goran. Hyacinth, Geranium and Violet in a 56-Strand Braid. Vjesnik. Zagreb. Unknown publication date.
3. Domaćinović, Vlasta (ed.). Ethnographia Pannonica: Woman in the Rural Culture of Pannonia. Zagreb. 1982. Glas Slavonije. Osijek. October 9 and 10, 2001.
4. Croatian Voice. Zagreb. July 25, 1941.
5. Croatian Gazette. Osijek. June 3, 1944.
6. Hrvatski narod. Zagreb. July 26, 1941.
7. Novi list. Zagreb. June 22, 1941.
8. Seljačka sloga: Festival of Croatian Peasant Culture. Zagreb August 28, 1938. Zagreb. 1938.
9. Official Gazette of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia. Belgrade. June 26, 1945.

Blaženka Biberović, Đakovo; Maja Gluščević, Samobor; Krunoslav Biberović, Đakovo; Ivana Janković, Zagreb; Katarina Bušić, Zagreb; Slobodan Pukanić, Selnica.

(1) The Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a state that existed within the Axis order during the Second World War in the territory of parts of modern-day Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a part of modern-day Serbia. It existed from April 10, 1941, to May 8, 1945. Retrieved from: Nezavisna Država Hrvatska. Croatian Encyclopedia, online edition. Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography, 2021. Accessed April 6, 2022.

(2) This is a special edition of the journal Etnološka tribina, published by the Croatian Ethnological Society and edited by Vlasta Domaćinović in 1982. The edition is titled Žena u seoskoj kulturi Panonije (Woman in the Rural Culture of Pannonia) and features papers from the 5th International Scientific Conference Etnographia Pannonica held in Vinkovci in 1980.

(3) The item is part of the private collection of the Biberović family from Đakovo, relatives of the late Josipa Kovačević.

Author: Vedran Krušelj

The article was originally published in the Review of Đakovo Folklore Festivities 2022, City of Đakovo, 2022, and is reproduced here with the author's permission, for which we thank him.