The first branch of Diaspora Prosvjeta was established in Vienna on 21 May 2011. After Vienna, committees were established in Zurich, Paris, Stuttgart, and the network continues to expand. From 2011 until today, Prosvjeta Vienna has been actively working to improve the position of Serbs in Austria, as well as to promote Serbian interests through numerous projects and activities.

‘From the very beginning, our work has been based on two pillars – our culture and education. Regarding Prosvjeta, I am very glad that we started a Prosvjeta school of Serbian, which is actually a school of supplementary classes for our children in Austria. And here we are, finishing the eighth season. It has established itself as the most important and almost the only one of its kind in Austria, right where the concentration of Serbs is the largest in Austria, specifically in Vienna, where 10 percent are either Serbian citizens or people of Serbian origin who speak Serbian. For Serbs in Austria, Serbian language is a tool, that is, a means which allows us to show that we are interested in our culture, in our children’s education in our language, as it is, and not as others imagine it. In cooperation with both our and their authorities, we are trying to establish a solution satisfactory for all, meaning that our children and our people in Austria obtain the right to Serbian, and to have more done on that, that is, to have educational systems grow out of our school, which is supplementary, and to have conditions established for us to arrive at a Serbian gymnasium in Vienna today, tomorrow, for the Serbian community to be equal with other communities, not only in its numbers, but also in its historical connections. In this case, unfortunately, that is not so,’ says Mijalković.

What will be the plans and priorities at the beginning of the second decade of Prosvjeta in Vienna?

‘The first step will be to mark the tenth anniversary, which is a great opportunity to reminisce about our work, which, people say, has been very fruitful. I would like to single out several significant projects, including naming of the Diana Budisavljević Park in Vienna in 2015, the exhibition about Jasenovac in the center of Vienna, which was also noticed, numerous visits by our artists, authors, who really shifted the cultural situation of Viennese Serbs, then 9 years of Serbian New Year’s concert in Vienna, where eminent Serbian and foreign artists were guests, naturally the founding and operation of the supplementary school of Serbian. We will continue to work. We have prepared a small exhibition to show a small Collection dedicated to our work, and making of a short film about all this is underway, and we hope to step into the next decade at the ceremonial assembly to be held in the ceremonial hall of the University of Vienna. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank all the people connected with Prosvjeta, all the members and, naturally, as someone who is now in the service of the president, I extend my congratulations on the jubilee to all,’ Srđan Milaković told RTS.

Source and photo: RTS