Kamendin from the Middle Ages to Habsburg Rule
Kamendin most likely took its name from the well-known medieval Hungarian Kemendi family, which held estates near present-day Novi Sad throughout the fourteenth century. However, in earlier times, Serbs also used the word kamendin to describe a place where livestock grazed. These different interpretations suggest the need for a more thorough study of place names, particularly in present-day Vojvodina. The name Kamendin also occurs south of the Sava and Danube rivers, including the area around Belgrade.
Kamendin first appears in written historical sources in the early fifteenth century. A charter issued by King Sigismund in 1404 records that the Kemendi family (Kemendy) was deprived of its estates in Bačko Gradište and Kamendin because of disloyalty to the king. These properties were granted to Jovan, the Ban of Mačva, or to his children, Petar and Rozalija.
The Hungarian historian Friđeš Pešti states in his historical writings that, in the fifteenth century, Kamendin was mentioned as a municipality within the judicial jurisdiction of Bačka County.
The Ottoman conquests of the 1520s devastated the territory of present-day Bačka. Many villages were burned, and much of the population fled. Kamendin most likely suffered a similar fate. Until the end of that century, it was mentioned as a rural tract known as Mali Sirig, within the Bačka nahiye, an Ottoman administrative district. A defter, or Ottoman cadastral register, from 1590 records thirteen Christian tax-paying households there, a substantial number for the circumstances of the time.
After the Ottomans were expelled in the late seventeenth century, the court in Vienna began a more intensive settlement of Bačka. By 1722, the place was mentioned as Kamendin (Camendin), in a Slavicized form, comparable to the names Varady — Varadin and Wechey — Bečej. The few sources concerning Kamendin during this period record that, from 1731, this rural tract belonged to the commander of Petrovaradin.
During the early decades of the eighteenth century, following the Great Migration of the Serbs led by Arsenije Čarnojević in 1690, certain Serbian families received noble status and substantial areas of arable land in recognition of their military service. The Stratimirović family was among them. For his participation in the uprising in Herzegovina in 1737 and his assistance to the Austrian army in the war against the Ottomans, Bogić Vučković Stratimirović received confirmation of his nobility and a grant of Kulpin in 1745.
Somewhat earlier, he had also received the rural tract of Sirig, which later passed into the possession of the Bishop of Bačka. The Stratimirović family also held the fertile black soil of Kamendin, which would subsequently become the property of the Dunđerski family.
Kamendin is also mentioned in the privilege issued by Empress Maria Theresa in 1748, through which Neoplanta, or Novi Sad, obtained the status of a free royal city. The rural tracts used by the frontier soldiers of Varadinski Šanac included Sajlovo, Mrtvaljoš, Rivica (Čenej), Kamendin, and other places.
The Origins of the Dunđerski Family
During the migration of numerous Serbian families from Herzegovina to the territory of present-day Vojvodina and beyond, the Dunđerski family also arrived in the vicinity of Subotica. They came from the village of Višnjice, near Gacko. Over the following two centuries and longer, members of the family left a significant mark on the economic, cultural, and political life of southern Hungary, corresponding to present-day Vojvodina.
The family name is associated with the word dunđer, meaning a carpenter or builder. Most likely, one of their ancestors worked in carpentry or another building trade.
Following the turbulent years of Rákóczi's uprising in the early eighteenth century, the family settled in Sentomaš, where a substantial Serbian population already lived. This town, later named Srbobran, became closely associated with the Dunđerski family over the decades and centuries that followed.
Gedeon Geca Dunđerski laid the foundations of the family's economic rise. Together with his brothers, he inherited from their father Avram about one hundred jutra of exceptionally fertile black soil near Srbobran. The jutro was a historical unit of land area. The most famous member of the family, however, would be Gedeon's son, Lazar Dunđerski (1833–1917).
There are various accounts of how the Dunđerski family acquired its wealth. Lazar's own autobiographical notes, begun in 1902, occupy a special place among them. Alongside descriptions of family circumstances and business affairs, he expressed deep love, gratitude, and respect for his parents.
Lazar's Recollections of the Family's Beginnings
The autobiographical passages below have been translated from the edited Serbian version, in which the language was modernized and the text divided into paragraphs for easier reading. The first-person narrative, the substance of the recollections, and historical terms important to understanding life at the time have been retained. This is an edited rendering of the account reproduced in the supplied text, rather than a verbatim transcription of the autobiography.
I am writing this autobiography so that my descendants and those of my late father Gedeon may know how our fairly well-known name and fortune came into being, and how he laid their foundations. I am also writing for everyone who may take an interest in us as a family.
My father Gedeon married at sixteen. He married my mother, Persa Letić from Čenej, who was then twenty. His father died during the first year of his marriage, and so, at a very young age, he became the head of the household, where he lived with his much younger brother Neca.
As farmers, they inherited sixty lanaca of land and the necessary agricultural tools from their father and their uncle, who had no children. The lanac was another historical unit of land area. My father was a hardworking and thrifty young householder, but he had little education. He had a sensible aunt, whom I also remember. His mother was timid and limited in her outlook, yet she took part in public affairs at the town hall, in court, and elsewhere. She represented my father, who later said that she defended and supported him in everything.
Besides his brother, my father soon received help from his sons. Šandor was born when Father was seventeen, and Nova was born two years later. Then came my sister Elenka, who is still alive; I was born after her, followed by my sisters Maca and Stana.
Father and his brother lived in harmony and affection, sharing the farm work. Nevertheless, my father, endowed with an enterprising spirit, was not content with what he had. Other members of the Dunđerski family also owned considerable land, but he wanted to advance and secure a better future for everyone. Working with his brother, he began buying land.
He then entered the livestock trade in partnership with Filip Oberlender of Vrbas. At first, they handled small quantities, but before the uprising, in 1847, they were already loading vessels bound for Đur and selling livestock and grain there. To their great misfortune, the Hungarian government confiscated all their grain in Đur, and that part of their assets was lost.
Our good fortune was that Father had been buying land. When Percel captured Sentomaš and burned everything, we fled in our everyday clothes, but the land remained as capital that could not be consumed by fire. Father and his brother then owned four hundred lanaca in total.
Childhood and Schooling before the Uprising
I grew up in my parents' house like any farmer's child. I observed all the fasts, including Wednesdays and Fridays, and during periods of fasting I longed for many things.
I attended the school that existed at the time. Two teachers taught the children of the entire town. I wore a white sheepskin coat reaching down to my heels, boots without trousers, a waistcoat, a black cotton sash, and a knitted cap. Those were all my clothes. I remained at that school until the age of eleven.
In 1845, Father sent me to Vrbas, to the first class of the Latin school. I did not even know all the letters of the Latin alphabet, so I struggled and worked hard not to fall behind. I learned by rote, like a parrot, often without understanding what I was studying. Nevertheless, my effort was taken into account, and I passed the examination.
The following year I entered the second class, and in the autumn of 1847, the third. When the uprising broke out in 1848, we were dismissed in March, and I returned home.
The Fall of Sentomaš and Life as a Refugee
When our Sentomaš, later called Srbobran, was captured, thirty-two members of the Dunđerski family lost their lives.
During the uprising, Father chaired the committee and managed its administration. My brother Nova was a people's captain and commanded the position on the side of the Feketić bridge, while Šandor was a sergeant major. I was fourteen at the time and was not in military service, but when the town fell, I was in the camp of my brother, Captain Nova.
When Father saw that Percel would take the town, he took Nova's riding horse and hurried home to save Mother and the others. He shouted for the horses to be harnessed to the wagons. Household belongings and clothing were loaded onto five wagons, and the servants drove them toward the Bečej camp, on the side from which the enemy was not attacking.
Father then came after me. I was fleeing toward the Krivaja, and he caught up with me near Radišić's watercourse. There we swam across with the horses, and I escaped certain death.
I was soaked through. Father put me on the wagon of a man named Mudrinski, who took me to Bečej. Later, as a token of gratitude, I helped that man in his old age and gave him a position as an estate overseer, a subaša.
When I reached Bečej, I found none of my family, so I set off on foot for Turski Bečej. I spent the night there sleeping on the cobblestones. The next day I found my sister-in-law Ćula, Šandor's wife, and went with her and her two children to Melenci, and then to Bečkerek.
At the town hall, they were distributing aid to refugees. I requested help for the four of us and received it. After a week, Father learned where we were and came to collect us. He took us through Slankamen to Golubinci. We were given a room on the first floor of the captain's quarters, but it had no furniture, so we sat and slept on the floor.
When Sentomaš fell, Šandor went to retrieve the sheep that were in Temerin. Crossing the Turinska watercourse, he and the shepherds drove them toward Jarak to save them. Later, they took them through Slankamen into Srem, to a rural tract near Golubinci.
There I became a shepherd: I guarded, grazed, and milked the sheep. When a sheep escaped me, Mother, who was driving them toward us, would say, “Run along, my dear; I will do the milking, and you drive them.” I was young, in my sixteenth year, and unaccustomed to such work, but I nevertheless performed all those tasks.
My uncle Neca fell ill and died. My aunt was left alone with five children, of whom Evica is still alive. Father also developed rheumatism and was taken to Ruma for treatment. Both my brothers still had to serve as soldiers in Šajkaška, at Titel. Mara, my aunt, and I therefore had to obtain everything necessary for our livelihood.
After the Hungarian victory, our Sentomaš was also freed, and we returned to the remaining walls of our houses. Mother and the children spent the winter of 1849–1850 in Sentivan.
Returning to School and Leaving for Vienna
My brother Novak took me to school in Karlovci. The late headmaster Jaša admitted me without any school certificate. He simply asked, “Which class do you want to enter, my boy?” I answered, “The fifth,” and was admitted.
Before I left, my brothers were still in military service, and Father was apprehensive. I ploughed the land for grain wearing one shoe and one opanak, a traditional leather shoe, alongside a servant named Trivun. He was an anarchist who constantly spoke of dividing the land. More than once he told me, “He will weep when I cut off a piece of this lanac for myself.”
In Karlovci, I completed the fifth and sixth classes of the gymnasium, where instruction was given in my native language. I studied day and night and became one of the best pupils. Yet I must admit that I knew neither the grammar of a foreign language nor Serbian grammar. It could hardly have been otherwise, since I had not completed the third class and had skipped the fourth.
After the sixth class, encouraged by an excellent school certificate, I wanted to attend the seventh class in Graz. However, they would not admit me without an examination. Around that time, I tried to enroll at the Karlovci Gymnasium. I took the examination but failed and would have had to repeat a class, which I did not want to do.
I was admitted to the lyceum in Požun without an examination, and there, with much difficulty, I completed the seventh and eighth classes. In 1853, I went to Vienna to study law.
I had suffered from fever for several years. My parents feared for my life, so I returned home in February 1854. During my first year at home, I recovered, and the fever ceased.
Early Trading Ventures and Marriage
Father entrusted me with buying oats. I worked in partnership with Filip Oberlender, Georg Šind, Jakov Klajn, and Nonejmaher. They entrusted the first vessel loaded with oats to me, to take it to Požonj and sell the cargo there.
On arrival, I began measuring the oats in požunci, a historical measure of capacity. As was customary, two women did the measuring, and the oats were poured into long wagons. The buyers were mostly Croatian farmers and traders, or buyers and wagon drivers, who loaded more than one hundred požunci onto a single wagon and took the goods to Vienna for resale.
I remained in Požonj for quite some time, until I had sold the entire cargo. I had promised Father that I would spend only one forint a day on living expenses. I kept my word, though it required considerable self-denial. It should be said, however, that everything was fairly cheap then.
After selling the first cargo, I continued buying grain in Sentomaš, while Filip Oberlender bought it in Vrbas. As far as I remember, that partnership lasted two years.
Oberlender could barely write or calculate, so he kept no record of the goods purchased for the granary. When I arrived with the vessel to load the grain, he told me, “Here are the keys to the granary; the grain is there, and take whatever money remains from the drawer in the cupboard.”
I neither took nor added a single kreuzer. Only after the goods had been taken out and I knew their quantity did I count the money and draw up the accounts. The years were good, and the business was profitable.
I married in August 1855. Before the wedding, Father bought me the house in which I still live. It had been a tavern with four small rooms, separated from the neighbors by a reed fence. I knew that Soka, whom I was marrying, came from a genteel household and that we could not live in such conditions, so I worked to provide us with a separate home.
The Wedding and Father's Bequest
Our wedding celebration was large, as befitted one of the leading farming households. Many castrated rams and a cow were slaughtered. Shepherds constantly cooked paprikaš, a paprika stew, in the middle of the courtyard, and taps were opened on the large barrels. Anyone who wished, even those who had not been invited, could drink, eat, and celebrate.
The distinguished wedding guests were accommodated in two rooms of the upper house. Among my school friends were Dr. Mihailo Polit Desančić, Zmaj Jovan Jovanović, Jova Bošković, and Šandor Teodorović, who served as a wedding attendant.
The celebration lasted three days. I should also mention Steva Bošković, who at dawn on the fourth day danced the kolo with the women, tore open a pillow, and covered everyone in feathers, marking the end of the wedding festivities.
Father, full of joy during the celebration, caught a chill and developed pneumonia. When his condition became very serious, he asked that our friend Aron Nićin, then the local headman, be present when his will was drawn up.
As a wise and fair father, he bequeathed me forty lanaca of land and the house he had purchased for 1,600 forints. By then its value was considerably higher, around 4,000 forints. My brothers were to give me two horses, a wagon, and eighty lanaca of land. That was what the will stipulated. There are still people alive who know the extent of Father's property after my marriage and what he left to me.
After marrying, I continued buying grain, but always according to Father's instructions and in agreement with him. The partnership with Oberlender continued for several more years. After he ended it, he still sold us goods.
Livestock, Leases, and a Family Loss
After the partnership ended, in 1857, we greatly expanded our grain trade. Father and my brothers began buying cows and fattening them on our pasture, which brought a good profit.
We also increased the number of sheep, thanks to Šandor, who knew them well and lived very modestly on bread and fried bread. Sheep farming and the livestock trade were profitable, as were the butcher shops Father operated in partnership with the butcher Kosta Ćaraković.
We leased fishing rights and regalian rights. I managed those activities, and they brought substantial annual returns. If I remember correctly, in 1860 Father leased a rural tract in Srem for raising oxen. That business also produced good profits every year. Father and Šandor bought the oxen, and I helped them.
My brother Nova, who died in 1860, was less involved in buying livestock and more concerned with farming. He was very hardworking and orderly, but he did not take care of himself. During sowing, he lay down while overheated on the cold ground, caught a chill, developed pneumonia, and died. He left his wife Staka and four children: Milan, Steva, Elica, and Ljubica. The children remained with their grandfather.
The Grain Trade, Vessels, and Land Purchases
Of all these activities, I devoted most attention to the grain trade. As a beginner, I envied the merchants of Bačka, because they had their own vessels and traded on a large scale. At first, we loaded only a few cargoes a year, and those onto other people's vessels.
In 1858, a commission agent named Miler in Požonj, whom I had entrusted with selling our oats, went bankrupt. We lost 4,000 forints. It was a severe blow. When I came home, Father wept, and in my distress I said that I would no longer trade and asked him to let me have Radišić's farmstead, which we were then leasing.
Father told me to continue, because where one has lost something, one must look for a way to recover it. Until the end of his life, he recalled that I had once wanted to abandon the grain trade.
During the 1860s, we began operating on a much larger scale. My aunt Ćula separated from the joint family household in 1858, when Pera married. She received Uncle Neca's two hundred lanaca of land, a house, and five hundred to six hundred sheep.
Expanding the Business and Building a Fleet
From 1860 onward, we traded much more extensively and with reliable profits. Anyone who bought grain in the autumn could sell it in the spring at a considerable profit, because money was scarce and credit almost nonexistent.
Business went well for me. Seeing how profitable it was, Father allowed me to expand it. Although the firm was mine, I asked for all letters to be addressed to him, which particularly pleased him.
At first, I owned half of the vessel Sofija with Adam Špis. When I later bought it outright, I named it Gedeon, after Father. The following year, I bought the vessel Bezdan, renamed it Sveti Đorđe, and began working with great ambition.
Father was conservative and very cautious. He did not approve of the purchase of Sveti Đorđe and told me several times that I would have to sleep aboard it as well. He reacted similarly when I bought a plot from the late Toša Hadžić and built a warehouse. Countless times he repeated that the warehouse would stand empty. Thank God, to this day it has not stood empty but has always been full.
Beginning in 1862, I spent much time in Đur, in the company of old Anton Fernbah and Anton Lelbah. Fernbah was a gifted man and was fond of me, while Lelbah was shrewd. As a young merchant, I wanted to do business not only in Sentomaš but also in Banat: in Turski Bečej, Bočar, Tomaševac, and Opovo. There, grain was bought by heaped measures, according to the old system, unlike the practice of Fernbah and Lelbah.
I bought the vessel Persida, and then Crna Bara, named after the estate we had purchased in Banat. We also had Sentomaš and Montefmjore; we bought Sveti Georgije from Mija Radović, and I gave Aleksander its name. At that time, we had eight vessels.
Father was very anxious about my trading and advised me to invest the money in oxen instead. He lent me 5,000 forints for the grain trade, on condition that I repay him.
I also bought three lanaca of land near the village, by the Feketić bridge, but he did not approve. I therefore immediately transferred them to Gliša Manojlović for one hundred forints.
Buying Farmsteads and Land in Baja
In 1864, I bought Nađ Joška's farmstead. I also wanted the Riđički family's farmstead, which had been offered to us, but Father objected. I told him that we had 50,000 wagonloads of oats in storage in Đur and that we should buy land, because it was a tangible asset and was not expensive.
My desire to buy land kept growing. The grain trade brought large profits, our capital increased, and that particularly encouraged me.
At an auction in Baja in 1865, I bought 2,000 jutra of the town's land, with a substantial commercial levy. I arrived at night by steamboat and stayed at an inn without appearing publicly, as arranged with my contact, a town official.
The merchants who had agreed to buy the land jointly sent representatives to ask how much I was offering per jutro. I answered that I would offer three hundred more per jutro. My offer was unanimously accepted, and a record was drawn up.
I paid a withdrawal deposit of 10,000 forints: if I withdrew, I would forfeit the money, but if the town withdrew, it would have to compensate me.
When they heard what had happened, Bahrah and Mirko Fišer, the wealthiest men in the town, came to lodge a protest and offer more. The mayor, however, replied that the town was already bound to us by contract.
We bought Radišić's farmstead in 1866 from Baron Vlasić, then the colonel of the Kenig f. Belgien regiment, which was stationed in Požun. I agreed on a price of 240 per lanac and paid a deposit.
From 1860 onward, I also bought several smaller farmsteads and plots: twenty lanaca from Ružić the tailor, sixty from Mladen Manojlović, forty from the postal worker Radojčić, thirty from Šandor Šijačić, and sixty from Miloš and Neca Šijačić. There were many smaller plots as well, with profits ranging from two hundred to four hundred forints.
The Temerin Estate and Competition with Fernbah
In 1866, part of Adolf Sečenji's Temerin estate was put up for sale, including Jožef majur, with 1,300 lanaca of land, which I had leased for six years. We agreed with old Fernbah to buy it in partnership, each taking half.
At the auction, we bought the land in the names of my brother Šandor and Fernbah's Vali and Toni. Afterward, Vali offered me 10,000 forints to give up our half to him. I offered him 16,000, but he refused.
We considered deciding the matter by drawing lots, with the sellers and old Jaša Milošević acting as judges. Nevertheless, I reached a different agreement with Vali. I proposed that he transfer to us sixty lanaca from Paja's farmstead, which he had bought at two hundred forints per lanac, and the so-called Fernbah farmstead at 240 forints per lanac. We also agreed on the remaining land.
We wanted to buy other properties together, including three hundred jutra belonging to Adolf Sečenji. Father went to that auction alone and was unsuccessful.
For a long time, I could not sleep. I was agitated and particularly wanted revenge on Fernbah for the way he had treated Father during the sale of the regalian rights and the rest of Sečenji's land. He had not kept his word.
I went from Vienna to Pest and found a broker who dealt in the sale of estates. He was a reputable man. I told him everything and sent him to Majlat to offer 40,000 forints above the 600,000 Fernbah had already agreed to pay.
The condition was that he should not reveal my name and that the offer should stand for three days, until I went home and obtained Father's consent. I did not obtain it, so I telegraphed the agent that I could not be the buyer. I was deeply upset throughout. Fernbah nevertheless had to pay 640,000 forints, without knowing who had made the higher offer.
Purchasing Crna Bara
All this affected me so much that I wanted to buy an estate of my own. Thus, in 1868, I purchased Crna Bara at auction, with 2,640 jutra of land and regalian rights. Including transfer costs, the purchase amounted to 320,000 forints.
Without Father's power of attorney, I signed his name and had the estate entered in the land register in his name. It was a good purchase and yielded more than ten percent.
The payment deadline was six months, but I paid earlier. I raised the money by selling wool and grain. At the time, we had 3,000 Bačka centi of wool, a historical weight measure, which we were selling at fifty forints.
I sold the wool from the basement of the Ilejer barracks. I lost a great deal of money on it and developed a fever again from the cold and draughts. I took all the money with me, hidden in the shaft of my boot, when I traveled by rail through Kikinda to Bečkerek to deposit it with the county court.
In that same year, 1868, when I bought Crna Bara, I sold the land in Baja, which I had purchased for resale. I made a net profit of 28,000 forints. Until then, I had leased it out, and it had produced a good return.
Continuing the Autobiography: The Joint Household and Division of Property
Lazar Dunđerski briefly interrupted his autobiographical account, then resumed it on December 30, 1902. In this continuation, he returns to events from 1869 onward:
I resume my autobiography from 1869, but I should add that the previous year my brother Šandor remained in our old house, where all of us were born. Father and Mother moved into a new house built near the church.
I continued living and working jointly with Father. We brought up the children of my late brother Nova, while my sister-in-law Staka managed the household. I continued developing the grain trade and, in particular, leasing land. I held Adolf Sečenj's Temerin estate, or Jožef majur, for six years. Father and I advanced year after year, although there were losses too.
Notes from 1905
Lazar continued writing about his life and the acquisition of his fortune in 1905. The following passages recount his purchases of new properties, family relationships, and the division of assets:
One of my more significant purchases was Marković's farmstead. I bought it at Čepreg, on his estate, with 452 lanaca of land, at three hundred forints. I paid 8,000 forints less than Father had expected.
I must admit that Father never particularly advocated buying land. He stressed that money was always the master.
In 1868, my brother Šandor could no longer remain in the joint household, so we had to divide our property. He would not be satisfied with the allotted share, consisting only of Kiš Joška's farmstead, but asked me to persuade Father to divide the property into four parts. At that time, I did not succeed.
To prevent unpleasant consequences, I gave him a written undertaking that, after Father's death, I would divide everything with him. He trusted me and tore up the paper in front of me. That year he began living separately, but I granted every wish of his and, without Father's knowledge, gave him as much money as he asked for.
Before the late Milan's marriage, I argued with Father countless times that he should allow Milan to leave the house as soon as he married. Milan's mother Staka wanted the same thing and blamed me for her son's suffering. Eventually, I persuaded Father to divide the entire property into four equal shares.
When Elica married, Father would not give her more than 10,000 forints. Through a maneuver known to my children, I managed to persuade him to provide a dowry of 20,000 forints. She married in August, and as a grain merchant I did not have that much cash at that time of year, so I had to borrow it.
I told Father that I did not want to have more than my brother and that I wished to divide with him everything we earned and everything I inherited. If Father would not divide the property equally, he should give me whatever he considered appropriate and remain in the joint household with Milan, Staka, and Steva.
He would not agree to that. In this way, I nevertheless persuaded him to divide the property into four equal shares, and with that promise secured Mileva's hand in marriage.
In 1876, we invited our friend, the lawyer Aron Bojnović, who prepared the settlement and partition documents. We all signed them, confirming that Father had fully settled our shares. The land was transferred separately to each of us, since until then I had held twice as much as my allotted share.
I remained in partnership with Father, dividing the profits equally. He emphasized that from then on I could dispose of my own share and sell it to whomever I pleased.
After the division, I remained just as hardworking as before. Through work and enterprise, I bought land, expanded the trade, and acquired vessels. Everything went well for me.
Buying Čeb and His Relationship with His Father
We made particularly large profits in 1879 and 1880. After the harvest, grain was bought at eight forints, and by autumn the price had risen to fourteen.
Fernbah began seeking revenge and competing with us, seeing our progress and fearing that we might surpass him. I sought to oppose him and encouraged even more buying. That autumn, we purchased more grain than usual, which proved a good decision.
Our greatest success came when we bought the Čeb estate on January 24, 1880, agreeing to pay for it by May 1. This meant that we had to sell our goods, and we managed to do so at the best price. That same year, with a profit of four forints per metric quintal of maize, we earned almost the entire value of Čeb.
Father was then in very poor health, while I desperately wanted Čeb. He tried to dissuade me from buying it and asked how I would pay for it. When I bought it anyway and informed him by telegram, he said I had bought a pig in a poke. He was not pleased, and I found him in bed in low spirits.
The next day I went to Čeb, and by January 26 I had taken possession of everything. From there, I set off for Novi Sad and arrived at a gymnasium cultural gathering, where we cheerfully drank champagne.
Father's Concerns and Family Celebrations
Father remained unhappy and worried. After a few days, his state troubled me so much that I addressed him with great respect: “What is the matter, Father? Why have you been so unhappy since we bought Čeb? Any Serb would rejoice, yet you do not.”
From then on, he accepted the purchase. Later, he enjoyed every visit to Čeb, especially the celebration at which, as patron, he was welcomed by a religious procession. The priest came out to meet him in vestments and led him into the church.
That day, I too arrived in Čeb around noon. We had many friends and distinguished guests. We celebrated as usual, because Father and I both knew how to give a feast, and our festivities were well known.
That same year, Semze Pišta, Ćula, and their sister Vojnić Lukač were selling one hundred jutra of the Čeb estate, which their father had bought from Angler. In the presence of the late Gavra Drakulić, I agreed to buy it for 28,000 forints, but I was cautious: the commitment would apply only if I obtained Father's consent, even though I was forty-eight years old.
When I told him about the agreement, he replied, “You will not buy it. You have already loaded enough onto your beak, like a duck.” I had to cancel the purchase. Đelan bought the land at the same price and still owns it today.
Later, Father became annoyed whenever he passed that land, immediately outside Čeb. I still feel frustrated about it myself. I regret it, but Father's word was a sacred command to me, and I did not wish to do anything against his will.
Other Merchants' Losses and a Dowry
I continued trading grain until the harvest of 1880. My nephews Milan and Steva, who owned two vessels and were engaged in trade, lost 18,000 forints. Fernbah and Lelbah also lost considerable money, as the price of grain had been falling continuously since April. Before the harvest, it had dropped to eight or nine forints.
Father and I continued doing business successfully until his death.
When my Olga married, I owned 125 lanaca of purchased land within the Novi Sad district. I promised her that as a dowry, or 50,000 forints. Thank God, her dowry has remained intact, and I manage it and earn income from it. I have always given her much more, and a larger allowance, than her dowry yielded, as she well knew.
Gedeon's Death and Final Will
Father died on September 29, 1883. Before his death, he made a will with which I was not satisfied. That document, written in his own hand, is still in the safe. In it, he intended to leave me almost his entire share of the property.
I asked him to bequeath to me his half of what we had acquired as partners over eight years and to distribute everything else, including my share of the Crna Bara estate, among my nephews and his other grandchildren.
A few days before his death, he said that he had made a mistake in registering half of our acquisitions, such as Čeb and other land, in his own name. He added, “Laza has always been a good brother and uncle, whereas I have not been a good father or grandfather.”
He said this in front of my aunt Đula, my sister-in-law Staka, my sister Elenka, and my Soka.
How Lazar Bought Kamendin
After Father's death, God gave me health, sound judgment, and good fortune. With even greater energy, I continued all my activities and expanded them. After our pasture was divided, I bought land at favorable prices.
Although I had no money, I ventured to buy Kamendin from Gorjup for 600,000 forints. I feared that Gorjup's relatives might buy it themselves when they learned the agreed price.
In consultation with the lawyer Radovanović, I sent him to Kamendin to suggest, as Gorjup's friend, that the estate should not be sold at the original price. I was prepared to offer between 20,000 and 40,000 forints more.
When everything was clarified, Gorjup withdrew his earlier promise, and I paid him a full 25,000 forints more. Yet I did not regret it, as I often emphasized to my Soka. May God forgive him.
In the supplied text, this passage was specially emphasized, with the note “underlined by A. K.”
Family Life between Sentomaš and Novi Sad
After describing his life and the purchase of Kamendin, Lazar left another short account from 1905. In it, he returns to his marriage, his relationship with his parents, and the difficulties of family life:
In the autumn of 1855, I married Soka Georgijević, the daughter of the local parish priest. My property was then very modest, worth slightly more than my wife's dowry.
Father Geca and my dear mother ran the household in the manner of farmers. Father was the leading citizen of Sentomaš, and everyone held his material standing in particular regard.
My wife found it difficult to adjust to the way of life Father maintained in our house. As a result, I experienced many bitter days, because I neither wished nor was able to neglect my dear parents.
I ask my philosopher how harmony can be preserved in a household under such circumstances. It would be a difficult question for anyone. I resolved it by bearing the burden between my wife and my parents, maintaining an unbroken bond with them until their deaths.
As a devoted son, I closed their eyes. Until their final moment, they loved me as only one's own child can be loved.
To avoid conflict with my parents and my wife, I allowed her to move to Novi Sad with our children, whom I loved more than myself. I remained in Sentomaš, respecting Father and unwilling to leave him in his old age.
Industry, Banking, and Social Significance
Unfortunately, Lazar ended his account at this point. Consequently, his notes do not cover the substantial investments he made in industrial facilities that he purchased and built in present-day Vojvodina during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
He clearly recognized the importance of industrializing southern Hungary, both for economic development and for national aspirations. In addition to developing commercial farming, particularly livestock production, he made major contributions to the establishment of agricultural processing industries and financial institutions.
He owned breweries and distilleries in Čib, present-day Čelarevo, and Bečkerek, present-day Zrenjanin, investing substantial sums in them. He had steam-powered mills in Čib, Kulpin, Srbobran, Inđija, and Novi Sad, as well as an oil mill and a carpet factory in Bečkerek.
His economic strength is also illustrated by the financial assistance he provided to the firm “Kosta Ilić and Sons” of Leskovac for the purchase and construction of woolen-cloth and linen mills in Belgrade.
He also participated in founding financial institutions and banks whose principal purposes included lending to agriculture and processing industries. He founded the First Srbobran Savings Bank and the Central Credit Institute in Novi Sad. He was also the first honorary president of the Serbian Bank, a joint-stock company in Zagreb and one of the most important Serbian financial institutions within the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.
Political Support and Philanthropy
Lazar did not leave extensive reflections on political events either. In his younger years, he was an ardent supporter of Svetozar Miletić's ideas. Later, he took less interest in politics, but made substantial contributions to the Serbian people's national struggle, particularly during the uprising in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Balkan Wars.
He was one of the greatest benefactors of Matica srpska, an important Serbian institution in Austria-Hungary. He also financed the construction of a new building for the Serbian National Theatre and founded the Institute of the Holy Mother Angelina in Pest, known as the Angelianum, intended to educate young Serbian women from present-day Vojvodina and beyond.
Construction and Development of the Kamendin Agricultural Estate
Few written records survive concerning the Kamendin agricultural estate during that period. According to later documents cited in the original text, Gedeon Geca began investing in the property in the early nineteenth century.
These records state that, as early as 1808, eight staff dwellings for permanent workers were built, with a total area of 110 m². For 1840, they record the beginning of construction of three masonry pigsties and two fattening facilities covering approximately 600 m².
Before the revolution of 1848, another six workers' dwellings were built, followed by four more in 1850. Around 1860, construction began on brick granaries for small-grain cereals, with tiled roofs and an area of 108 m². The records also mention a stable of 260 m², a cattle barn of 240 m², and other structures.
Recognizing the value of Kamendin's land and its potential for livestock production, Lazar Dunđerski continued investing in the property, particularly during the 1880s. Inventories from that period list five sheds for tools and machinery, six maize cribs, four stables, another two cattle barns, and three pigsties. According to the same accounts, he built his own dairy at Kamendin in 1880.
He devoted considerable attention to drilling wells and lining them with brick to provide water for livestock. By the end of the nineteenth century, there were more than ten wells on the estate.
Two larger barns were also built to accommodate one hundred oxen and sixty young cattle. The potential for breeding pedigree pigs led to the construction of three new pigsties, intended for one hundred sows, one thousand piglets, and the same number of growing pigs.
In 1890, three new workshops were built for repairing the machinery and tools needed on the estate. Such investments point to the development of organized commercial farming, with its own buildings, equipment, and support services.
Expanding the Estates and the Family Fortune
The Dunđerski family's growing economic strength was accompanied by purchases of estates throughout present-day Vojvodina and much farther afield. The family division of property in 1876 was particularly significant.
The final section of the original text states that Gedeon gave his elder son Aleksandar (Sándor) the land around Srbobran, while his younger son Lazar received Kamendin and Kulpin. Lazar's autobiographical account, however, places the purchase of Kamendin from Gorjup after his father's death in 1883. These statements require clarification concerning the different parts of the estate, the timing of purchases, and the family division of property.
Lazar bought estates as they came onto the market, continually enlarging his property. They included Marcibani's Crna Bara in Banat; Čeb, present-day Čelarevo, purchased from Bezeredi; an estate in Turski Bečej, present-day Novi Bečej, purchased from Bišic; Hajdučica from Damaskin; and the rural tract of Kirt in the Solnok bishopric, purchased from the Đerđei brothers.
He obtained his first loans from pig traders in Đur. Later, he used credit from the well-known Rothschild banks and Vienna's Creditanstalt. By the end of the nineteenth century, he had become one of the wealthiest Serbs in southern Hungary.
According to the figures cited in the original text, he owned around 42,000 jutra of land at the beginning of the twentieth century. He invested his earnings not only in agriculture but also in industry: mills, distilleries, breweries, and other facilities, including a carpet factory in present-day Zrenjanin.
The Children and Lenka's Death
According to some accounts, Lazar and his wife Sofija, née Đorđević, had eleven children. Their surviving children were the sons Đoka and Gedeon and the daughters Milka, Emilija, and Lenka.
The family was particularly shaken by the death of their beloved Lenka in 1895. She inspired Laza Kostić's famous poem “Santa Maria della Salute.” Kostić also suggested Lenka to Nikola Tesla as a possible wife.
Anecdotes about Lazar Dunđerski
Numerous anecdotes about Lazar have also been preserved. As part of the stories surrounding his personality, they illustrate how his attitude toward wealth, social standing, and money was remembered.
According to one story, he entered a luxurious hotel in Pest, dressed differently from its wealthy guests, and ordered beer while the others drank champagne. The waiters refused to serve him. Lazar then ordered several bottles of the most expensive champagne, poured it into a cooling bucket, and placed his beer in it to chill.
Another anecdote concerns a ferry crossing of the Tisa near Novi Bečej. Traveling in a horse-drawn carriage, Lazar gave the ferryman a small tip. The ferryman voiced his dissatisfaction and compared him with his generous son Đoka, saying that Mr. Đoka always gave more.
Lazar replied, “It is easy for Đoka; he has Lazar for a father, and I do not.”
The Legacy of a Vojvodina Family
Lazar Dunđerski died on July 13, 1917, before the end of the First World War. He was buried in the family chapel of Saint George in Srbobran.
He left a substantial fortune to his sons and daughters. His heirs sought to preserve and enlarge it. Some succeeded over the following decades, while others encountered setbacks.
The history of the Dunđerski family was marked by both success and decline. After more than two decades of studying the family, the author of the original text concludes that the Dunđerskis were our own Vojvodina Buddenbrooks: a family of great wealth, but also of numerous defeats, tragic circumstances, and difficult destinies.
Comments