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 ituations with the Kecmans today is very
interesting and must be viewed in the context of
the last decade of the 20th century. Until the
1990s Kecmans moved around the former Yugoslavia
for economic reasons. At the end of WWII many
Kecmans were sent to colonise the Vojvodina region.
However, the biggest migration occurred in 1995
when they were forced out of their homes by the
Croats and Bosnian Muslims. Many Kecmans
disappeared without trace, and some can now be
found in Brcko, Derventa, Doboj…
The Kecman surname today exists on virtually every
continent, except Antarctica. According to my
research Kecmans are most common in Bosnia (Banja
Luka, Prijedor, Petrovac, Bihac, Sarajevo,
Derventa, Brcko, Doboj… Then in Serbia, and
especially the Vojvodina region (Nova Pazova,
Zrenjanin, Elemir, Bačka Palanka, Sombor and
surrounding places), Belgrade (New Belgrade, Banovo
Brdo, Zemun), Kosovo (volunteers in the King’s army
received land in Kosovo after WWI). There are
Kecmans in Croatia (Zagreb, Pula, Split) and
Slovenia (Ljubljana, Maribor). As for further
afield - Kecmans can be found virtually everywhere.
Most of them emigrated in the recent war, but many
left at the beginning of the 20th century “in
search of bread”. They went to Canada (Kitchener,
Toronto, London, Vancouver), USA (Chicago, New
York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Austin, Phoenix),
Australia (Sidney, Adelaide), New Zealand
(Auckland), South Africa (Johanessburg)…
If someone from Kecman's family
wants to contact me, he can send me an email:
pedja@kecman.org
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