During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...
engaged in the
military occupation
Military occupation, also known as belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is the effective military control by a ruling power over a territory that is outside of that power's sovereign territory.Eyāl Benveniśtî. The international law ...
, then
annexation
Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...
, of the
Bačka
Bačka ( sr-cyrl, Бачка, ) or Bácska () is a geographical and historical area within the Pannonian Plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east. It is divided between Serbia and Hungary ...
,
Baranja,
Međimurje and
Prekmurje
Prekmurje (; dialectically: ''Prèkmürsko'' or ''Prèkmüre''; hu, Muravidék) is a geographically, linguistically, culturally and ethnically defined region of Slovenia, settled by Slovenes and a Hungarian minority, lying between the Mur Ri ...
regions of the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...
. These territories had all been under
Hungarian rule prior to 1920, and had been transferred to Yugoslavia as part of the post-
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in ...
. They now form part of several states: Yugoslav Bačka is now part of
Vojvodina
Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...
, an autonomous province of
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
, Yugoslav Baranja and Međimurje are part of modern-day
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
, and Yugoslav Prekmurje is part of modern-day
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
. The occupation began on 11 April 1941 when 80,000 Hungarian troops crossed the Yugoslav border in support of the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
-led
Axis
An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis
* Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...
invasion of Yugoslavia
The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, or ''Projekt 25'' was a German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was p ...
that had commenced five days earlier. There was some resistance to the Hungarian forces from
Serb
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
Chetnik
The Chetniks ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Четници, Četnici, ; sl, Četniki), formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland and the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationa ...
irregulars, but the defences of the
Royal Yugoslav Army
The Yugoslav Army ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Jugoslovenska vojska, JV, Југословенска војска, ЈВ), commonly the Royal Yugoslav Army, was the land warfare military service branch of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (originally Kingdom of Serbs ...
had collapsed by this time. The Hungarian forces were indirectly aided by the local ''
Volksdeutsche
In Nazi German terminology, ''Volksdeutsche'' () were "people whose language and culture had German origins but who did not hold German citizenship". The term is the nominalised plural of '' volksdeutsch'', with ''Volksdeutsche'' denoting a sin ...
'', the
German minority, which had formed a militia and disarmed around 90,000 Yugoslav troops. Despite only sporadic resistance, Hungarian troops killed many civilians during these initial operations, including some ''Volksdeutsche''. The government of the newly formed Axis
puppet state
A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government, is a State (polity), state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside Power (international relations), power and subject to its o ...
, the
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...
, subsequently consented to the Hungarian annexation of the Međimurje area, which dismayed the Croat population of the region.
The occupation authorities immediately classified the population of Bačka and Baranja into those that had lived in those regions when they had last been under Hungarian rule in 1920 and the mostly Serb settlers who had arrived since the areas had been part of Yugoslavia. They then began herding thousands of local Serbs into
concentration camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
s and expelled them to the Independent State of Croatia,
Italian-occupied Montenegro, and the
German-occupied territory of Serbia
The Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia (german: Gebiet des Militärbefehlshabers in Serbien; sr, Подручје Војног заповедника у Србији, Područje vojnog zapovednika u Srbiji) was the area of the Kin ...
. Ultimately, tens of thousands of Serbs were deported from the occupied territories. This was followed by the implementation of a policy of "
magyarisation
Magyarization ( , also ''Hungarization'', ''Hungarianization''; hu, magyarosítás), after "Magyar"—the Hungarian autonym—was an assimilation or acculturation process by which non-Hungarian nationals living in Austro-Hungarian Transleithan ...
" of the political, social and economic life of the occupied territories, which included the re-settlement of Hungarians and
Székelys
The Székelys (, Székely runes: 𐳥𐳋𐳓𐳉𐳗), also referred to as Szeklers,; ro, secui; german: Szekler; la, Siculi; sr, Секељи, Sekelji; sk, Sikuli are a Hungarian subgroup living mostly in the Székely Land in Romania. ...
from other parts of Hungary. "Magyarisation" did not impact the ''Volksdeutsche'', who received special status under Hungarian rule, and in Prekmurje the Hungarian authorities were more permissive towards ethnic Slovenes.
Small-scale armed resistance to the Hungarian occupation commenced in the latter half of 1941 and was answered with harsh measures, including
summary execution
A summary execution is an execution in which a person is accused of a crime and immediately killed without the benefit of a full and fair trial. Executions as the result of summary justice (such as a drumhead court-martial) are sometimes include ...
s, expulsions and internment. The insurgency was mainly concentrated in the ethnic-Serb area of southern Bačka in the
Šajkaška
Šajkaška (Шајкашка) is a historical region in northern Serbia. It is southeastern part of Bačka, located in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. Territory of Šajkaška is divided among four municipalities: Titel, Žabalj, Novi Sad, and ...
region, where Hungarian forces avenged their losses. In August 1941 a civilian administration took over the government of the "Recovered Southern Territories" ( hu, Délvidék), and they were formally annexed to Hungary in December. In January 1942 the Hungarian military conducted raids during which they killed over 3,300 people, mostly Serbs and Jews.
In March 1944, when Hungary realised that it was on the losing side in the war and began to negotiate with the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
, Germany took control of the country, including the annexed territories, during
Operation Margarethe I. This was followed by the collection and transport of the remaining Jews in the occupied territories to
extermination camp
Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...
s, resulting in the deaths of 85 per cent of the Jews in the occupied territories. Prior to their withdrawal from the Balkans in the face of the advance of the
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
, the Germans evacuated 60,000–70,000 ''Volksdeutsche'' from Bačka and Baranja to
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
. Bačka and Baranja were restored to Yugoslav control when the Germans were pushed out of the region by the Red Army in late 1944. Međimurje and Prekmurje remained occupied until the last weeks of the war.
Background
![Magyarorszag 1920](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Magyarorszag_1920.png)
At the
Paris Peace Conference following the conclusion of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the
Entente Powers
The Triple Entente (from French '' entente'' meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as well a ...
signed the
Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in ...
with Hungary after the breakup of
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
. Among other things, the treaty defined the border between Hungary and the newly created
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
Kingdom commonly refers to:
* A monarchy ruled by a king or queen
* Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy
Kingdom may also refer to:
Arts and media Television
* ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
(KSCS, renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929). It divided the previously Hungarian-ruled regions of Banat, Bačka and Baranja between Hungary, the KSCS, and Romania, and transferred the Međimurje region and about two thirds of the Prekmurje region from Hungary to the KSCS. Sizable numbers of Hungarians and ''Volksdeutsche'' remained in the areas incorporated into the KSCS. Between 1918 and 1924, 44,903 Hungarians (including 8,511 government employees) were deported to Hungary from the territories transferred to Yugoslavia, and approximately 10,000 Yugoslav military settlers ( sh, Solunski dobrovoljci, lit.
Salonika
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
volunteers), mainly
Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
, were settled in Bačka and Baranja by the Yugoslav government. During the
interwar period
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...
Hungary agitated for a revision of the borders agreed in the Treaty of Trianon, and relations between the two countries were difficult. On 22 August 1938,
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
,
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
and Yugoslavia agreed to a
revision of Trianon that allowed Hungary to re-arm itself.
Demographics
Prior to the occupation, the most recent Yugoslav census had been taken in 1931. This census used language as the primary criterion, and counted all speakers of
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...
as one group, rather than recognising distinct Serb,
Croat
The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, Ge ...
,
Bosnian Muslim
The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry, cu ...
,
Macedonian and
Montenegrin nationalities. Aligning data on religious affiliation with the linguistic data has been used by scholars to determine approximate numbers of Serbs and Croats in the 1931 census, by counting those of the
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
denomination as Croats.
According to the 1931 census, the territories of Bačka and Baranja had a combined population of 837,742. This included between 275,014 and 283,114 Hungarians, and between 185,458 and 194,908 ''Volksdeutsche''. Hungarians therefore made up around one-third of the population of these territories, with the ''Volksdeutsche'' comprising slightly less than one-quarter. According to the historian Dr.
Krisztián Ungváry
Krisztián Ungváry (born 30 October 1969) is a Hungarian historian of 20th century political and military history. He wrote about the siege of Budapest in World War II and researched the work of the secret service under the communist period o ...
, the 1931 census showed that the population of Bačka and Baranja included 150,301 Serbs and 3,099 Croats. This corresponds to a Serb population of about 18 per cent. These figures vary considerably from the combined Serb and Croat population of 305,917 provided by Professor
Jozo Tomasevich
Josip "Jozo" Tomasevich (March 16, 1908 – October 15, 1994; hr, Josip Jozo Tomašević) was an American economist and military historian. He was professor emeritus at San Francisco State University.
Education and career
Tomašević was born ...
, corresponding to 36.5 per cent of the population. The 1931 census figures for Međimurje and Prekmurje show a total population of 193,640, of which 101,467 (52.2 per cent) were Croats, 75,064 (38.7 per cent) were
Slovenes
The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Slovenci ), are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Slovenia, and adjacent regions in Italy, Austria and Hungary. Slovenes share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovene as their n ...
, and 15,308 (8 per cent) were Hungarians.
Developments 1938–1941
Between 1938 and 1940, following
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
–
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
mediation in the
First
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
Second Vienna Award
The Second Vienna Award, also known as the Vienna Diktat, was the second of two territorial disputes that were arbitrated by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. On 30 August 1940, they assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania, including all ...
s, and the Hungarian invasion of
Carpatho-Ukraine
Carpatho-Ukraine or Carpathian Ukraine ( uk, Карпа́тська Украї́на, Karpats’ka Ukrayina, ) was an autonomous region within the Second Czechoslovak Republic, created in December 1938 by renaming Subcarpathian Rus' whose full ...
, Hungary enlarged its territory. It absorbed parts of southern Czechoslovakia,
Carpathian Ruthenia
Carpathian Ruthenia ( rue, Карпатьска Русь, Karpat'ska Rus'; uk, Закарпаття, Zakarpattia; sk, Podkarpatská Rus; hu, Kárpátalja; ro, Transcarpatia; pl, Zakarpacie); cz, Podkarpatská Rus; german: Karpatenukrai ...
and the
northern part of Transylvania, which the Kingdom of Romania ceded. One of the ethno-cultural areas that changed hands between Romania and Hungary at this time was the
Székely Land
The Székely Land or Szeklerland ( hu, Székelyföld, ; ro, Ținutul Secuiesc and sometimes ; german: Szeklerland; la, Terra Siculorum) is a historic and ethnographic area in Romania, inhabited mainly by Székelys, a subgroup of Hungarians. ...
. The support that Hungary received from Germany for these border revisions meant that the relationship between the two countries became even closer. On 20 November 1940, Hungary formally joined the Axis
Tripartite Pact
The Tripartite Pact, also known as the Berlin Pact, was an agreement between Germany, Italy, and Japan signed in Berlin on 27 September 1940 by, respectively, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Galeazzo Ciano and Saburō Kurusu. It was a defensive milit ...
. On 12 December 1940, at the initiative of the
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
, Count
Pál Teleki
Count Pál János Ede Teleki de Szék (1 November 1879 – 3 April 1941) was a Hungarian politician who served as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1920 to 1921 and from 1939 to 1941. He was also an expert in geography, a un ...
, Hungary concluded a friendship and non-aggression treaty with Yugoslavia. Although the concept had received support from both Germany and Italy, the actual signing of the treaty did not, as Germany's planned invasion of
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
would be simplified if Yugoslavia could be neutralised. After the
Yugoslav military coup of 27 March 1941, when the Germans asked the
Hungarian Regent,
Miklós Horthy
Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya ( hu, Vitéz nagybányai Horthy Miklós; ; English: Nicholas Horthy; german: Nikolaus Horthy Ritter von Nagybánya; 18 June 1868 – 9 February 1957), was a Hungarian admiral and dictator who served as the Regent o ...
, for clearance to launch one of their armoured thrusts using Hungarian territory, Teleki was unable to dissuade the Regent. Concluding that Hungary had disgraced itself irrevocably by siding with the Germans against the Yugoslavs, Teleki shot and killed himself. Horthy informed Hitler that evening that Hungary would abide by the friendship treaty with Yugoslavia, though it would likely cease to apply should Croatia secede and Yugoslavia cease to exist.
Invasion
On 10 April 1941, the
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...
( hr, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH) was established in Zagreb by the
Ustaše
The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...
. That day Horthy and the new Prime Minister of Hungary
László Bárdossy
László Bárdossy de Bárdos (10 December 1890 – 10 January 1946) was a Hungary, Hungarian diplomat and politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from April 1941 to March 1942. He was one of the chief architects of Hungary's involve ...
issued a joint declaration that Yugoslavia had ceased to exist, releasing Hungary from its obligations under the non-aggression pact and the Treaty of Trianon. According to the declaration Hungarian troops would act to "protect the Hungarians who live in the south parts from the anarchy" of the
April War
The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, or ''Projekt 25'' was a German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was p ...
which had begun there several days earlier when Italian and German troops invaded. The following day the
Hungarian 3rd Army began occupying those regions of Yugoslavia using the Mobile, IV and V Corps, with I and VII Corps in reserve. That day (11 April), the headquarters of the 3rd Army informed that of the
German 2nd Army that Hungarian forces had crossed the frontier north of
Osijek
Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...
and near
Subotica
Subotica ( sr-cyrl, Суботица, ; hu, Szabadka) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the North Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. Formerly the largest city of Vojvodina region, ...
.
The German army's rapid manoeuvres during the invasion had forced the tactical withdrawal of Yugoslav forces facing
Hungarian army
The Hungarian Ground Forces ( hu, Magyar Szárazföldi Haderő) is the land branch of the Hungarian Defence Forces, and is responsible for ground activities and troops including artillery, tanks, APCs, IFVs and ground support. Hungary's ground ...
units and there was no significant fighting between the two armies. The Hungarian forces advanced south to the
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
between
Vukovar
Vukovar () ( sr-Cyrl, Вуковар, hu, Vukovár, german: Wukowar) is a city in Croatia, in the eastern region of Slavonia. It contains Croatia's largest river port, located at the confluence of the Vuka and the Danube. Vukovar is the seat of ...
and the confluence with the
Tisza
The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa, is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. Once, it was called "the most Hungarian river" because it flowed entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national borders.
The Tisza be ...
without any real military resistance.
Serb
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
Chetnik
The Chetniks ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Четници, Četnici, ; sl, Četniki), formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland and the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationa ...
irregulars fought isolated engagements, and the Hungarian General Staff considered irregular resistance forces to be their only significant opposition.
On 12 April, the Hungarian 1st Parachute Battalion captured canal bridges at
Vrbas and
Srbobran
Srbobran ( sr, Србобран, ; hu, Szenttamás) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town is located on the north bank of the Danube-Tisa-Danube canal. The town ...
. Meanwhile,
Sombor
Sombor ( sr-Cyrl, Сомбор, ; hu, Zombor; rue, Зомбор, Zombor) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the West Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The city has a total popula ...
was captured against determined Chetnik resistance, and Subotica was also captured. This, the first airborne operation in Hungarian history, was not without incident. The battalion's aircraft consisted of five Italian-made
Savoia-Marchetti SM.75
The Savoia-Marchetti SM.75 ''Marsupiale'' (Italian: marsupial) was an Italian passenger and military transport aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s. It was a low-wing, trimotor monoplane of mixed metal and wood construction with a retractable tailwhe ...
transport aircraft formerly with the civilian airline
MALERT
MALÉRT (''Magyar Légiforgalmi R.T.'') was a Hungary, Hungarian airline, founded on November 19, 1922. The airline merged with Aeroflot in 1944-46 into Maszovlet (''Magyar-Szovjet Légiforgalmi Társaság'') a forerunner of MALÉV Hungarian Airli ...
, but pressed into service with the
Royal Hungarian Air Force
The Hungarian Air Force ( hu, Magyar Légierő), is the air force branch of the Hungarian Defence Forces.
The task of the current Hungarian Air Force is primarily defensive purposes. The flying units of the air force are organised into a single ...
( hu, Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légierő, MKHL) at the start of the European war. Shortly after takeoff from the airport at
Veszprém-Jutas on the afternoon of 12 April, the command plane, code E-101, crashed with the loss of 20 or 23 lives, including 19 paratroopers. This was the heaviest single loss suffered by the Hungarians during the Yugoslav campaign.
On 13 April, the 1st and 2nd Motorised Brigades occupied
Novi Sad
Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...
, then pushed south across the Danube into the northern part of Croatian
Syrmia
Syrmia ( sh, Srem/Срем or sh, Srijem/Сријем, label=none) is a region of the southern Pannonian Plain, which lies between the Danube and Sava rivers. It is divided between Serbia and Croatia. Most of the region is flat, with the exce ...
capturing
Vinkovci
Vinkovci () is a city in Slavonia, in the Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. The city's registered population was 28,247 in the 2021 census, the total population of the city was 31,057, making it the largest town of the county. Surrounde ...
and Vukovar on 18 April. These brigades then drove southeast to capture the western Serbian town of
Valjevo
Valjevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Ваљево, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Kolubara District in western Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the administrative area of Valjevo had 90,312 inhabitants, 59,07 ...
a day later. Other Hungarian forces occupied the Yugoslavian regions of
Prekmurje
Prekmurje (; dialectically: ''Prèkmürsko'' or ''Prèkmüre''; hu, Muravidék) is a geographically, linguistically, culturally and ethnically defined region of Slovenia, settled by Slovenes and a Hungarian minority, lying between the Mur Ri ...
and
Međimurje. A later American assessment concluded that German forces had to take the brunt of the fighting, observing that Hungarian forces had "displayed great reluctance to attack until the enemy had been soundly beaten and thoroughly disorganized by the Germans." When a Yugoslav delegation signed an armistice with German and Italian representatives at
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
on 17 April, the Hungarians were represented by a liaison officer, but he did not sign the document because Hungary was "not at war with Yugoslavia." The armistice came into effect at noon the next day. News of the success of the Hungarian armed forces in Yugoslavia was welcomed in the Hungarian Parliament. German forces occupied a narrow slice of northeastern Prekmurje along the German–Yugoslav border, which included four ''Volksdeutsche'' villages. In mid-June 1941, this area was absorbed into ''
Reichsgau Steiermark
The Reichsgau Styria (German: ''Reichsgau Steiermark'') was an administrative division of Nazi Germany consisting of areas in Styria, Lower Styria and southern parts of Burgenland. It existed from 1938 to 1945.
History
The Nazi Gau (plural Gaue) s ...
''.
Hungarian troops suffered 126 dead and 241 wounded during the sporadic fighting, and killed between 1,122 and 3,500 civilians, including some ''Volksdeutsche''. Many civilians were arrested and tortured. On 14 April 1941, around 500 Jews and Serbs were bayoneted to death, probably as a warning to others not to resist. During post-war questioning, Horthy insisted that he had not wished to invade Yugoslavia, but that he had been compelled to act by disorder and the massacre of Hungarians in Bačka, but these claims have been dismissed by Tomasevich.
Geography
![Hungarian Occupied Yugoslavia 1941 44](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Hungarian_Occupied_Yugoslavia_1941_44.png)
The Hungarian-occupied territory of Bačka consisted of that part of the
Danube Banovina bounded by the former Hungarian–Yugoslav border to the north, the Danube to the south and west, and the Tisza to the east. The occupied territory of Baranja had also been part of the Danube Banovina, but was that area bounded by the former Hungarian-Yugoslav border to the north and west, the
to the west and south, and the Danube to the east. The territory of Međimurje was part of the
Banovina of Croatia
The Banovina of Croatia or Banate of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Banovina Hrvatska, Бановина Хрватска) was an autonomous province ( banovina) of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1939 and 1941. It was formed by a merg ...
prior to the invasion, and was bounded by the
Mura river to the north and the Drava river to the south. Prekmurje consisted of that part of the pre-war
Drava Banovina that lay north of the Mura. Most of the Hungarian-occupied territories consisted of flat, largely agricultural land of the
Pannonian Plain
The Pannonian Basin, or Carpathian Basin, is a large basin situated in south-east Central Europe. The geomorphological term Pannonian Plain is more widely used for roughly the same region though with a somewhat different sense, with only the ...
, except for some hilly country in the northwest of the Međimurje region and in the north of the Prekmurje region. The total area of the Yugoslav territories occupied by Hungary was , consisting of in Bačka, in Baranja, and in the Međimurje and Prekmurje regions.
Administration
At first, the occupied territories were placed under military administration. The international legal scholar, Professor
Raphael Lemkin
Raphael Lemkin ( pl, Rafał Lemkin; 24 June 1900 – 28 August 1959) was a Polish lawyer who is best known for coining the term ''genocide'' and initiating the Genocide Convention, an interest spurred on after learning about the Armenian genocid ...
, who coined the word "
genocide
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...
" as meaning the "destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group", described the policies implemented by the Hungarian authorities in the occupied territories as "genocidal". Lemkin asserted that "genocidal" policies were those that were aimed at destroying the political, social, cultural, religious, and economic existence and language of those living in occupied territories. In the first two weeks of Hungarian rule, 10,000 Serbs were expelled to the
German-occupied territory of Serbia
The Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia (german: Gebiet des Militärbefehlshabers in Serbien; sr, Подручје Војног заповедника у Србији, Područje vojnog zapovednika u Srbiji) was the area of the Kin ...
, the NDH, or
Italian-ruled Montenegro. On 1 May 1941, the Germans estimated that the population of the territories occupied by Hungary was 1,145,000. On 9 July 1941, the military governor of the town of
Čakovec
Čakovec (; hu, Csáktornya; la, Aquama; german: Tschakathurn) is a city in northern Croatia, located around north of Zagreb, the Croatian capital. Čakovec is both the county seat and the largest city of Međimurje County, the northernmost, s ...
in Međimurje, Colonel Zsigmond Timár, issued a declaration that the following day Međimurje was to be placed permanently under military administration and Hungarian rule. According to Professor
Sabrina Ramet
Sabrina Petra Ramet (born June 26, 1949) is an American academic, educator, editor and journalist. She specializes in Eastern European history and politics and is a Professor of Political Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Techno ...
, the government of the NDH consented to Hungarian annexation of the Međimurje area on 10 July, but according to Davor Kovačić and Marica Karakaš Obradov of the Croatian Institute of History, the Hungarian declaration was made without consulting with the NDH government, and was never recognised by it. The Croat population of the region were unhappy with the decision, and military rule remained in place until 16 August 1941, after which civil administration was introduced. On 12 July, the
Yugoslav dinar
The dinar (Cyrillic script: динар) was the currency of the three Yugoslav states: the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (formerly the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes), the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the Federal Republic of Yu ...
ceased to be
legal tender
Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in pa ...
in the occupied territories, and was replaced by the
Hungarian pengő
The pengő (; sometimes written as ''pengo'' or ''pengoe'' in English) was the currency of Kingdom of Hungary (1920–46), Hungary between 1 January 1927, when it replaced the Hungarian korona, korona, and 31 July 1946, when it was replaced by the ...
. A census of the occupied Yugoslav territories was conducted by the Hungarian authorities in 1941, which counted a total population of 1,030,027. In this census, the ethnic proportions in these territories combined were 37 per cent Hungarian, 19 per cent ''Volksdeutsche'', 18 per cent Croats and 16 per cent Serbs, and the population of Prekmurje was 102,867.
On 14 December, these regions, referred to by Hungary as the "Recovered Southern Territories" ( hu, Délvidék, links=no), were formally incorporated into Hungary and were given full representation in the Hungarian Parliament, although representatives were to be nominated by the Parliament rather than elected. Although plans to deport 150,000 Serbs (including colonists from the interwar period, but also native inhabitants) to the German-occupied territory of Serbia were opposed by the German command in Belgrade, the Hungarian occupational regime managed to expel between 25,000 and 60,000 of them, mostly to Serbia. During the war, the Hungarian government resettled some of its pre-war population in Bačka and Baranja, primarily
Székelys
The Székelys (, Székely runes: 𐳥𐳋𐳓𐳉𐳗), also referred to as Szeklers,; ro, secui; german: Szekler; la, Siculi; sr, Секељи, Sekelji; sk, Sikuli are a Hungarian subgroup living mostly in the Székely Land in Romania. ...
from areas of Transylvania ceded to Hungary by Romania in 1940. Between 15,000 and 18,000 were reportedly resettled in Bačka and Baranja.
The Hungarian authorities established
concentration camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
s for Serbs from which they were eventually expelled to the German-occupied territory of Serbia. As part of the "systematic
magyarisation
Magyarization ( , also ''Hungarization'', ''Hungarianization''; hu, magyarosítás), after "Magyar"—the Hungarian autonym—was an assimilation or acculturation process by which non-Hungarian nationals living in Austro-Hungarian Transleithan ...
" of these territories, Hungarian political parties and patriotic organisations were encouraged to be active in Bačka and Baranja, which resulted in discrimination against "less-desirable elements" of the population such as Serbs, Croats and Jews. Discrimination extended to education and communication, where Hungarian and German were the only languages permitted in almost all secondary schools, and books, newspapers and periodicals in the Serbo-Croat language were virtually banned. Well-educated Serbs and Croats were precluded from undertaking work commensurate with their education. Despite this, Serbs and Croats that had lived in the territories prior to 1918 retained their citizenship rights as Hungarians, and some lower-level non-Hungarian public employees were retained in their jobs. One former Serb senator and one former Croat parliamentary deputy sat in the Hungarian Parliament. In Prekmurje, the Hungarian authorities were more permissive, making no attempt to deport Slovenes in large numbers, and allowing the Slovene language to be used in public. Likewise, the Hungarians curried favour with the
Bunjevci
Bunjevci ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Bunjevci, Буњевци, ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=, separator=" / ", Bunjevac, Буњевац, sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=, separator=" / ", Bunjevka, Буњевка) are a South Slavic sub-ethnic group living ...
minority in order to persuade them that they were neither Serbs nor Croats, nor even Slavs at all: they were "Hungarians of Bunyevac mother-tongue".
The ''Volksdeutsche'' of the occupied territories were an important part of the economies of the occupied territories, and by 1941, they were entirely in the thrall of the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
. Relations between the occupation authorities and the ''Volksdeutsche'' were strained by the killing of ethnic Germans during the invasion, to the extent that
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
became aware of the issue. The ''Volksdeutsche'' were not active in the Hungarian military or civil administration, but were represented in the Hungarian Parliament, and from 1942 were permitted to conscript their members into the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
. The official organisation of the ''Volksdeutsche'' in Hungary, the ''Volksbund der Deutschen in Ungarn'' (National League of Germans in Hungary), was essentially autonomous during the war, including within the occupied territories.
Districts
Bačka and Baranja had both been part of the Danube Banovina of Yugoslavia before the war. Međimurje had been part of the Banovina of Croatia, and Prekmurje had been part of the Drava Banovina. The Hungarian authorities referred to the occupied territories by the following names: Bácska for Bačka, Baranya for Baranja, Muraköz for Međimurje, and Muravidék for Prekmurje. Following the occupation, the Hungarian authorities divided the occupied territories between the counties that corresponded with the administrative divisions that had existed when the area had formed part of the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...
prior to 1920. These were the
Bács-Bodrog,
Baranya Baranya or Baranja may refer to:
* Baranya (region) or Baranja, a region in Hungary and Croatia
* Baranya County, a county in modern Hungary
* Baranya County (former), a county in the historic Kingdom of Hungary
* Baranya, Hungarian name of villag ...
,
Vas and
Zala Counties. The officials in these territories were appointed rather than elected. The counties were further divided into districts, and the authorities reverted many districts, cities and towns to the names used prior to 1920, and in some cases to names which had no historical precedent. Some examples of the name changes in each county are shown below:
Bács-Bodrog County:
Baranya County:
Vas County:
Zala County:
The Holocaust
In April 1941, about 23 per cent of Yugoslav Jews (about 16,680 people) lived in the territories occupied by Hungary. These included around 15,405 in Bačka and Baranja, about 425 in Međimurje, and approximately 850 in Prekmurje.
The Hungarian government had passed
anti-Semitic
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
laws in 1939, and these were applied to the occupied and annexed territories. Initially the laws were applied selectively due to the transfer of the territories from military to civilian administration. Some Jews that had settled in the occupied territories were sent to the German-occupied territory of Serbia where they were placed in the
Banjica concentration camp
The Banjica concentration camp (german: KZ Banjica, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Бањички логор, Banjički logor) was a Nazi Germany, Nazi German Nazi concentration camps, concentration camp in the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia, the ...
in Belgrade and killed. Others were expelled to the NDH where they met the same fate, but it is unknown how many deported Jews died in this way. After the violence of the initial occupation, no further massacres of Jews occurred during the remainder of 1941.
The Jews of the occupied territories were subjected to forced labour by the Hungarian authorities, with about 4,000 Bačka and Baranja Jews being sent to hard labour camps within Hungary, 1,500 Bačka Jews being among the 10,000 Hungarian Jews sent to perform labour tasks for the Hungarian Army on the
Eastern Front in September 1942, and about 600 Bačka Jews sent to work in the
Bor copper mine in the German-occupied territory of Serbia in July 1943. Only 2 per cent of those sent to the Eastern Front survived the war.
Resistance and repression
In Bačka and Baranja, the ''Volksdeutsche'' and Hungarian authorities killed significant numbers of Serbs. After small-scale armed resistance broke out in Hungarian-occupied Bačka and Baranja in the second half of 1941, the Hungarian military reacted with heavy repressive measures. In September 1941 alone the Hungarian occupation forces summarily executed 313 people. Measures included the establishment of temporary concentration camps at
Ada
Ada may refer to:
Places
Africa
* Ada Foah, a town in Ghana
* Ada (Ghana parliament constituency)
* Ada, Osun, a town in Nigeria
Asia
* Ada, Urmia, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran
* Ada, Karaman, a village in Karaman Province, ...
,
Bačka Topola
Bačka Topola ( sr-Cyrl, Бачка Топола, ; hu, Topolya, ) is a town and municipality located in the North Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The municipality is composed of 23 local communities and has a po ...
,
Begeč
Begeč ( sr-cyr, Бегеч) is a suburban settlement of the city of Novi Sad in Serbia. It is situated on the river Danube, approximately west of Novi Sad, on the Bačka Palanka-Novi Sad road. According to the 2011 census, the village had a Serb ...
,
Odžaci
Odžaci ( sr-cyrl, Оџаци, ; hu, Hódság) is a town and municipality located in the West Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town of Odžaci has a population of 8,795 people, while the population of the mu ...
,
Bečej
Bečej ( sr-cyrl, Бечеј, ; hu, Óbecse, ) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 23,895, while the municipality has 37,351 inhabitants. It ...
and Subotica, as well as at Novi Sad,
Pechuj and
Baja. According to Professor Paul Mojzes, some 2,000 Jews and a large number of Serbs were detained in these camps for periods from two weeks to two months, with Jews that had not been interned being employed as forced labourers. Several thousand people remained in camps until the end of the war. Some of the Jews that had migrated to Bačka and Baranja during the inter-war period were expelled to the NDH or the German-occupied territory of Serbia where they were killed. The
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
-led
Partisan resistance movement of
Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...
was never strong in Bačka and Baranja because the flat terrain of the region did not lend itself to
guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...
, and because
South Slavs
South Slavs are Slavic peoples who speak South Slavic languages and inhabit a contiguous region of Southeast Europe comprising the eastern Alps and the Balkan Peninsula. Geographically separated from the West Slavs and East Slavs by Austria, Hu ...
, from which the Partisans drew their recruits, only made up one-third of the regional population. Some Partisan units raised in the occupied territories were sent to the NDH to reinforce Partisan formations operating there. Despite their initial resistance, the Chetnik movement was largely inactive during the occupation, maintaining some covert activity only. The Partisans and their regional committee had largely been destroyed by the end of 1941.
In January 1942, the Hungarian army and gendarmerie undertook
a major raid in southern Bačka, during which they massacred 2,550 Serbs, 743 Jews and 47 other people in places such as Bečej, Srbobran and Novi Sad, under the pretext that they were searching for Partisans. Other sources place the number of Serbs and Jews massacred in Novi Sad as being much lower, at around 879. Raids were carried out in
Šajkaš (Sajkásvidék) over 4–19 January; in Novi Sad (Újvidék) over 21–23 January; and in Bečej (Óbecse) over 25–29 January. Over the period 4–24 January, massacres were carried out by the Hungarian
15th Light Division commanded by
Major General
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
József Grassy
József Grassy (31 December 1894 – 5 November 1946) was a Hungarian military officer in the Royal Hungarian Army who, in the Second World War, commanded Hungarian divisions as an SS-'' Gruppenführer'' and ''Generalleutnant'' of the Waffen-SS. ...
and units of the Royal Gendarmerie. The operations were ordered by Grassy,
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
Ferenc Feketehalmy-Czeydner
Vitéz Ferenc Feketehalmy-Czeydner (22 November 1890 – 5 November 1946) was a Hungarians, Hungarian military officer who had a significant role in the Novi Sad massacre during the Second World War.
Military career
After training at the artil ...
,
Colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
László Deák
László Deák (1 July 1891 – 5 November 1946) was a Hungarian army officer who served in World War I and World War II. He was accused and convicted of war crimes due to his involvement in the massacre of Serbian and Jewish civilians during ...
, and Royal Gendarmerie
Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
Dr.
Márton Zöldi. In addition to Serbs and Jews, members of other ethnicities were also victims:
Roma
Roma or ROMA may refer to:
Places Australia
* Roma, Queensland, a town
** Roma Airport
** Roma Courthouse
** Electoral district of Roma, defunct
** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council
*Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...
people, a small number of
Russian refugees who had fled
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
after the
Bolshevik Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolsheviks, Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was ...
, and some local Hungarians. In mid-1942, the
Yugoslav government-in-exile
The Government of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in Exile ( sh, Vlada Kraljevine Jugoslavije u egzilu / Влада Краљевине Југославије у егзилу) was an official government of Yugoslavia, headed by King Peter II. It evacu ...
reported that churches had been looted and destroyed, and that
Serbian Orthodox
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches.
The majority of the population in ...
holy days had been prohibited by the Hungarian administration. These reports stated that a camp in Novi Sad interned 13,000 Serb and Jewish men, women and children.
Under pressure from the Hungarian
political opposition
In politics, the opposition comprises one or more political parties or other organized groups that are opposed, primarily ideologically, to the government (or, in American English, the administration), party or group in political control of ...
, the Hungarian government charged 14 Hungarian officers with
high treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
in relation to the massacres, including Feketehalmy-Czeydner, Grassy, Deák and Zöldi. A military trial was held in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
between 23 December 1943 and January 1944, and those that were convicted were sentenced to between 10 and 15 years imprisonment for their part in the massacres. Feketehalmy-Czeydner, Grassy, Deák and Zöldi were not sentenced as they could not be located, and had fled to Germany. It is apparent from the trial proceedings that Zöldi was present during some of the trial. Professor Lajčo Klajn has stated that those most responsible for the massacre were not tried before this military court, and that they included Prime Minister Bárdossy and the
Minister for Interior Affairs Dr.
Ferenc Keresztes-Fischer
Ferenc Keresztes-Fischer (18 February 1881 – 3 March 1948) was a Hungarian lawyer and politician. He was an advisor of the Pécsi Takarékpénztár Rt. / Pécs Savings Bank Corp. He was the prefect of Baranya County 1921–1931, and the prefe ...
, both of whom appeared only as witnesses. Klajn opines that the Chief of the General Staff,
Ferenc Szombathelyi
Ferenc Szombathelyi (17 May 1887 – 4 November 1946), born Ferenc Knausz or Ferenc Knauz, was a Hungarian military officer who served, from September 1941 to April 1944, as Head of the General Staff of the Royal Hungarian Army during World W ...
and the Minister of Defence should also have been examined by the court. He further writes that the "genocide had been planned by the highest military and political circles in Hungary for a long time in advance". Klajn believes that the massacre had been intended to convince the
German Foreign Minister
, insignia = Bundesadler Bundesorgane.svg
, insigniasize = 80px
, insigniacaption =
, department = Federal Foreign Office
, image = Annalena Baerbock (cropped, 2).jpg
, alt =
, incumbent = Annalena Baerbock
, incumbentsince = 8 December ...
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (; 30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945.
Ribbentrop first came to Adolf Hitler's not ...
that Hungarian troops were needed on its territory instead of the Eastern Front. In mid-1944, Partisan activity increased in Bačka to such an extent that special regulations similar to the "Special Administrative Regulations" that applied to the operational zones of the Hungarian Army were extended to Bačka: curfews were imposed and political activities were forbidden. A self-defence organisation, the Pandurs, was created.
Aftermath
German occupation and the Holocaust
![Spomenik žrtvama racije](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Spomenik_%C5%BErtvama_racije.jpg)
The occupation of Bačka and Baranja lasted until 1944. Fearing that Hungary might conclude a separate peace with the Allies, Hitler launched
Operation Margarethe I on 15 March 1944, and ordered German troops to occupy Hungary. In the meantime, some of those that had escaped prosecution for the 1942 massacres had joined various German military and police organisations. Feketehalmy-Czeydner had become the highest-ranking foreign officer in the ''
Allgemeine SS
The ''Allgemeine SS'' (; "General SS") was a major branch of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany; it was managed by the SS Main Office (''SS-Hauptamt''). The ''Allgemeine SS'' was officially established in the autum ...
'', being promoted to SS-''
Obergruppenführer
' (, "senior group leader") was a paramilitary rank in Nazi Germany that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and adopted by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) one year later. Until April 1942, it was the highest commissio ...
'' (lieutenant general). Grassy became a SS-''
Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS'' (major general) and was appointed to command the
25th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Hunyadi (1st Hungarian), and Zöldi joined the
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
. The case against them was re-opened after the German occupation, and in this second trial they were all found not guilty.
After Germany occupied Hungary in March 1944, the genocidal policies of the authorities were applied comprehensively. Hungarian Jews were subjected to starvation and
death marches
A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinguished in this way from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Conven ...
, and those that had remained in the occupied territories were transported to
extermination camp
Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...
s. From 26 April 1944, the remaining Jews in Bačka and Baranja, mostly women, but including children and the elderly, were rounded up into local concentration camps then moved to larger camps in Hungary proper. Between 14,000 and 15,000 Jews from Bačka, Baranja and other parts of Hungary were collected at Baja and
Bácsalmás
Bácsalmás ( hr, Aljmaš or ; german: Almasch; sr, Аљмаш, Aljmaš) is a small town in southern Hungary in the region of Bácska ( Bács-Kiskun County) close to the border with the Vojvodina region of Serbia, with a population of 7,694 peopl ...
then transported to
Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
where most were killed. In September 1944, the workforce of the Bor mine was force-marched for several weeks back to extermination camps where the survivors were killed. One of the two groups of workers numbered 2,500, but only a few survived.
Such was the extent of the Holocaust in the occupied territories that by the end of the war, nearly 85 per cent of the Jews that had been living in the Hungarian-occupied Yugoslav territories in April 1941 had been killed. This figure comprised about 13,500 Jews from Bačka and Baranja, and about 1,300 from Međimurje and Prekmurje.
Flight of the ''Volksdeutsche'' and Yugoslav military control
In September 1944, the Hungarian authorities began evacuating the Székelys settled in the occupied territories since 1941 to
Transdanubia
Transdanubia ( hu, Dunántúl; german: Transdanubien, hr, Prekodunavlje or ', sk, Zadunajsko :sk:Zadunajsko) is a traditional region of Hungary. It is also referred to as Hungarian Pannonia, or Pannonian Hungary.
Administrative divisions Trad ...
. Several days after the Soviet
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
entered the
Banat
Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...
on 1 October 1944, the Germans began the
evacuation of Bačka, including the local ''Volksdeutsche''. With the advance of the Partisans and the Red Army, some of the ''Volksdeutsche'' left the region while some others stayed, despite the situation.
In October 1944, the Banat and Bačka were captured by Soviet troops. Subotica was captured on 12 October. After a few weeks, they withdrew and ceded full control of the region to the Partisans, who established a military administration in the Banat, Bačka and Baranja on 17 October 1944. In the first few weeks after Bačka returned to Yugoslav control, about 16,800 Hungarians were killed by Serbs in revenge for killings during the Hungarian occupation. In November 1944, Tito declared that the ''Volksdeutsche'' of Yugoslavia were hostile to the nation, and ordered the internment of those living in areas under Partisan control. About 60,000–70,000 ''Volksdeutsche'' had been evacuated from Bačka; while an additional 30,000–60,000 from Bačka were serving in the Wehrmacht at the time.
Return to Yugoslav civilian control
On 15 February 1945, the Banat, Bačka and Baranja were transferred from military to civilian administration with a
People's Liberation Committee ( sh, Narodnooslobodilački odbor, links=no, NOO) taking control. Until early 1945, the Yugoslav communist administration was characterised by persecution of some elements of the local population, with mass executions, internments and abuses. Approximately 110,000 ''Volksdeutsche'' were interned, with around 46,000 dying in captivity due to poor conditions in the camps and the hard labour they were subjected to. Victims of the communist regime were of various ethnic backgrounds and included some members of the
Hungarian and ''Volksdeutsche'' population, as well as Serbs. The Hungarian writer
Tibor Cseres Tibor is a masculine given name found throughout Europe.
There are several explanations for the origin of the name:
* from Latin name Tiberius, which means "from Tiber", Tiber being a river in Rome.
* in old Slavic languages, Tibor means "sacred pl ...
has described in detail the crimes he claims the Yugoslav communists committed against Hungarians. An estimated 5,000 Hungarians were killed following the return of the occupied territories to Yugoslav control. About 40,000 Hungarians left the Banat, Bačka and Baranja after the war. In late 1946, there were 84,800 refugees from Yugoslavia living in Hungary.
Legal proceedings
After these territories returned to Yugoslav control, the military and national courts in Bačka prosecuted collaborators who had killed about 10,000–20,000 civilians. The Security Service of Vojvodina captured the majority of these people. Meanwhile, some of those who were responsible for the 1942 massacres in southern Bačka were captured in, and extradited from, the newly formed
People's Republic of Hungary
The Hungarian People's Republic ( hu, Magyar Népköztársaság) was a one-party socialist state from 20 August 1949
to 23 October 1989.
It was governed by the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, which was under the influence of the Soviet Uni ...
. In his book ''Mađari u Vojvodini: 1941–1946'' ("Hungarians in Vojvodina: 1941–1946"; Novi Sad, 1996), Professor
Sándor Kaszás from the
University of Novi Sad
The University of Novi Sad ( sr, Универзитет у Новом Саду, Univerzitet u Novom Sadu; hu, Újvidéki Egyetem) is a List of universities in Serbia, public university in Novi Sad, Serbia. Alongside nationally prestigious Unive ...
listed a total of 1,686 executed war criminals by name, of whom around 1,000 were Hungarian.
In a third trial in early 1946, the National Court of Hungary in Budapest found Szombathelyi, Feketehalmy-Czeydner, Grassy, Deák, and Zöldi guilty of involvement in the massacres in the occupied territories, and in carrying out the deportation of Jews to extermination camps. In accordance with the provisions of Article 14 of the Armistice Agreement, the Hungarian authorities then extradited them to Yugoslavia, where they underwent a fourth trial in Novi Sad in October 1946. They were all sentenced to death and executed the following month.
Demographic and political changes
Of the approximately 500,000 ''Volksdeutsche'' living in Yugoslavia before the war, about half were evacuated, 50,000 died in Yugoslav concentration camps, 15,000 were killed by the Partisans and about 150,000 were deported to the Soviet Union as forced labourers. They were also stripped of their property. By 1948, only 55,337 ''Volksdeutsche'' remained in Yugoslavia. Yugoslav Bačka is now part of
Vojvodina
Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...
, an autonomous province of
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
, Yugoslav Baranja and Međimurje are part of modern-day
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
, and Yugoslav Prekmurje is part of modern-day
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
.
Formal apologies
In 2013, the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
of Serbia adopted a declaration condemning the atrocities which were committed against Hungarian civilians between 1944 and 1945. On 26 June 2013, Hungarian
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
János Áder
János Áder (; born 9 May 1959) is a Hungarian politician and lawyer who served as President of Hungary from 2012 to 2022. He is a long-time politician of the right-wing Fidesz. As a representative of his party, he took part in the Hungarian Ro ...
visited Serbia and formally apologised for war crimes committed against Serbian civilians by Hungarian forces during World War II.
See also
*
Administrative divisions of the Kingdom of Hungary (1941–44)
The following lists show the administrative divisions of the lands belonging to the Hungarian crown (1000–1920) at selected points of time. The names are given in the main official language used in the Kingdom at the times in question.
For de ...
*
Communist purges in Serbia in 1944–45
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...
*
Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50)
Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be ...
*
Hungary in World War II
During World War II, the Kingdom of Hungary was a member of the Axis powers. While according to the Romanian estimations in 1940 prior to the Second Vienna Award, about 1,300,000 people or 50% of the population was Romanian and according to the H ...
Footnotes
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hungarian occupation of Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia in World War II
The Holocaust in Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
History of Bačka
History of Baranya (region)
Slovenia in World War II
Occupation of Yugoslav territories
Serbia in World War II
World War II crimes
1940s in Croatia
1940s in Slovenia
1941 establishments in Yugoslavia
1944 disestablishments in Yugoslavia
20th century in Vojvodina
Hungary–Yugoslavia relations
Annexation