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The Serbs of Croatia ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Срби у Хрватској, Srbi u Hrvatskoj) or Croatian Serbs ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", хрватски Срби, hrvatski Srbi) constitute the largest
national minority
The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...
in 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 ...
. The community is predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christian by religion, as opposed to the Croats
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, ...
who are 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 let ...
.
In some regions of modern-day Croatia, mainly in southern Dalmatia, ethnic 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 ...
have been present from the Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...
. Serbs from modern-day Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina started actively migrating to Croatia in several migration waves after 1538 when the Emperor Ferdinand I
Ferdinand I ( es, Fernando I; 10 March 1503 – 25 July 1564) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1556, King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia from 1526, and Archduke of Austria from 1521 until his death in 1564.Milan Kruhek: Cetin, grad izbornog sabo ...
granted them the right to settle on the territory of the Military Frontier
The Military Frontier (german: Militärgrenze, sh-Latn, Vojna krajina/Vojna granica, Војна крајина/Војна граница; hu, Katonai határőrvidék; ro, Graniță militară) was a borderland of the Habsburg monarchy and ...
. In exchange for land and exemption from taxation, they had to conduct military service and participate in the protection of the Habsburg monarchy's border against the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. They populated the Dalmatian Hinterland
The Dalmatian Hinterland ( hr, Dalmatinska zagora; it, La Morlacca or ) is the southern inland hinterland in the historical Croatian region of Dalmatia. The name ''zagora'' means "beyond (the) hills", which is a reference to the fact that it is t ...
, Lika, Kordun
The Kordun () region is a part of central Croatia from the bottom of the Petrova Gora (Peter's mountain) mountain range, which extends along the rivers Korana and Slunjčica, and forms part of the border region to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Within ...
, Banovina, Slavonia
Slavonia (; hr, Slavonija) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria, one of the four historical regions of Croatia. Taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with five Croatian counties: Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Baran ...
, and western Syrmia. From the beginning of the 20th century, the Croat-Serb Coalition
The Croat-Serb Coalition ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hrvatsko-srpska koalicija, separator=/, Хрватско-српска коалиција) was a major political alliance in Austria-Hungary during early 20th century that governed the Croatian lands, the c ...
led by Croat Frano Supilo
Frano Supilo (30 November 1870 – 25 September 1917) was a Croatian politician and journalist. He opposed the Austro-Hungarian domination of Europe prior to World War I. He participated in the debates leading to the formation of Yugoslavia ...
and Serb Svetozar Pribićević governed the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia until the dissolution
Dissolution may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Books
* ''Dissolution'' (''Forgotten Realms'' novel), a 2002 fantasy novel by Richard Lee Byers
* ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), a 2003 historical novel by C. J. Sansom Music
* Dissolution, in mu ...
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 ...
. After the creation
Creation may refer to:
Religion
*''Creatio ex nihilo'', the concept that matter was created by God out of nothing
* Creation myth, a religious story of the origin of the world and how people first came to inhabit it
* Creationism, the belief tha ...
of the 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 ...
in 1918 (later renamed to Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
), a few thousand Serbs moved to Croatian territory. 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 opposing ...
, Serbs were targeted for extermination as part of 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 Lat ...
by the Ustashas in the Nazi German
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
puppet state
A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government, is a state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside power and subject to its orders.Compare: Puppet states have nominal sove ...
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. It was established in p ...
(NDH).
After the beginning of the breakup of Yugoslavia and Croatia's proclamation of independence, the Serbs living in Croatia rebelled against the Croatian government
The Government of Croatia ( hr, Vlada Hrvatske), formally the Government of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Vlada Republike Hrvatske), commonly abbreviated to Croatian Government ( hr, hrvatska Vlada), is the main executive branch of government ...
and proclaimed the Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina or Serb Republic of Krajina ( sh, Република Српска Крајина, italics=no / or РСК / ''RSK'', ), known as the Serbian Krajina ( / ) or simply Krajina, was a self-proclaimed Serb proto-state, ...
(RSK) on parts of Croatian territory, which led to the Croatian War of Independence (1991–1995). Several RSK leaders have been later convicted of war crimes by the ICTY. After the Croatian Army
The Croatian Army ( hr, Hrvatska kopnena vojska or HKoV) is the largest and most significant component of the Croatian Armed Forces (CAF).
Role and deployment
The fundamental role and purpose of the Croatian Army is to protect vital national i ...
's Operation Storm
}) was the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and a major factor in the outcome of the Bosnian War. It was a decisive victory for the Croatian Army (HV), which attacked across a front against the self-declared proto-state Re ...
, the RSK ceased to exist, its territory was reincorporated into Croatia, and approximately 200,000 Serbs fled the country. In the post-war period, Serbs were exposed to discriminatory measures and rhetoric, including barriers to employment and property rights, use of the minority languages, as well as denial of genocide in the NDH. Following the 2020 elections, Boris Milošević, member of the Independent Democratic Serb Party
The Independent Democratic Serb Party ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Самостална демократска српска странка, Samostalna demokratska srpska stranka, SDSS) is a social-democratic political party in Croatia representing the intere ...
(SDSS) and President of the Serb National Council
sr, Српско народно вијеће
, image = Serb_National_Council_Logo.gif
, size = 250px
, alt =
, caption = SNV logo
, motto =
, budget =
, ...
, was elected one of the four Deputy Prime Ministers
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...
. Shortly afterward, the Croatian authorities and representatives of the Serbs marked the events of the 1991–95 war together.
Many prominent Croatian Serbs have become internationally recognized in their fields, such as Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''
In the 10th-century '' De Administrando Imperio'' (DAI), the lands of 
As many former inhabitants of the Austrian-Ottoman borderland fled northwards or were captured by the Ottoman invaders, they left unpopulated areas. At the beginning of the 16th century settlements of Orthodox Christians were also established in modern-day western Croatia. In the first half of the 16th century Serbs settled Ottoman part of Slavonia while in the second part of the 16th century they moved to Austrian part of Slavonia. In 1550 they established the 
The militarized frontier would serve as a buffer against Ottoman incursions. The Military frontiers had territory of modern Croatia, Serbia, Romania and Hungary. The colonists were granted small tracts of land, exempted from some obligations, and were to retain a share of all war booty. The Grenzers elected their own captains (vojvode) and magistrates (knezovi). All Orthodox settlers were promised freedom of worship.Sabrina P. Ramet, "Whose democracy?: nationalism, religion, and the doctrine of collective rights in post-1989 Eastern Europe", Rowman & Littlefield, 1997, , p. 83 By 1538, the Croatian and
pp. 717–730
/ref> In the Venetian documents from the late 16th and 17th centuries, the name " Morlachs" (another term of Vlachs, first mentioned in the 14th century) was used for immigrants from conquered territory previously of Croatian and Bosnian kingdoms by the Ottoman Empire. They were of both Orthodox and Catholic faith, settled inland of the coastal cities of Dalmatia, and entered the military service of both Venice and Ottoman Empire.
There was a population movement from the Ottoman territories into Venetian Dalmatia in this period. The Venetian government welcomed immigrants, as they protected possessions against the Ottomans. The Morlachs, former Ottoman subjects, helped Venice triple its size in Dalmatia. The bishop of Makarska described how many people migrated from the Ottoman Empire to Venetian territories. Major population movements into Venetian Dalmatia occurred during the 1670s and 1680s. In the summer of 1685, Cosmi, the Archbishop of Split, wrote that Morlach leader Stojan Janković had brought 300 families with him to Dalmatia, and also that around Trogir and Split there were 5,000 refugees from Ottoman lands, without food; this was seen as a serious threat to the defense of Dalmatia. Grain sent by the Pope proved insufficient, and these were forced to launch expeditions into Ottoman territory. Under Janković's leadership Serbs settled in Dalmatia in several waves. In July 1684. around 9000 Serbs settled around borders of Dalmatia. By the end of the same year 1500 Serb families moved from Zagora into Venice territory and the same migration happened in March 1685. when 600 families moved from Cetina under their chieftain Peraičić The military border was returned in 1881 to the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. In 1918, it became part of the 
In the 1860s, the Serbian thought began spreading among the Orthodox Christians in the 
In 1894, Srbobran, a journal of Serbs in Croatia, which was funded by the Serbian government, published an article titled ''Our First Decennial'' in which the author described the awakening of Croatian national consciousness and aspirations to Western values among the Orthodox Christians and the lack of indoctrination with Serbianism among the clergy; "In the Serbian church, we found many priests who didn't know who the 
Formation of the so-called ''New Course Policies'' in the first decade of the 20th century was a turning point for the resumption of cooperation between Croats and Serbs with a purpose of fighting for a common interests, as confirmed by the 1905 Zadar Resolution, when the Croats agreed on broad concessions regarding flags, education, language and equality of Serbs. This led to the creation of the
Following the Invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, the 
Budisavljević and her team was assisted by the Croatian Red Cross and the Zagreb Archdiocese branch of Caritas. Thousands of rescued Serb children were placed with ethnic Croat families from Zagreb and rural communities.
The Ustasha policy towards Serbs further drove a number of them joined either Chetniks or the
by Roy Licklider and
by Melanie Greenberg, John H. Barton and Margaret E. McGuinness, at page 83, says: "The new Croatian constitution ... renounced the hitherto protected status of ethnic Serbs as a separate constituent nation embedded in the old constitution,... In response, the SDS in Krajina begin building its own national governmental entity in order to preserve the rights that had been stripped away and to enhance the sovereignty of Croatian Serbs.
Amid rising of Serbian nationalism and tensions between Yugoslav republics during the breakup of Yugoslavia, on 8 July 1989 Serbs held a rally in
The Serbs of Croatia are predominantly of the 
Serbs in the Croatian Military Frontier were out of the jurisdiction of the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć and in 1611, and after demands from the community, the Pope established the Eparchy of Marča (''Vratanija'') with seat at the Serbian-built Marča Monastery, with a Byzantine
D. Roksandić, ''Srbi u Hrvatskoj – od 15. stoljeća do današnjih dana'', Vjesnik, Zagreb 1991.
(see "Censuses" at ''Crostat Database'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Serbs of Croatia Ethnic groups in Croatia
''
Milutin Milanković
Milutin Milanković (sometimes anglicised as Milankovitch; sr-Cyrl, Милутин Миланковић ; 28 May 1879 – 12 December 1958) was a Serbian mathematician, astronomer, climatologist, geophysicist, civil engineer and popularizer of ...
, Sava Šumanović
Sava Šumanović ( sr-Cyrl, Сава Шумановић; 22 January 1896 – 30 August 1942) was a Serbian painter. He is considered to be one of the most important Serbian painters of the 20th century. Šumanović's opus includes around 800 pa ...
, Rade Šerbedžija
Rade Šerbedžija ( sr-Cyrl, Раде Шербеџија, ; born 27 July 1946) is a Croatian actor, director and musician. He is known for his portrayals of imposing figures on both sides of the law. He was one of the best known Yugoslav actors i ...
, Siniša Mihajlović
Siniša Mihajlović ( sr-Cyrl, Синиша Михајловић, ; 20 February 1969 – 16 December 2022) was a Serbian professional football player and manager.
During his career as a footballer, he played as a defender or midfielder. He won ...
and Peja Stojaković. According to the 2011 census, there were 186,633 Serbs living in Croatia (4.4% of the population) which are recognized as a national minority by the Croatian Constitution
The Constitution of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Ustav Republike Hrvatske) is promulgated by the Croatian Parliament.
History
While it was part of the socialist Yugoslavia, the Socialist Republic of Croatia had its own Constitution under the ...
and therefore have three permanent seats in the Croatian Parliament
The Croatian Parliament ( hr, Hrvatski sabor) or the Sabor is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Croatia. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sab ...
.
Overview
Traditional elements of their identity are the Orthodox faith,Cyrillic script
The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking co ...
and military history, while modern elements are language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
and literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
, civic, social and political values, concern for ethnic status and national organisation, and celebration of the Liberation of Yugoslavia
World War II in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941, when the country was swiftly conquered by Axis forces and partitioned between Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and their client regimes. Shortly after Germany attacked the U ...
.
According to the 2021 census there were 123,892 ethnic 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 ...
living in Croatia, 3.2% of the total population. Their number was reduced by more than two-thirds in the aftermath of the 1991–95 War in Croatia
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yugosl ...
as the 1991 pre-war census had reported 581,663 Serbs living in Croatia, 12.2% of the total population.
History
Medieval history
In the 10th-century '' De Administrando Imperio'' (DAI), the lands of Konavle
Konavle () is a municipality and a small region located southeast of Dubrovnik, Croatia.
It is administratively part of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County and the center of the municipality is Cavtat.
Demographics
The total municipality population wa ...
, Zahumlje
Zachlumia or Zachumlia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Zahumlje, Захумље, ), also Hum, was a medieval principality located in the modern-day regions of Herzegovina and southern Dalmatia (today parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia ...
and Pagania
The Narentines were a South Slavic tribe that occupied an area of southern Dalmatia centered at the river Neretva (), active in the 9th and 10th centuries, noted as pirates on the Adriatic. Named ''Narentani'' in Venetian sources, Greek source ...
(which included parts of southern Dalmatia now in Croatia) is described as inhabited by Serbs who immigrated there from an area near Thessaloniki previously arrived there from White Serbia
White Serbia ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Бела Србија, Bela Srbija; wen, Biеło Srbsko), called also Boiki ( grc, Βοΐκι, Boḯki; sr-Cyrl-Latn, link=no, Бојка, Bojka; wen, links=no, Boika), is the name applied to the assumed homeland of ...
. In the Early Middle Ages, John Van Antwerp Fine Jr.
John V. A. Fine Jr. (born 1939) is an American historian and author. He is professor of Balkan and Byzantine history at the University of Michigan and has written several books on the subject.
Early life and education
He was born in 1939 and grew ...
believes that what is today western Bosnia and Herzegovina was part of 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 ...
, while the rest was divided between Croatia and Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...
. However, scholars like Tibor Živković Tibor Živković ( sr-cyr, Тибор Живковић; 11 March 1966 – 26 March 2013) was a reputable Serbian academic, historian and Byzantinist who specialised in the period of the Early Middle Ages.
Biography
Živković was born in Mostar, a ...
and Neven Budak
Neven Budak (born 3 May 1957) is a Croatian historian and professor at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb.
Biography
Neven Budak was born on 3 May 1957 in the city of Zagreb, then part of Socialist Republic of ...
consider that a closer reading of the ''DAI'' suggests that the Constantine VII's consideration about the regional population ethnic identity is based on Serbian political rule during the expansion of Časlav in the 10th century and does not indicate ethnic origin. Some members of the Serbian royal family took refuge in Croatia amid dynastic rivalry in the 9th and 10th century.
Stefan Vojislav
Stefan Vojislav ( sr-cyr, Стефан Војислав; gr, Στέφανος Βοϊσθλάβος; 1034–d. 1043) was the Prince of Duklja from 1040 to 1043. Beginning in the year 1018, he served as a Byzantine governor, until 1034 when he l ...
(r. 1018–1043) ruled a territory that included the coastal region from Ston
Ston () is a settlement and a municipality in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia, located at the south of isthmus of the Pelješac peninsula.
History
Because of its geopolitical and strategic position, Ston has had a rich history since ant ...
in the north down to Skadar by 1040 after his rebellion against Byzantine rule. Mihailo Vojislavljević
Mihailo Vojislavljević ( sr-cyr, Михаило Војислављевић) was a medieval Serbian king and the ruler of Dioclea (Duklja), from 1046 to 1081 initially as a Byzantine vassal holding the title of ''protospatharios'', then after 10 ...
(1050–1081) built the St. Michael's Church in Ston
Ston () is a settlement and a municipality in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia, located at the south of isthmus of the Pelješac peninsula.
History
Because of its geopolitical and strategic position, Ston has had a rich history since ant ...
, which has a fresco depicting him. Croatia entered union with Hungary in the beginning of the 12th century. Serbia also entered close relations with Hungary ( Béla II married a Serbian princess). Beloš
Beloš ( sr-cyr, Белош; hu, Belos or ''Belus''; el, Βελούσης fl. 1141–1163), was a Serbian prince and Hungarian palatine who served as the regent of Hungary from 1141 until 1146, alongside his sister Helena, mother of the infan ...
, a member of the Serbian royal family, became the "Ban of Croatia and Dalmatia" in 1142. By the early 13th century, the territory of Hum was under jurisdiction of the Western i.e. Roman Church, while the Serbian Orthodox Church established the diocese of Hum in 1219, seated at Ston, that linked the Pelješac
Pelješac (; Chakavian: ; it, Sabbioncello) is a peninsula in southern Dalmatia in Croatia. The peninsula is part of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County and is the second largest peninsula in Croatia. From the isthmus that begins at Ston, to the to ...
peninsula with Hum which lasted until 1321 when Serbian Orthodox bishop had to withdraw from Ston. Serbia continued to hold parts of southernmost Dalmatia into the 14th century. In 1333 King of Serbia Stefan Dušan
Stefan Uroš IV Dušan ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Урош IV Душан, ), known as Dušan the Mighty ( sr, / ; circa 1308 – 20 December 1355), was the King of Serbia from 8 September 1331 and Tsar (or Emperor) and autocrat of the Serbs, Gre ...
sold the Pelješac peninsula and the coast land between Ston and Dubrovnik to the Republic of Ragusa, while Ragusa had to pay an annual tribute and also had to guarantee freedom of worship for Orthodox believers in this territory. Among the oldest Orthodox churches in Croatia are the monasteries of Krupa, Krka and Dragović.
According to Yugoslav ethnologist Jovan Erdeljanović, members of the Orlović clan
The Orlović ( sr-Cyrl, Орловић, Orlovići / Орловићи) are a noble house originating in medieval Serbia.
The Orlović clan, according to the preserved collective memory of its descendants as well as the collective memory and epi ...
settled in Lika and Senj
Senj (; it, Segna, la, Senia, Hungarian and german: Zengg) is a town on the upper Adriatic coast in Croatia, in the foothills of the Mala Kapela and Velebit mountains.
The symbol of the town is the Nehaj Fortress ( hr, Tvrđava Nehaj) whic ...
in 1432, later joining the Uskoks
The Uskoks ( hr, Uskoci, , singular: ; notes on naming) were irregular soldiers in Habsburg Croatia that inhabited areas on the eastern Adriatic coast and surrounding territories during the Ottoman wars in Europe. Bands of Uskoks fought a g ...
. In 1436 on the Cetina
Cetina () is a river in southern Croatia. It has a length of and its basin covers an area of . From its source, Cetina descends from an elevation of above sea level to the Adriatic Sea. It is the most water-rich river in Dalmatia.Naklada Naprijed ...
, Croats, Vlachs, and Serbs appeared at the same time living on the estate of Ivan Frankopan. Serbs are reported in Hungarian documents as living in Croatia in 1437 (three documents call the Serbs in Syrmia and Slavonia as ''Rascianos''–Rascians
Rascians ( sr, Раши, Рашани / ''Raši, Rašani''; la, Rasciani, Natio Rasciana) was a historical term for Serbs. The term was derived from the Latinized name for the central Serbian region of Raška ( la, Rascia; sr-Cyrl, Рашка ...
) and on 22 November 1447, the Hungarian King Ladislaus V wrote a letter which mentioned "Rascians, who live in our cities of Medvedgrad
Medvedgrad (; Croatian for ''bear-town''; hu, Medvevár) is a medieval fortified town located on the south slopes of Medvednica mountain, approximately halfway from the Croatian capital Zagreb to the mountain top Sljeme. For defensive purpos ...
, Rakovac, both Kalinik and in Koprivnica". Matthias Corvinus
Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several m ...
complained in a letter from 1462 that 200,000 peoples during the previous three years had been taken from his country by Turks, this information was used as a reference for Serb migration to Hungary. After the Ottoman
conquests of Serbia and capture of Smederevo fortress
The Smederevo Fortress ( sr, / ) is a medieval fortified city in Smederevo, Serbia, which was the temporary capital of Serbia in the Middle Ages. It was built between 1427 and 1430 on the order of Despot Đurađ Branković, the ruler of the ...
in 1459 and fall of Bosnia 1463 different populations of Orthodox Christians moved into Syrmia and by 1483 perhaps 200,000 Orthodox Christians moved into central Slavonia and Syrmia. The Turkish conquest of Bosnia also pushed refugees and migrants into western Croatia. The Ottoman conquests of Serbia and Bosnia and future Ottoman wars sparked migrations into what is today Croatia throughout the Early modern period.
Early modern period
As many former inhabitants of the Austrian-Ottoman borderland fled northwards or were captured by the Ottoman invaders, they left unpopulated areas. At the beginning of the 16th century settlements of Orthodox Christians were also established in modern-day western Croatia. In the first half of the 16th century Serbs settled Ottoman part of Slavonia while in the second part of the 16th century they moved to Austrian part of Slavonia. In 1550 they established the Lepavina Monastery
The Lepavina Monastery ( sr, Манастир Лепавина, Manastir Lepavina) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery dedicated to the Presentation of Mary and located at the village of Sokolovac, near the town of Koprivnica in Croatia.
From the B ...
. As Vlach settlements by name and signature we find marked Mali i Veliki Poganac (Poganetz) which was mentioned as Vlach settlement in 1610 and Lepavina
The Lepavina Monastery ( sr, Манастир Лепавина, Manastir Lepavina) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery dedicated to the Presentation of Mary and located at the village of Sokolovac, near the town of Koprivnica in Croatia.
From the B ...
(Lipavina) and Marča Monastery ( Eparchy of Marča ). The Habsburg Empire
The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...
encouraged people from the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
to settle as free peasant soldiers, establishing the Military Frontier
The Military Frontier (german: Militärgrenze, sh-Latn, Vojna krajina/Vojna granica, Војна крајина/Војна граница; hu, Katonai határőrvidék; ro, Graniță militară) was a borderland of the Habsburg monarchy and ...
s (''Militärgrenze'') in 1522 (hence they were known as Grenzers, ''Krajišnici'').Ramet, p. 82 When it comes to the Austrian colonization of the Turkish Vlachs to Slavonian Military Frontier
The Slavonian Military Frontier ( hr, Slavonska vojna krajina or ; german: Slawonische Militärgrenze; sr, Славонска војна крајина; hu, Szlavón határőrvidék) was a district of the Military Frontier, a territory in the ...
and the Vlachs in the Croatian Military Frontier
The Croatian Military Frontier ( hr, Vojna krajina or ') was a district of the Military Frontier, a territory in the Habsburg monarchy, first during the period of the Austrian Empire and then during Austria-Hungary.
History
Founded in the late 1 ...
there are some minor differences. Vlachs to western Slavonia or to the Varaždin Generalate of Slavonian Krajina are coming en masse and in a very short time: from yeare 1597 to 1600. To Croatian Krajina and Karlovac Generalate Vlachs arrive in smaller groups but throughout the whole XVII. century. Therefore, the Slavonian region was the first to open the door to the Balkans Vlachs. Biggest number of Vlachs comes from Slavonian Turkish Sandžaks In the first half of the 16th century Serbs settled Ottoman part of Slavonia while in the second part of the 16th century they moved to Austrian part of Slavonia.Serbs were mentioned in the Slavonian area at the end of the 14th century where they along with the Turks plundered and burned villages (Turcos et Rascianos). The Habsburg Empire
The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...
encouraged people from the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
to settle as free peasant soldiers, establishing the Military Frontier
The Military Frontier (german: Militärgrenze, sh-Latn, Vojna krajina/Vojna granica, Војна крајина/Војна граница; hu, Katonai határőrvidék; ro, Graniță militară) was a borderland of the Habsburg monarchy and ...
s (''Militärgrenze'') in 1522 (hence they were known as Grenzers, ''Krajišnici'').Ramet, p. 82 They were mostly of Orthodox faith, Serbs and Vlachs
"Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other E ...
(Romance-speaking). Catholic Vlachs were assimilated into Croats, while the Orthodox, under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Church, assimilated into Serbs.
The militarized frontier would serve as a buffer against Ottoman incursions. The Military frontiers had territory of modern Croatia, Serbia, Romania and Hungary. The colonists were granted small tracts of land, exempted from some obligations, and were to retain a share of all war booty. The Grenzers elected their own captains (vojvode) and magistrates (knezovi). All Orthodox settlers were promised freedom of worship.Sabrina P. Ramet, "Whose democracy?: nationalism, religion, and the doctrine of collective rights in post-1989 Eastern Europe", Rowman & Littlefield, 1997, , p. 83 By 1538, the Croatian and Slavonian Military Frontier
The Slavonian Military Frontier ( hr, Slavonska vojna krajina or ; german: Slawonische Militärgrenze; sr, Славонска војна крајина; hu, Szlavón határőrvidék) was a district of the Military Frontier, a territory in the ...
were established. Austrians offered land to Serbs and Vlachs which acted as the ''cordon sanitaire
''Cordon sanitaire'' () is French for "sanitary cordon". It may refer to:
*Cordon sanitaire (medicine), a cordon that quarantines an area during an infectious disease outbreak
*Cordon sanitaire (politics), refusal to cooperate with certain politic ...
'' together with Croats against Turkish incursions from the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. The Military frontiers are virtually identical to the present Serbian settlements (war-time Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina or Serb Republic of Krajina ( sh, Република Српска Крајина, italics=no / or РСК / ''RSK'', ), known as the Serbian Krajina ( / ) or simply Krajina, was a self-proclaimed Serb proto-state, ...
). Colonization into Habsburg lands continued from 1526 to well into the seventeenth century. Serbian communities were dotted about until the twentieth century, preserving memories of their origin.
In 1593, ''Provveditore Generale The Italian title ''prov ditore'' (plural ''provveditori''; also known in gr, προνοητής, προβλεπτής; sh, providur), "he who sees to things" (overseer), was the style of various (but not all) local district governors in the exten ...
'' Cristoforo Valier mentions three nations constituting the Uskoks
The Uskoks ( hr, Uskoci, , singular: ; notes on naming) were irregular soldiers in Habsburg Croatia that inhabited areas on the eastern Adriatic coast and surrounding territories during the Ottoman wars in Europe. Bands of Uskoks fought a g ...
: "natives of Senj, Croatians, and Morlachs from the Turkish parts". Many of the Uskoks, who fought a guerrilla war with the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
were Orthodox Christian Serbs, who fled from Ottoman Turkish rule and settled in White Carniola
White Carniola ( sl, Bela krajina; german: Weißkrain or ''Weiße Mark'') is a traditional region in southeastern Slovenia on the border with Croatia. Due to its smallness, it is often considered a subunit of the broader Lower Carniola region, alt ...
and Zumberak.Europe:A History by Norman Davies (1996), p. 561.Goffman (2002), p. 190.https://books.google.com/books?id=ovCVDLYN_JgC https://books.google.com/books?id=0pmkrY29qkICThe Vlachs from Glamoc, Srb and Una area move in among Orthodox Christians and settling in 1530 under protection of King Ferdinand I. on the border of the Julian Alps (now Uskoks mountain) in Žumberak area Tihomir Đorđević points to the already known fact that the name 'Vlach' didn't only refer to genuine Vlachs
"Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other E ...
or 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 ...
but also to cattle breeders in general.Gavrilović, Danijela, "Elements of Ethnic Identification of the Serbs" from FACTA UNIVERSITATIS – Series Philosophy, Sociology, Psychology and History (10/2003)pp. 717–730
/ref> In the Venetian documents from the late 16th and 17th centuries, the name " Morlachs" (another term of Vlachs, first mentioned in the 14th century) was used for immigrants from conquered territory previously of Croatian and Bosnian kingdoms by the Ottoman Empire. They were of both Orthodox and Catholic faith, settled inland of the coastal cities of Dalmatia, and entered the military service of both Venice and Ottoman Empire.
There was a population movement from the Ottoman territories into Venetian Dalmatia in this period. The Venetian government welcomed immigrants, as they protected possessions against the Ottomans. The Morlachs, former Ottoman subjects, helped Venice triple its size in Dalmatia. The bishop of Makarska described how many people migrated from the Ottoman Empire to Venetian territories. Major population movements into Venetian Dalmatia occurred during the 1670s and 1680s. In the summer of 1685, Cosmi, the Archbishop of Split, wrote that Morlach leader Stojan Janković had brought 300 families with him to Dalmatia, and also that around Trogir and Split there were 5,000 refugees from Ottoman lands, without food; this was seen as a serious threat to the defense of Dalmatia. Grain sent by the Pope proved insufficient, and these were forced to launch expeditions into Ottoman territory. Under Janković's leadership Serbs settled in Dalmatia in several waves. In July 1684. around 9000 Serbs settled around borders of Dalmatia. By the end of the same year 1500 Serb families moved from Zagora into Venice territory and the same migration happened in March 1685. when 600 families moved from Cetina under their chieftain Peraičić The military border was returned in 1881 to the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. In 1918, it became part of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs
The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs ( sh, Država Slovenaca, Hrvata i Srba / ; sl, Država Slovencev, Hrvatov in Srbov) was a political entity that was constituted in October 1918, at the end of World War I, by Slovenes, Croats and Serbs ( ...
, which immediately joined the Kingdom of Serbia to form the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...
.
The formation of the Serbian identity of Vlahs in Croatia began in the 18th century under the influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), and most of the local Orthodox priests of the Metropolitanate of Karlovci
The Metropolitanate of Karlovci ( sr, Карловачка митрополија, Karlovačka mitropolija) was a metropolitanate of the Eastern Orthodox Church that existed in the Habsburg monarchy between 1708 and 1848. Between 1708 and 1713 ...
who were educated in monasteries outside Croatia under the guidance of SPC clergy who came to the southwestern region of the Habsburg monarchy during the Great Migrations of the Serbs
The Great Migrations of the Serbs ( sr, Велике сеобе Срба), also known as the Great Exoduses of the Serbs, refers mainly to two large migrations of Serbs from various territories under the rule of the Ottoman Empire to regions u ...
(1690–1739). In 1695, Serbian Patriarch Arsenije III Čarnojević Arsenije ( sr-cyr, Арсеније; ) is a Serbian given name, a variant of the Greek name '' Arsenios''. Diminutives of the name include '' Arsen'', ''Arsa'' and '' Arso''. It may refer to:
* Arsenije Sremac (d. 1266), second Archbishop of the Se ...
organized the SPC's hierarchy in Croatia – the territory of the Military Frontier
The Military Frontier (german: Militärgrenze, sh-Latn, Vojna krajina/Vojna granica, Војна крајина/Војна граница; hu, Katonai határőrvidék; ro, Graniță militară) was a borderland of the Habsburg monarchy and ...
was 'subjugated' to the Eparchy of Gornji Karlovac
The Eparchy of Gornji Karlovac ( sr-Cyrl, Епархија горњокарловачка, hr, Eparhija gornjokarlovačka; "Eparchy of Upper Karlovac") is an eparchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church seated in the city of Karlovac, Croatia. It cover ...
, and Varaždin Generalate and the rest of Croatia to the Eparchy of Pakrac
Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Slavonia ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна епархија славонска, hr, Srpska pravoslavna eparhija slavonska) is an eparchy (diocese) of the Serbian Orthodox Church encompassing areas of wes ...
(since 1705). The Serbianisation
Serbianisation American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), or Serbianization, also known as Serbification, and Serbisation American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), or ...
of the Vlachs in southern Croatia was the result of the hierarchical linkage of Orthodox Vlachs from southern Croatian territories, at the time ruled by the Venetians, with the SPC in northern Croatia, which strengthened the ritual and ecclesiastical connection of the Vlachs with the Serb immigrants.
In the 1860s, the Serbian thought began spreading among the Orthodox Christians in the Kingdom of Dalmatia
The Kingdom of Dalmatia ( hr, Kraljevina Dalmacija; german: Königreich Dalmatien; it, Regno di Dalmazia) was a crown land of the Austrian Empire (1815–1867) and the Cisleithanian half of Austria-Hungary (1867–1918). It encompassed the entire ...
. At first through the religious denomination, and by the time as a sign of national affiliation. There was also a brief occurrence when certain Catholic intellectuals, predominantly in Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...
, were won over by the Serbian thought. They were known as "Serb Catholics". The reason for this was that Dalmatia and the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, at the time ruled by Károly Khuen-Héderváry
Count Károly Khuen-Héderváry de Hédervár, born as ''Károly Khuen de Belás'' ( hr, Dragutin Khuen-Héderváry, 23 May 1849 – 16 February 1918) was a Hungarian politician and the Ban of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia in the late ninet ...
, were extremely disadvantaged so intellectuals did not want to link themselves to them, while at the same time they found newly created Kingdoms of Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...
and Montenegro
)
, image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Podgorica
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, official_languages = M ...
with their idea of unification of the South Slavs, appealing. With the creation of Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
, their political goals were achieved, and after that these "one-time Serbs" disappeared from the political stage. Such developments in the spread of Serbian thought in the Croatian lands were the result of Serbian politicians' plans dating back to the first half of the 19th century when Serbia wasn't an independent country, but a province of the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. According to the 1844 Ilija Garašanin
Ilija Garašanin ( sr-cyr, Илија Гарашанин; 28 January 1812 – 22 June 1874) was a Serbian statesman who served as the prime minister of Serbia between 1852 and 1853 and again from 1861 to 1867.
Ilija Garašanin was conservati ...
's Načertanije, they intended to establish a Serbian Empire on the territory of the collapsed Ottoman Empire. At first, its borders were supposed to be the borders of the Ottoman Empire and the Slavs in them, but they gradually expanded to the territory of present-day Croatia (including the Military Frointaire and Dalmatia).Benedikta Zelić-Bućan, Prologue in: Mihovil Pavlinović: Misao hrvatska i misao srbska u Dalmaciji, Laus, Split, 1994., p. 11 To accomplish this, the ground had to be prepared, so that diplomacy and the military would have a stronger base for taking action. The bases for this was the Serbian state law, and where it wasn't possible to appropriate the land with it, the argument of nationality, and when that argument couldn't be applied, then it was necessary to "create" the Serbs among the target population, if not among all, then among the majority. The main target were Orthodox Christians in the neighboring, non-Serb countries. In 1848/50, Serbian government organized a secret network of agents who propagated the Serbian ideas. Those agents were concealed as cultural workers. The famous agents were Georgije Nikolajević and Stjepan Mitrov Ljubiša
Stjepan (modernist: Stefan) Mitrov Ljubiša ( sr-cyr, Стјепан Митров Љубиша; 29 February 1824 – 11 November 1878), was a Serbian and Montenegrin writer and politician. He is famous for his unique short stories, generally ra ...
. The 'creation' of new Serbs was carried out by identification of Orthodox Christianity in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina only with Serbs. Another argument used in the areas with no Orthodox Christians was identifying people who spoke Shtokavian
Shtokavian or Štokavian (; sh-Latn, štokavski / sh-Cyrl, italics=no, штокавски, ) is the prestige dialect of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language and the basis of its Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin standards. It ...
with the Serbs. The idea "all Shtokavians are Serbs" was created by German Slavists in the 1850s, and was promoted by the Austrian government who wanted to equalize Croats and Serbs so that it could more easily rule the Croatian lands and in the next stage conquer Serbia and penetrate across Macedonia to Thessaloniki
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 ...
. The idea was that it was easier to "govern Belgrade and Zagreb if the same language was spoken in them". Geostrategic position of Belgrade in relation to Zagreb further contributed to favoring the Serbs whom Austrians did not perceive as a danger, unlike Croats who had own language, politicians, national consciousness, laws, military tradition and prepared army, as well as international treaties which have affirmed their rights, so Austrians needed someone (Serbs) to discipline the Croats. The same was done by Hungary which became a strong political factor after 1848 and that wished to expand into the Southeast Europe
Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (a ...
, which was particularly strong during the reign of Károly Khuen-Héderváry
Count Károly Khuen-Héderváry de Hédervár, born as ''Károly Khuen de Belás'' ( hr, Dragutin Khuen-Héderváry, 23 May 1849 – 16 February 1918) was a Hungarian politician and the Ban of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia in the late ninet ...
over Croatia.
The revolutionary 1848 and the process of building a modern Croatian nation resulted in closer co-operation between Croats and Serbs and recognition of their equality in the sense of Illyrian Movement
The Illyrian movement ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Ilirski pokret, Илирски покрет; sl, Ilirsko gibanje) was a pan-South-Slavic cultural and political campaign with roots in the early modern period, and revived by a group of young Croatian inte ...
(also known as the Croatian National Revival) and Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
n ideas. In the 1830s, ideas of the Illyrian Movement spread to Dalmatia. In 1835, Božidar Petranović began publishing the ''Serbo-Dalmatian Magazine''. In the following thirty years, Croats and Serbs worked together in the 'national movement' (by using this neutral name they avoided conflicts) against the Austro-Hungarian unitarism and Italian nationalists. However, since Vuk Karadžić
Vuk Stefanović Karadžić ( sr-Cyrl, Вук Стефановић Караџић, ; 6 November 1787 (26 October OS)7 February 1864) was a Serbian philologist, anthropologist and linguist. He was one of the most important reformers of the moder ...
, Ilija Garašanin
Ilija Garašanin ( sr-cyr, Илија Гарашанин; 28 January 1812 – 22 June 1874) was a Serbian statesman who served as the prime minister of Serbia between 1852 and 1853 and again from 1861 to 1867.
Ilija Garašanin was conservati ...
and Jovan Subotić
Jovan Subotić (1817–1886) was a Serbian lawyer, writer, politician and academic.
Biography
Jovan Subotić was born at Dobrinci in Srem on 30 January 1817. After completing his high school (gymnasium) education in Sremski Karlovci and Segedin ...
started writing of Dalmatia as a "Serbian land", and the recognition of Serbia as an independent state at the 1878 Congress of Berlin
The Congress of Berlin (13 June – 13 July 1878) was a diplomatic conference to reorganise the states in the Balkan Peninsula after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, which had been won by Russia against the Ottoman Empire. Represented at th ...
, the differences between Croats and Serbs in Dalmatia increased. Following Croat enthusiasm with the successful 1878 Austro-Hungarian conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina, during which many Croatian soldiers died, and them seeking unification of Dalmatia and the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, the conflict between Croats and Serbs was inevitable. In 1879, Serbs from Bukovica voted for the Italian candidate instead of Croat Miho Klaić
Miho Klaić (Dubrovnik, August 19, 1829 – Zadar, January 3, 1896) was a Croatian politician and a leader of the Croatian revival in Dalmatia.
He obtained a PhD in architecture in Padua, Italy. He was a member of the National Party and was elec ...
. This event was called by People's Party's supporters ''Bukovica betrail''. Shortly thereafter, separate Croatian and Serbian parties emerged, but Croatian parties managed to keep the majority in the Diet of Dalmatia
The Diet of Dalmatia ( hr, Dalmatinski sabor, it, Dieta della Dalmazia) was the regional assembly of the Kingdom of Dalmatia within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was founded in Zadar in 1861 and last convened in 1912, before being formally diss ...
while Serbs started cooperating with the Italian nationalists. Prior to this, Serbs in Dalmatia started emphasizing Serbianism more often, and for the Croats emphasize "Slovene, Yugoslavian, Slavic, Illyrian", which Mihovil Pavlinović considered destructive to Croatia so he used only attributes "Croatian" in his political program.
Ban Ivan Mažuranić
Ivan Mažuranić (; 11 August 1814 – 4 August 1890) was a Croatian poet, linguist, lawyer and politician who is considered to be one of the most important figures in Croatia's political and cultural life in the mid-19th century. Mažuranić se ...
abolished Serbian education autonomy, which was carried out by the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), as part of his educational reforms and liberal endeavors. Despite the interpretation of this move as anti-Serbian, some of the most senior governmental positions during Mažuranić's reign were held by the Serbs; Jovan Živković was Deputy Ban, Livije Radivojević president of the Table of Seven (Supreme Court), and Nikola Krestić President of the Croatian Parliament.
During his 20-year-long reign, marked by violence and aggressive magyarization, Ban Károly Khuen-Héderváry
Count Károly Khuen-Héderváry de Hédervár, born as ''Károly Khuen de Belás'' ( hr, Dragutin Khuen-Héderváry, 23 May 1849 – 16 February 1918) was a Hungarian politician and the Ban of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia in the late ninet ...
encouraged ethnic conflicts between Croats and Serbs. He introduced Cyrillic in grammar school and equalized it with Latin, and allowed the use of Serbian flags. He has changed the official language in the Kingdom from Croatian into "Croato-Serbian" and appointed Serb Vaso Đurđević to the position of the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament. In 1884, Parliament enacted the so-called "Serbian laws" by which SPC gained the right to independently conduct education on the Croatian territory. In addition, Khuen-Héderváry financially assisted Serbs. During his reign, four out of eight Croatian county prefects, Deputy Ban and Speaker of the Croatian Parliament were Serbs, and Serbs occupied the highest ranks in the judiciary. The main goal of favoring the Serbs was to encourage inter-ethnic (Croat/Serb) conflicts which would lead to the preventing of Croatian resistance against the Austrian Empires' state policies. By the end of the 19th century, on the Vladimir Matijević's initiative, Serbs established a number of institutions such as the Serbian Bank, the Association of Serbian Agricultural Cooperatives and the Serbian Business Association 'Privrednik'.
In 1894, Srbobran, a journal of Serbs in Croatia, which was funded by the Serbian government, published an article titled ''Our First Decennial'' in which the author described the awakening of Croatian national consciousness and aspirations to Western values among the Orthodox Christians and the lack of indoctrination with Serbianism among the clergy; "In the Serbian church, we found many priests who didn't know who the Saint Sava
Saint Sava ( sr, Свети Сава, Sveti Sava, ; Old Church Slavonic: ; gr, Άγιος Σάββας; 1169 or 1174 – 14 January 1236), known as the Enlightener, was a Serbian prince and Orthodox monk, the first Archbishop of the autocephalou ...
was, let alone they wanted to be Sava's apostles, neither safeguard his behests, Orthodox faith and Serbian nationality, nor nourish their flock within them. Among them, we found "Orthodox Croats" who preached from the Serbian enlightener Sava's ambon Croatian thought, and Latin was more dear to them then Cyrlic." The Croatian-Serbian conflict culminated on 10 August 1902, when, after years of controversial writing, Srbobran published a text titled ''To Investigation Yours or Ours'' in which author Nikola Stojanović, President of the Serbian Academic Society ''Zora'', denied the very existence of the Croatian nation and predicted the result of the conflict between Croats and Serbs, calling for destruction: "That struggle must lead to the investigation ours or yours. One party must fall. Their geographical position, circumstances in which they live everywhere mixed with the Serbs, and the process of general evolution where the idea of Serbianism means progress, guarantees us that those allingwill be Croats." Enraged crowds reacted by burning Serbian flags and attacking Serb-owned shops, and buildings used by the Serbian institutions.
Formation of the so-called ''New Course Policies'' in the first decade of the 20th century was a turning point for the resumption of cooperation between Croats and Serbs with a purpose of fighting for a common interests, as confirmed by the 1905 Zadar Resolution, when the Croats agreed on broad concessions regarding flags, education, language and equality of Serbs. This led to the creation of the Croat-Serb Coalition
The Croat-Serb Coalition ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hrvatsko-srpska koalicija, separator=/, Хрватско-српска коалиција) was a major political alliance in Austria-Hungary during early 20th century that governed the Croatian lands, the c ...
(HSK) whose policy was based on cooperation with Hungary, the Italian parties in Dalmatia and the Serbs in Croatia and Slavonia, guaranteeing broad concessions regarding the Serb minority in Croatia. Serbs played a disproportionately large role in the political life of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. Electoral units were not created according to the population but were gerrymandered according to the Governments' interests so, for example, in the 1913 parliamentary election, the Croatian Peasant Party
The Croatian Peasant Party ( hr, Hrvatska seljačka stranka, HSS) is an agrarian political party in Croatia founded on 22 December 1904 by Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party (HPSS). The Brothers Radić believed that t ...
received 12,917 votes and only 3 seats, while the Serb Independent Party Serb Independent Party ( sr-Latn, Srpska samostalna stranka, SSS, german: Serbische selbständige Partei), also known as Serb Autonomous Party or simply Serb Autonomists, was an ethnic Serb political party in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, under ...
received 11,704 votes and 17 seats. Serbs Mišćević, Pribićević, Krajnović, and Budisavljević received 1,062 votes, which was enough for all four of them to get elected, while Croat M. Uroić from the Party of Rights won 1,138 votes but hadn't been elected. According to the 1910 census, 644,955 Serbs lived on the territory of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, accounting for 24.5% of the population. In 1900, 95,000 Serbs, accounting for 16% of the population, lived in the Kingdom of Dalmatia.
World War I and Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Immediately upon the outbreak of theWorld 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 ...
, all organizations that the government considered favored unification of South Slavs or Serbia, which was on the side of the Allied Powers, were banned. Josip Frank
Josip Frank (16 April 1844 – 17 December 1911) was a Croatian lawyer and politician, a noted representative of the Party of Rights in the Croatian Parliament, and a vocal advocate of Croatian national independence in Austria-Hungary.
Early l ...
's associates took advantage of some provocations and the anger of the people after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated on 28 June 1914 by Bosnian Serb student Gavrilo Princip. They were shot at close range whil ...
by Serb Gavrilo Princip
Gavrilo Princip ( sr-Cyrl, Гаврило Принцип, ; 25 July 189428 April 1918) was a Bosnian Serb student who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914.
Pr ...
and organized anti-Serbian demonstrations. After a stone was thrown on a parade in which the image of Franz Ferdinand was carried through Zagreb, many cafés and gathering places of pro-Yugoslav politicians as well as Serb-owned shops were demolished. Croat-Serb Coalition MP's were also attacked. On the other hand, members of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia and Slavonia
The Social Democratic Party of Croatia and Slavonia ( hr, Socijaldemokratska stranka Hrvatske i Slavonije or 'SDSHiS') was a social-democratic political party in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. The party was active from 1894 until 1916.
Histor ...
held a rally in which they spoke against the violence.Agičić, p. 306 Simultaneously with the large anti-Serbian protests held in Vienna, Budapest and Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which there were wounded and dead, protests against pro-Yugoslav oriented citizens were held in many Croatian cities, including Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...
, in which protesters attacked ''Serbian Society "Dušan Magnificant"'' Riots have been reported in Zadar
Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ser ...
, Metković
Metković () is a town in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia, located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the river Neretva and on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Demographics
The total population of the city municipal ...
, Bjelovar
Bjelovar ( hu, Belovár, german: Bellowar, Kajkavian: ''Belovar'') is a city in central Croatia. It is the administrative centre of Bjelovar-Bilogora County. At the 2021 census, there were 36,433 inhabitants, of whom 93.06% were Croats.
Histor ...
, Virovitica
Virovitica () is a Croatian city near the Hungarian border. It is situated near the Drava river and belongs to the historic region of Slavonia. Virovitica has a population of 14,688, with 21,291 people in the municipality (census 2011). It is als ...
and Konavle
Konavle () is a municipality and a small region located southeast of Dubrovnik, Croatia.
It is administratively part of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County and the center of the municipality is Cavtat.
Demographics
The total municipality population wa ...
where protesters burned the Serbian flag. In Đakovo
Đakovo (; hu, Diakovár) is a town in the region of Slavonia, Croatia. Đakovo is the centre of the fertile and rich Đakovo region ( hr, Đakovština ).
Etymology
The etymology of the name is the gr, διάκος (diákos) in Slavic form đ ...
and Slavonski Brod
Slavonski Brod (), commonly shortened to simply Brod, is a city in eastern Croatia, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Being one of the principal cities in the historical regions of Slavonia and Posavina, Slavonski Brod was the 7th large ...
riots become so violent that the army intervention was requested. In addition, a curfew was imposed in the town of Petrinja
Petrinja () is a town in central Croatia near Sisak in the historic region of Banovina. It is administratively located in Sisak-Moslavina County.
On December 29, 2020, the town was hit by a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 , causing ...
. In 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 Zemun
Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; hu, Zimony) is a municipality in the city of Belgrade. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown Belgrade. The developme ...
police managed to prevent more clashes. Most Serbs in Croatia
The Serbs of Croatia ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Срби у Хрватској, Srbi u Hrvatskoj) or Croatian Serbs ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", хрватски Срби, hrvatski Srbi) constitute the largest national minority in Croa ...
approved assassination. Cases of provocation, such as showing images of King Peter I of Serbia
Peter I ( sr-Cyr, Петар I Карађорђевић, Petar I Кarađorđević; – 16 August 1921) was the last king of Serbia, reigning from 15 June 1903 to 1 December 1918. On 1 December 1918, he became the first king of the Serbs, ...
, joy, insults and celebrations, have been reported. 14 Serbs were arrested in Zadar for celebrating the assassination.
Following the end of World War I, previously independent State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs
The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs ( sh, Država Slovenaca, Hrvata i Srba / ; sl, Država Slovencev, Hrvatov in Srbov) was a political entity that was constituted in October 1918, at the end of World War I, by Slovenes, Croats and Serbs ( ...
and Kingdom of Serbia merged in 1918 into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...
. The creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia led to the formation of stronger ties between Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina with Serbia. Immediately after 1918, the influx of Serbs from Serbia into the territory of Croatia, in particular in the area of Syrmia and Lika-Krbava County
Lika-Krbava County ( hr, Ličko-krbavska županija; sr, Личко-крбавска жупанија; hu, Lika-Korbava vármegye) was a historic administrative subdivision of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. Croatia-Slavonia was an auton ...
, increased. Relative growth in the number of Serb citizens was recorded in Virovitica
Virovitica () is a Croatian city near the Hungarian border. It is situated near the Drava river and belongs to the historic region of Slavonia. Virovitica has a population of 14,688, with 21,291 people in the municipality (census 2011). It is als ...
(35% increase), and Syrmia and Modruš-Rijeka counties, mainly due to the migration of Serbian war veterans who fought on Macedonian front to Slavonia during agrarian reform which was organized by the authorities. Thus, 25 settlements for volunteers were erected, and 8,000 families settled on the land in the areas of agrarian offices in Osijek and 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 ...
. Although most of the Serbian parties in Croatia have been co-operating with Croatian Peasant Party
The Croatian Peasant Party ( hr, Hrvatska seljačka stranka, HSS) is an agrarian political party in Croatia founded on 22 December 1904 by Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party (HPSS). The Brothers Radić believed that t ...
in the struggle against Serbian unitarism for years, following the creation of Banovina of Croatia in 1939, part of Serbs showed a lack of willingness to live in a country with Croat majority. There were also requests for joining the Lika and Kordun districts with the Vrbas Banovina
The Vrbas Banovina or Vrbas Banate ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Vrbaska banovina, Врбаска бановина), was a province ( banovina) of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941. It was named after the Vrbas River and consis ...
which had Serb majority.
World War II
Following the Invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, the Axis powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
occupied the entire territory 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 and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...
and established a puppet state, the so-called 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. It was established in p ...
(NDH) on the territory of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
and 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 ...
. The Ustaše
The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionary Move ...
government saw Serbs, Jews, Romanis and antifascist Croats as a disruptive element and enemies of the Croatian people, and immediately started with their prosecution. One-third of Serbs were to be killed, one-third expelled and one-third forcibly converted to Catholicism, according to a formula devised by Ustaše ministers. Upon the establishment of the NDH, Ustaše officials immediately began making harsh statements against the Serbs. Although some of the prominent Serbs first offered cooperation to the new Ustaše government, Serbs were outlawed. During the first months of NDH's existence, numerous legal decisions were made against the Serbs: they had to leave the public service, had to move to the northern parts of Zagreb, could walk through Zagreb only during the day, had to wear a badge with the letter "P" (stood for "Pravoslavni", meaning Orthodox Christians), the name of their faith was changed from Serbian Orthodox to Greek-Eastern, and usage of the Cyrillic script was prohibited. Ustaše were making lists of Serbs which they used for deportations to Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...
. About 175,000 Serbs were deported from NDH to Serbia during the first two years of NDH's existence. The regime systematically and brutally massacred Serbs in villages in the countryside, using a variety of tools. In addition, Nazi-style concentration camps were set up for enemies of the state, the most notorious being Jasenovac where some 50,000 Serbs were killed. Sisak and Jastrebarsko concentration camp
The Jastrebarsko children's camp held Serb children who had been brought there from various areas of the Axis puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia ( hr, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH), during World War II. The children had been capt ...
were specially formed for children. During the war, around 300,000 Serbs are estimated to have been murdered under the Ustashe regime as a result of their genocide campaign. Diana Budisavljević, a humanitarian of Austrian descent, carried out rescue operations and saved more than 15,000 children from Ustashe camps.
Budisavljević and her team was assisted by the Croatian Red Cross and the Zagreb Archdiocese branch of Caritas. Thousands of rescued Serb children were placed with ethnic Croat families from Zagreb and rural communities.
The Ustasha policy towards Serbs further drove a number of them joined either Chetniks or the Yugoslav Partisans
The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...
who were particularly strong in the regions of Lika, Kordun
The Kordun () region is a part of central Croatia from the bottom of the Petrova Gora (Peter's mountain) mountain range, which extends along the rivers Korana and Slunjčica, and forms part of the border region to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Within ...
and Banovina. In 1941–42, the majority of Partisans in Croatia were Serbs, but by October 1943 the majority were Croats. This change was partly due to the decision of a key Croatian Peasant Party
The Croatian Peasant Party ( hr, Hrvatska seljačka stranka, HSS) is an agrarian political party in Croatia founded on 22 December 1904 by Antun and Stjepan Radić as Croatian Peoples' Peasant Party (HPSS). The Brothers Radić believed that t ...
member, Božidar Magovac, to join the Partisans in June 1943, and partly due to the surrender of Italy in September 1943. Furthermore, Ustashe authorities ceding Northern Dalmatia to fascist Italy, Italian terror of the population and misrule of the Ustashe and Axis invaders would further push Croats towards the partisans. At the moment of the capitulation of Italy to the Allies the Serbs and Croats were participating equally according to their respective population sizes as it was in Yugoslavia as a whole. Eventually, Serbian percentage dropped in favor of Croats by the end of the war amounting to 28.6% in 1944 in Croatia. The Serb contribution to Croatian Partisans represented more than their proportion of the local population. After the invasion of Yugoslavia by Axis forces, Serbian uprisings broke out under the Chetnik leadership in Gračac, Srb, Donji Lapac
Donji Lapac ( sr-Cyrl, Доњи Лапац) is a settlement and a municipality in Lika, Croatia.
Geography
Donji Lapac is located a region of eastern Lika called ''Ličko Pounje'', by the river Una that flows near the town in the valley betwe ...
, Drvar and Bosansko Grahovo
Bosansko Grahovo ( sr-cyr, Босанско Грахово) is a town and municipality located in Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in western Bosnia and Herzegovina along ...
. The policy of the Chetniks under the leadership of Draža Mihailović varied from the struggle with the Nazis to tactical or selective collaboration with them in different periods throughout the war. The goal of the Chetniks, based on a 1941 directive, was the creation of an ethnically homogeneous Greater Serbia
The term Greater Serbia or Great Serbia ( sr, Велика Србија, Velika Srbija) describes the Serbian nationalist and irredentist ideology of the creation of a Serb state which would incorporate all regions of traditional significance to S ...
. The largest Chetnik massacres took place in eastern Bosnia within the NDH where they preceded any significant Ustashe operations. In the territories they controlled, Chetniks committed 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 Lat ...
against the Croat and Muslim civilian populations. However, they also collaborated with some of the Ustashe forces in northern Bosnia and they fought together against the Yugoslav Partisans during the Case White
Case White (german: Fall Weiss), also known as the Fourth Enemy Offensive ( sh, Četvrta neprijateljska ofenziva/ofanziva), was a combined Axis strategic offensive launched against the Yugoslav Partisans throughout occupied Yugoslavia during W ...
.
A certain change in relations towards Serbs in NDH took place in the spring of 1942 on German demand, as the Germans realized that the Ustaše policy towards Serbs strengthened their rebellion, which was putting pressure on the German army that had to send more of its troops to the NDH territory. Afterwards, Ustaše founded the Croatian Orthodox Church
The Croatian Orthodox Church ( hr, Hrvatska pravoslavna crkva) was a religious body created during World War II by the Fascist Ustaše regime in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). It was created in order to assimilate the remaining Serb mino ...
and Serbs were recruited to the Croatian Home Guard units. Ustaše stopped with deportations of Serbs and their forced conversions to Catholicism. However, these measures did not significantly affect the Serb rebellion. The establishment of the Church was done in order to try and pacify the state as well as to Croatisize the remaining Serb population once the Ustaše realized that the complete eradication of Serbs in the NDH was unattainable. Persecution of Serbs continued however, but was less intense. At the beginning of 1942, NDH authorities started making agreements with the Chetniks to avoid conflicts and coordinate actions against the Yugoslav Partisans. On 8 May 1945, Yugoslav Partisans entered Zagreb, which marked the collapse of the Ustaše regime and the liberation of Croatia from the Nazi occupation. Following the end of the war, Croatia entered union with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia and formed the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...
.
Socialist Yugoslavia
During the Second World War, at the Second and Third sessions of the National Anti-Fascist Council of the Peoples Liberation of Croatia (ZAVNOH
The State Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Croatia (''Zemaljsko antifašističko vijeće narodnog oslobođenja Hrvatske''), commonly abbreviated ZAVNOH, was first convened on 13–14 June 1943 in Otočac and Plitvice as the ...
) held in October 1943 and May 1944 respectively, the equality of the Serbian and Croatian nations, as constituent nations of the federal unit of Croatia, was recognized in every aspect. Later, in 1963, the Croatian Constitution did not mention the Serbs in Croatia as a constituent nation of SR Croatia. Constitution of 1974 defined Croatia as a "national state of Croatian people, state of Serbian people in Croatia and state of other nationalities that live in it".
In 1990 the Bookocide in Croatia began and lasted for next 20 years resulting with the destruction of almost 3 million books in Croatian libraries mostly because they were published in Serbian Cyrillic or Ekavian. On 22 December 1990, HDZ
The Croatian Democratic Union ( hr, Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, lit=Croatian Democratic Community, HDZ) is the major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Cro ...
government of Franjo Tuđman promulgated a new Croatian constitution that changed the wording with regard to Serbs of Croatia. In the first paragraph of the Article 12, Croatian was specified as the official language and alphabet, and dual-language road signs were torn down even in Serb majority areas.Living Together After Ethnic Killing: Exploring the Chaim Kaufman Argumentby Roy Licklider and
Mia Bloom Mia M. Bloom is a Canadian academic, author, and Professor of Communication at Georgia State University. She was formerly an associate Professor of International Studies at the Pennsylvania State University in University Park and a fellow at the I ...
, page 158, says: Previously, a constituent nation in the Republic of Croatia, ..." Furthermore, a number of Serbs were removed from the bureaucracies and the police and replaced by ethnic Croats. Many Serbs in government lost their jobs, and HDZ made themselves target of Serbian propaganda by having party members attempting to rehabilitate the WWII Croatian fascist movement Ustaše
The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionary Move ...
, or by saying that the numbers of people killed in Jasenovac, one of the largest 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 ...
in Europe, were inflated. The party representing the interests of Serbs in Croatia, the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS), which rejected the new constitution, began building its own national governmental entity in order to preserve rights that Serbs saw as being stripped away and to enhance the sovereignty of the Croatian Serbs.Words Over War: Mediation and Arbitration to Prevent Deadly Conflictby Melanie Greenberg, John H. Barton and Margaret E. McGuinness, at page 83, says: "The new Croatian constitution ... renounced the hitherto protected status of ethnic Serbs as a separate constituent nation embedded in the old constitution,... In response, the SDS in Krajina begin building its own national governmental entity in order to preserve the rights that had been stripped away and to enhance the sovereignty of Croatian Serbs.
Croatian War of Independence
Amid rising of Serbian nationalism and tensions between Yugoslav republics during the breakup of Yugoslavia, on 8 July 1989 Serbs held a rally in Knin
Knin (, sr, link=no, Книн, it, link=no, Tenin) is a city in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, located in the Dalmatian hinterland near the source of the river Krka, an important traffic junction on the rail and road routes between Zagr ...
during which they exhibited numerous Chetnik symbols and were invoking JNA's military intervention against Croatia. With the introduction of the multiparty system, the first ethnic Serb parties were founded in Croatia, largest being Serb Democratic Party (SDS). Soon afterward, extremist leaders of the Serb movements in Lika, Northern Dalmatia, Kordun, and Podunavlje called for armed rebellion against Croatian government, violence against Croats and refused to recognize legally elected Croatian authorities.
Tension grew following the Croatian Democratic Union's victory in the 1990 general election since one of its political goals was Croatia's independence from Yugoslavia. Jovan Rašković
Jovan Rašković ( sr-cyr, Јован Рашковић, ; 5 July 1929 – 28 July 1992) was a Croatian Serb psychiatrist, academic and politician.
Early life
Rašković was born in Knin in 1929. During World War II, after an Ustasha pogrom which ...
, leader of SDS, refused to participate in the work of the Croatian Parliament
The Croatian Parliament ( hr, Hrvatski sabor) or the Sabor is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Croatia. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sab ...
in May 1990. Some prominent Serbian politicians and scientists, such as Simo Rajić and Jovan Bamburać, called for coexistence, de-escalation and peace, while others organized Serb parties in the Croatian government-controlled areas, like Milan Đukić, while others, like Veljko Džakula Veljko (Cyrillic script: Вељко) is a masculine given name of Slavic origin. It may refer to:
*FK Hajduk Veljko, Serbian football club based in Negotin, Serbia
*Hajduk Veljko Petrović (1780–1813), Vojvoda of the First Serbian Uprising rebell ...
, unsuccessfully tried to organize the parties in the rebelled areas, but their work was prevented by Serb nationalists. On 17 August 1990, part of the Croatian Serbs, supported by Serbia, rebelled against Croatian government in the so-called Log Revolution
The Log Revolution ( sh, Balvan revolucija / ) was an insurrection which started on August 17, 1990, in areas of the Republic of Croatia which were populated significantly by ethnic Serbs.
A full year of tension, including minor skirmishes, pa ...
On 22 December 1990, Croatian Parliament ratified a new constitution in which Serbs were classified as a national minority
The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...
. Dunja Bonacci Skenderović i Mario Jareb: Hrvatski nacionalni simboli između stereotipa i istine, Časopis za suvremenu povijest, y. 36, br. 2, p. 731.-760., 2004 Previously Serbs were considered autochthonous constituent of Croatia. The proclamation of the new constitution was considered by Serbian leaders evidence of Croat hostility towards Serbs. Thus, SDS, which rejected the new constitution, began building its own national governmental entity in order to preserve rights that Serbs saw as being stripped away and to enhance the sovereignty of the Croatian Serbs. A Norwegian historian Øyvind Hvenekilde Seim stated that status of Serbs in Croatia, who made important contributions to Croatian cultural, scientific, and political history, was annulled by actions of president Franjo Tuđman during the 1990s. Sabrina P. Ramet wrote that Tuđman's regime "promoted a traditionalist and exclusive vision of Croatia" as a Croat state in which Serbs were "unwelcome", while journalist Chris Hedges claimed to have transcript documents of a meeting that supposedly showed Tuđman had "planned ethnic cleansing and other war crimes", including "Croatia’s final solution" of its Serbian problem. Under the influence of propaganda and with the support from Serbia as well as in response to actions by President Tudjman's administration, rebelled Serbs established an unrecognized state called Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina or Serb Republic of Krajina ( sh, Република Српска Крајина, italics=no / or РСК / ''RSK'', ), known as the Serbian Krajina ( / ) or simply Krajina, was a self-proclaimed Serb proto-state, ...
(RSK) in hopes of achieving independence and complete self-governance from Croatia. As the popularity of the unification of RSK with Serbia into a Greater Serbia increased, the rebellion against Croatia became more intense. The RSK had ''de facto'' control over one-third of Croatian territory during its existence between 1991 and 1995 but failed to gain any international recognition. According to the ICTY, the RSK implemented policies "which advanced the objective to forcibly and permanently remove the majority of Croat and other non-Serb populations from approximately the one-third of Croatia".
In the spring of 1991, an open war broke out. Serb forces, in cooperation with the local Serb authorities, commenced persecutions to drive the Croat and other non-Serb populations from areas such as Krajina, controlled by rebelled Serbs. Nearly all non-Serbs were expelled; between 170,000 and 250,000 people, and hundreds of Croat and other non-Serb civilians were killed. Meanwhile, Serbs living in Croatian towns, especially those near the front lines, were subjected to various forms of discrimination and harassment. Croatian Serbs in Eastern and Western Slavonia and parts of the Krajina, were also forced to flee or were expelled by Croatian forces, though on a restricted scale and in lesser numbers. The Croatian Government sought to stop such occurrences and were not a part of the Government's policy. The war ended with a Croatian military success in Operation Storm
}) was the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and a major factor in the outcome of the Bosnian War. It was a decisive victory for the Croatian Army (HV), which attacked across a front against the self-declared proto-state Re ...
in 1995 and subsequent peaceful reintegration of the remaining renegade territory in eastern Slavonia in 1998 as a result of the signed Erdut Agreement
The Erdut Agreement ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Erdutski sporazum, Ердутски споразум), officially the Basic Agreement on the Region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium, was an agreement reached on 12 November 1 ...
from 1995. Local Serbs, on the ground that Agreement, established the Serb National Council
sr, Српско народно вијеће
, image = Serb_National_Council_Logo.gif
, size = 250px
, alt =
, caption = SNV logo
, motto =
, budget =
, ...
and gained the right to establish the Joint Council of Municipalities
sr, Заједничко веће општина
, logo = Joint Council of Municipalities Logo.png
, size = 150px
, alt =
, caption = Flag of The Joint Council of Municipalities
, ...
. During and in the aftermath of Operation Storm about 200,000 Serbs fled from the RSK and hundreds of mainly elderly Serb civilians were killed in the aftermath. Over the course of the war, nearly 7,950 Serbs were killed including 2,344 civilians while almost 16,000 Croats were killed, of which 6,605 were civilians. The conflict led to the displacement of 250,000 Croats and between 250,000 and 300,000 Serbs.
In February 2015, during the Croatia–Serbia genocide case
The ''Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Croatia v. Serbia)'' was heard before the International Court of Justice.
The Republic of Croatia filed the suit against the Federal Republic of Yu ...
, the International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...
(ICJ) unanimously dismissed the Serbian lawsuit claim that Operation Storm constituted genocide, ruling that Croatia did not have the specific intent to exterminate the country's Serb minority, though it reaffirmed that serious crimes against Serb civilians had taken place. The judgment stated that it is not disputed that a substantial part of the Serb population fled that region as a direct consequence of the military actions. Although it has also been noted that there was an evacuation order given by the RSK's "Supreme Defence Council", based on the testimony by commander Mile Mrkšić
Mile Mrkšić ( sr-cyrl, Миле Мркшић; 1 May 1947 – 16 August 2015) was a colonel of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) in charge of the unit involved in the Battle of Vukovar during the Croatian War of Independence in 1991. He was conv ...
at the ICTY. The Croatian authorities were aware that the operation would provoke a mass exodus; they even to some extent predicated their military planning on such an exodus, which they considered not only probable but desirable. Fleeing civilians and people remaining in United Nations protected areas were subject to various forms of harassment, including military assaults and acts by Croatian civilians. On 8 August, a refugee column was shelled. Although it was very difficult to determine the number of properties destroyed during and after Operation Storm since a large number of houses sustained some degree of damage since the beginning of the war, Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
(HRW) estimated that more than 5,000 houses were destroyed in the area during and after the battle. Out of the 122 Serbian Orthodox
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches.
The majori ...
churches in the area, one was destroyed and 17 were damaged. HRW also reported that the vast majority of the abuses were committed by Croatian forces. These abuses, which continued on a large scale even months after Operation Storm, included summary executions of elderly and infirm Serbs who remained behind and the wholesale burning and destruction of Serbian villages and property. In the months following the August offensive, at least 150 Serb civilians were summarily executed and another 110 persons forcibly disappeared. Three Croatian generals, involved in the Operation Storm, were later acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of charges of committing war crimes and partaking in a joint criminal enterprise
Joint criminal enterprise (JCE) is a legal doctrine used during war crimes tribunals to allow the prosecution of members of a group for the actions of the group. This doctrine considers each member of an organized group individually responsib ...
to force the Serb population out of Croatia. The ICTY stated that Croatian Army and Special Police committed a large number of crimes against the Serb population after the artillery assault, but that the state and military leadership was not responsible for their creation and organizing. Examples of crimes are massacres, most often elderly Serb villagers killed by the Croatian Army
The Croatian Army ( hr, Hrvatska kopnena vojska or HKoV) is the largest and most significant component of the Croatian Armed Forces (CAF).
Role and deployment
The fundamental role and purpose of the Croatian Army is to protect vital national i ...
, such as the Varivode massacre
The Varivode massacre was a mass killing that occurred on 28 September 1995 in the village of Varivode, Croatia during the Croatian War of Independence. According to United Nations officials, soldiers of the Croatian Army (HV) and Croatian pol ...
, the Kijani massacre and the Golubić massacre.
At the ICTY, Milan Babić
Milan Babić ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Бабић; 25 February 1956 – 5 March 2006) was a Croatian Serb politician and war criminal who served as the first president of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, a self-proclaimed state largely populated by ...
was indicted, pleaded guilty and was convicted for "persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds, a crime against humanity". Babić stated during his trial that "during the events, and in particular at the beginning of his political career, he was strongly influenced and misled by Serbian propaganda". RSK President, Milan Martić
Milan Martić ( sr-cyr, Милан Мартић; born 18 November 1954) is a Croatian Serb politician and war criminal who served as the president of the unrecognized Republic of Serbian Krajina between 1994 and 1995, during the Croatian War of In ...
, was also trialled by the ICTY for various Crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, persecution, inhumane treatment, forced displacement, plunder of public or private property, and wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, as well as ordering an indiscriminate rocket attack on Zagreb, in 1995. On 12 June 2007, Martić was sentenced to 35 years in prison. His sentence of 35 years in prison was confirmed by ICTY appellate council on 8 October 2008. He was found to have been part of a "joint criminal enterprise" which included Blagoje Adžić, Milan Babić
Milan Babić ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Бабић; 25 February 1956 – 5 March 2006) was a Croatian Serb politician and war criminal who served as the first president of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, a self-proclaimed state largely populated by ...
, Radmilo Bogdanović, Veljko Kadijević
Veljko Kadijević ( sr-Cyrl, Вељко Кадијевић; 21 November 1925 – 2 November 2014) was a Serbian general of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). He was the Minister of Defence in the Yugoslav government from 1988 until his resignatio ...
, Radovan Karadžić
Radovan Karadžić ( sr-cyr, Радован Караџић, ; born 19 June 1945) is a Bosnian Serb politician, psychiatrist and poet. He was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by the International Criminal Tr ...
, Slobodan Milošević, Ratko Mladić
Ratko Mladić ( sr-Cyrl, Ратко Младић, ; born 12 March 1942) is a Bosnian Serb convicted war criminal and colonel-general who led the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) during the Yugoslav Wars. In 2017, he was found guilty of committing ...
, Vojislav Šešelj
Vojislav Šešelj ( sr-Cyrl, Војислав Шешељ, ; born 11 October 1954) is a Serbian politician, founder and president of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (SRS); he was convicted of war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal ...
, Franko Simatović
Franko "Frenki" Simatović ( sr-cyr, Франко "Френки" Симатовић; born 1 April 1950) is a Serbian former intelligence officer of Croatian descent and commander of the elite special forces police unit Special Operations Unit (J ...
, Jovica Stanišić
Jovan "Jovica" Stanišić ( sr-cyr, Јован "Јовица" Станишић; born 30 July 1950) is a Serbian former intelligence officer who served as the head of the State Security Service (SDB) within the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ser ...
, and Dragan Vasiljković.
A small minority of pre-war Serb population have returned to Croatia. Today, the majority of the pre-war Serb population from Croatia settled in Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...
and Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, lit=Serb Republic, also known as Republic of Srpska, ) is one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is locat ...
. After Croatian and other Yugoslav Wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place in the SFR Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. The conflicts both led up to and resulted from ...
, Serbia became home to highest number of refugees (Serbs who fled from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia) in Europe.
The percentage of those declaring themselves as Serbs, according to the 1991 census, was 12.2% (78.1% of the population declared itself to be Croat). Although today Serbs are formally able to return to Croatia, a majority choose to remain citizens of other countries in which they gained citizenship. However, Croatia also adopted discriminatory measures to prevent the return of Serbs after war, while the Croatian forces continued with abuses on a large scale for months afterward, which included destruction of Serb property. Also, Serbs are still face significant barriers to employment and to regain their property. Consequently, today Serbs constitute 4% of Croatian population, down from the prewar population of 12%. The majority of the remaining population is elderly, which indicates that the negative demographic trend will persist.
Currently, the official status of "autochthonous national minority" for the Serbs of Croatia is recognized by the Croatian Constitutional Act on the Rights of National Minorities from 2002 which supplemented the Constitutional Act on the Human Rights and Freedoms and on the Rights of Ethnic and National Communities or Minorities in the Republic of Croatia from 1992.
Recent history
Tension and violence between Serbs and Croats has reduced since 2000 and has remained low to this day, however, significant problems remain. The main issue is thought to be due to high-level official and social discrimination against the Serbs. In 2005, the Republic of Croatia ratified a bilateral agreement with Serbia and Montenegro on the protection of the Serbian and Montenegrin minority in Croatia and the Croatian national minority in Serbia and Montenegro. Some Croats, including politicians, continue to deny and minimise the magnitude of the genocide perpetrated against Serbs in theIndependent 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. It was established in p ...
.
At the highest levels of the Croatian government, new laws are continuously introduced in order to combat this discrimination, demonstrating an effort on the part of government. For example, lengthy and in some cases unfair proceedings, particularly in lower level courts, remain a major problem for Serbian returnees pursuing their rights in court. In addition, Serbs continue to be discriminated against in access to employment and in realizing other economic and social rights. Also some cases of violence and harassment against Croatian Serbs continue to be reported.
The property laws allegedly favor Bosnian Croats refugees who took residence in houses that were left unoccupied and unguarded by Serbs after Operation Storm
}) was the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and a major factor in the outcome of the Bosnian War. It was a decisive victory for the Croatian Army (HV), which attacked across a front against the self-declared proto-state Re ...
. Amnesty International's 2005 report considers one of the greatest obstacles to the return of thousands of Croatian Serbs has been the failure of the Croatian authorities to provide adequate housing solutions to Croatian Serbs who were stripped of their occupancy rights, including where possible by reinstating occupancy rights to those who had been affected by their discriminatory termination.
The European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...
decided against Croatian Serb Kristina Blečić, stripped her of occupancy rights after leaving her house in 1991 in Zadar. In 2009, the UN Human Rights Committee
The United Nations Human Rights Committee is a treaty body composed of 18 experts, established by a 1966 human rights treaty, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Committee meets for three four-week sessions per y ...
found a wartime termination of occupancy rights of a Serbian family to violate ICCPR
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a multilateral treaty that commits nations to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedo ...
. In 2010, the European Committee on Social Rights found the treatment of Serbs in Croatia in respect of housing to be discriminatory and too slow, thus in violation of Croatia's obligations under the European Social Charter
The European Social Charter is a Council of Europe treaty which was opened for signature on October 18, 1961 and initially became effective on February 26, 1965, after West Germany had become the fifth of the 13 signing nations to ratify it. B ...
. In 2013, the Anti-Cyrillic protests in Croatia
The Anti-Cyrillic protests in Croatia were a series of protests in late 2013 against the application of bilingualism in Vukovar, whereby Serbian and the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet were assigned co-official status due to the local minority populat ...
were a series of protests in late 2013 against the application of bilingualism in 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 ...
, whereby Serbian and the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet were assigned co-official status due to the local minority population.
In 2015 Amnesty International reported that Croatian Serbs continued to face discrimination in public sector employment and the restitution of tenancy rights to social housing vacated during the war. In 2017 they again pointed out that Serbs faced significant barriers to employment and obstacles to regain their property. Amnesty International also said that the right to use minority languages and script continued to be politicized and unimplemented in some towns and that heightened nationalist rhetoric and hate speech contributed to growing ethnic intolerance and insecurity.
Since 2016, anti-fascist groups, leaders of Croatia's Serb, Roma and Jewish communities and former top Croat officials have boycotted the official state commemoration for the victims of the Jasenovac concentration camp
Jasenovac () was a concentration and extermination camp established in the village of the same name by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in occupied Yugoslavia during World War II. The concentration camp, one of the ...
because, as they said, Croatian authorities refused to denounce the Ustasha legacy explicitly and they downplayed and revitalized crimes committed by Ustashe.
Following the 2020 Croatian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 5 July 2020. They were the tenth parliamentary elections since the first multi-party elections in 1990 and elected the 151 members of the Croatian Parliament. 140 Members of Parliament were elected ...
, Boris Milošević, member of the Independent Democratic Serb Party
The Independent Democratic Serb Party ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Самостална демократска српска странка, Samostalna demokratska srpska stranka, SDSS) is a social-democratic political party in Croatia representing the intere ...
and President of the Serb National Council
sr, Српско народно вијеће
, image = Serb_National_Council_Logo.gif
, size = 250px
, alt =
, caption = SNV logo
, motto =
, budget =
, ...
, was elected one of the four Deputy Prime Ministers of Croatia in charge of social affairs and human and minority rights in the new cabinet of Andrej Plenković
Andrej Plenković ( ; born 8 April 1970) is a Croatian politician who has been serving as the prime minister of Croatia since 19 October 2016. He was previously one of eleven Croatian members of the European Parliament, serving from Croatia's ...
. On the 25th anniversary of the Operation Storm, the celebrations were attended for the first time ever by an ethnic Serb political representative, Boris Milošević. On 25 August 2020, Zoran Milanović
Zoran Milanović (; born 30 October 1966) is a Croatian politician serving as President of Croatia since 19 February 2020. Prior to assuming the presidency, he was prime minister from 2011 to 2016 and president of the Social Democratic Party f ...
(President of Croatia
The president of Croatia, officially the President of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Predsjednik Republike Hrvatske), is the head of state, commander-in-chief of the military and chief representative of the Republic of Croatia both within the ...
), Tomo Medved Tomo may refer to:
People
Surname
*Angele Tomo (born 1989), Cameroonian freestyle wrestler
* Sutomo (1920-1981), also known as Bung Tomo, Indonesian military leader during the Indonesian National Revolution
* Taite Te Tomo (1883–1939), Maori po ...
( Minister of Croatian Veterans), along with members of the Independent Democratic Serb Party, Milorad Pupovac
Milorad Pupovac (; born 5 November 1955) is a Croatian politician and linguist. He is a member of the Sabor, the former president of the Serb National Council, and the president of the Independent Democratic Serb Party. He was also an observer ...
and Deputy Prime Minister Milošević, attended a commemoration of the Grubori massacre
The Grubori massacre was the mass murder of six Serb civilians from the village of Grubori, near Knin, on 25 August 1995 by members of the Croatian Army (HV) in the aftermath of Operation Storm. The massacre was listed in the ICTY's indictment ...
, the mass murder of elderly Serbs civilians.
Demographics
According to the 2021 census there were 123,892 ethnic Serbs living in Croatia, 3.20% of the total population. Their number was reduced by more than two-thirds in the aftermath of the 1991–95War in Croatia
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yugosl ...
as the 1991 pre-war census had reported 581,663 Serbs living in Croatia, 12.2% of the total population.
Counties
Counties with significant Serb minority (7.50% or more):Cities
Cities with significant Serb minority (10% or more): *Vrbovsko
Vrbovsko ( sr-cyr, Врбовско) is a town in western Croatia, situated at the far east of the mountainous region of Gorski Kotar in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County; on its 280 square kilometers area, Vrbovsko features 60 settlements and a t ...
(1,255 or 32.38%)
* Obrovac (1,082 or 31.34%)
*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 ...
(6,890 or 29.73%)
*Hrvatska Kostajnica
Hrvatska Kostajnica (; ; ), often just Kostajnica, is a small town in central Croatia. It is located on the Una river in the Sisak-Moslavina County, south of Petrinja and Sisak and across the river from Bosanska Kostajnica in Bosnia and Herzego ...
(428 or 22.78%)
*Knin
Knin (, sr, link=no, Книн, it, link=no, Tenin) is a city in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, located in the Dalmatian hinterland near the source of the river Krka, an important traffic junction on the rail and road routes between Zagr ...
(2,492 or 21.42%)
*Glina Glina is a word of Slavic origin, meaning "clay". It may refer to:
* Glina (river) in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
*Glina, Croatia, a town in Croatia
** Glina massacres, 1941
* Glina, Piotrków County in Łódź Voivodeship (central Poland)
* ...
(1,462 or 20.55%)
*Beli Manastir
Beli Manastir is a town in eastern Croatia. It is the principal town of the Croatian part of Baranja, located in the Osijek-Baranja County.
Name
The name means "white monastery" in Serbo-Croatian. Originally called Monoštor, the current name w ...
(1,605 or 20.13%)
*Skradin
Skradin ( it, Scardona; grc, Σκάρδων) is a small town in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, with a population of 3,825 (2011 census). It is located near the Krka river and at the entrance to the Krka National Park, from Šibenik and ...
(605 or 18.07%)
*Ogulin
Ogulin () is a town in north-western Croatia, in Karlovac County. It has a population of 7,389 (2021) (it was 8,216 in 2011), and a total municipal population of 12,251 (2021). Ogulin is known for its historic stone castle, known as Kula, and the ...
(1,841 or 15.03%)
*Benkovac
Benkovac () is a town in the interior of Zadar County, Croatia.
Geography
Benkovac is located where the plain of Ravni Kotari and the karstic plateau of Bukovica meet, 20 km from the town of Biograd na Moru and 30 km from Zadar. Th ...
(1,315 or 13.58%)
*Pakrac
Pakrac is a town in western Slavonia, Croatia, population 4,842, total municipality population 8,460 (census 2011). Pakrac is located on the road and railroad connecting the regions of Posavina and Podravina.
Name
In Croatian the town is known a ...
(801 or 11.30%)
*Lipik
Lipik is a town in western Slavonia, in the Požega-Slavonia County of northeastern Croatia. It is known for its spas, mineral water and Lipizzaner stables.
Settlements
The settlements included in the administrative area of Lipik include:
* A ...
(540 or 10.53%)
Municipalities
Municipalities with significant Serb population (10% or more): *Ervenik
Ervenik ( sr-Cyrl, Ервеник) is a village and municipality in Šibenik-Knin County, Croatia. There were 1,105 inhabitants in 2011, and 97.19% of the population are Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous S ...
(765 or 96.96%)
* Negoslavci (952 or 96.85%)
* Borovo (3,224 or 90.69%)
* Markušica (1,600 or 90.24%)
* Trpinja (3,659 or 87.81%)
* Biskupija (964 or 81.90%)
*Donji Lapac
Donji Lapac ( sr-Cyrl, Доњи Лапац) is a settlement and a municipality in Lika, Croatia.
Geography
Donji Lapac is located a region of eastern Lika called ''Ličko Pounje'', by the river Una that flows near the town in the valley betwe ...
(1,082 or 79.21%)
*Šodolovci
Šodolovci ( sr-Cyrl, Шодоловци, hu, Páznán) is a village and a municipality in Osijek-Baranja County in eastern Croatia. In 7 villages of the Šodolovci Municipality there was 1,653 inhabitants at the time of 2011 Census.
Landscape ...
(950 or 78.06%)
* Civljane (126 or 73.68%)
*Dvor
Very high frequency omnirange station (VOR) is a type of short-range radio navigation system for aircraft, enabling aircraft with a receiving unit to determine its position and stay on course by receiving radio signals transmitted by a network ...
2,015 or 67.26%)
* Jagodnjak (943 or 62.87%)
* Vrginmost (1,282 or 62.63%)
*Krnjak
Krnjak ( sr-Cyrl, Крњак) is a village and a municipality in Karlovac County, Croatia.
Languages and names
On the territory of Krnjak municipality, along with Croatian which is official in the whole country, as a second official language ...
(773 or 58.03%)
*Erdut
Erdut ( sr-Cyrl, Ердут, ) is a village and a municipality in eastern Croatia some 37 km east of the major city of Osijek. Lying on the border with neighbouring Serbia, it was the site of the signing of the Erdut Agreement, which initiate ...
(2,908 or 53.68%)
*Kistanje
Kistanje ( hr, Kistanje, hr, sr-Cyrl, Кистање) is a village and municipality in Šibenik-Knin County, Croatia.
Geography
Kistanje is located in the microregion of Bukovica, in Zagora. Kistanje is from county seat Šibenik, from Kni ...
(1,375 or 51.89%)
*Vrhovine
Vrhovine ( sr-Cyrl, Врховине) is a town and a municipality in Lika-Senj County, Croatia. The municipality is part of Lika.
Languages and names
On the territory of Vrhovine municipality, in addition to Croatian which is official in ...
(311 or 47.63%)
* Gračac (1,360 or 43.37%)
*Udbina
Udbina is a village and a municipality in historical Krbava, in the Lika region of Croatia. It is administratively a part of the Lika-Senj County.
Geography
Udbina is located in the large karst field called Krbava. It is approximately 45 kilomet ...
(569 or 42.65%)
*Plaški
Plaški ( sr-Cyrl, Плашки) is a village and a municipality in Karlovac County, Croatia. It is part of Lika.
Geography
Plaški is situated in the lower part of the Ogulin-Plaški valley. Together with Gorski kotar and Lika, the Ogulin- ...
(656 or 39.76%)
*Vojnić
Vojnić ( sr-Cyrl, Војнић) is a municipality in Karlovac County, Croatia. There are 4,764 inhabitants, 45% of whom are Serbs and 37% of whom are Croats. The municipality is part of Kordun. Vojnić is underdeveloped municipality which is st ...
(1,385 or 38.45%)
*Donji Kukuruzari
Donji Kukuruzari ( sr-Cyrl, Доњи Кукурузари) is a village and a municipality in Croatia in the Sisak-Moslavina County. Donji Kukuruzari is underdeveloped municipality which is statistically classified as the First Category Area of S ...
(337 or 31.20%)
*Topusko
Topusko is a municipality in Sisak-Moslavina County, Croatia. Topusko is an underdeveloped municipality which is statistically classified as the First Category Area of Special State Concern by the Government of Croatia.
Demographics
The populati ...
(556 or 25.02%)
*Plitvička Jezera
Plitvička Jezera ( or just ''Plitvice'' ; ''Plitvice Lakes'', in English) is a municipality (''općina'') in central Croatia, in the eastern part of the Lika-Senj county, that lies in and near the eponymous Plitvice Lakes National Park, bisected ...
(838 or 22.97%)
* Darda (1,090 or 20.08%)
* Majur (150 or 19.74%)
*Saborsko
Saborsko is a village and municipality in Karlovac County, Croatia. The municipality is part of the Lika region.
Geography
It is country-side mountain resort, situated in a curved, long and narrow valley. The altitude of the place is 630–900 ...
(88 or 18.88%)
* Stari Jankovci (612 or 18.71%)
* Sunja (700 or 16.97%)
* Kneževi Vinogradi (554 or 16.50%)
*Hrvatska Dubica
Hrvatska Dubica is a village and a municipality in central Croatia in the Sisak-Moslavina County. It is located on the northern bank of the river Una, east of Hrvatska Kostajnica and southwest of Jasenovac and Novska. The town of Bosanska Dubica ...
(240 or 16.42%)
* Popovac (235 or 16.25%)
*Okučani
Okučani is a village and municipal centre in western Slavonia, Croatia. It is located 19 km southeast of Novska and 17 km west of Nova Gradiška.
(371 or 15.97%)
*Lovinac
Lovinac is a municipality in Lika-Senj County, Croatia.
Geography
The village of Lovinac is located 35 kilometers from Gospić to the southeast of the greatest Croatian karst field, Licko polje. At one time, the shortest trade routes from Lik ...
(142 or 15.06%)
*Rasinja
Rasinja is a settlement and an eponymous municipality in northern Croatia in Koprivnica–Križevci County, located halfway between Koprivnica and Ludbreg.
Population
The municipality's total population is 3,267 (2011 census), in the follo ...
(392 or 14.90%)
* Viljevo (227 or 13.96%)
* Levanjska Varoš (95 or 12.39%)
* Podgorač (296 or 12.06%)
*Stara Gradiška
Stara Gradiška (, german: Altgradisch) is a village and a municipality in Slavonia, in the Brod-Posavina County of Croatia. It is located on the left bank of the river Sava, across from Gradiška in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Etymology
The first w ...
(104 or 11.42%)
* Sokolovac (312 or 11.19%)
*Dežanovac
Dežanovac ( cs, Dežanovec) is a village and a municipality in Bjelovar-Bilogora County, Croatia.
Demographics
According to the 2021 census, the population of the municipality was 1,978 with 608 living in the town proper.Sirač
Sirač is a settlement and municipality in Bjelovar-Bilogora County, Croatia. There are 2,218 inhabitants; 73% are Croats, 14% Serbs, and 11% Czechs. The following settlements make up the municipality: Barica, Bijela, Donji Borki, Gornji Bor ...
(188 or 10.47%)
*Lišane Ostrovičke
Lišane Ostrovičke is a village and a municipality in Croatia in the Zadar County. According to the 2001 census, there are 764 inhabitants, 93% of which are Croats
The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share ...
(60 or 10.12%)
Culture
Serbs in Croatia have cultural traditions ranging from kolo dances and singing, which are kept alive today by performances by various folklore groups. Notable traditions include gusle,diple
Diple ( pluralia tantum; pronounced , other Croatian names: ''"misnjiče"'', ''"miješnice"'' and ''"mih"'') is a traditional woodwind musical instrument originating in the Adriatic Littoral. It is played in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Sloven ...
, Ojkanje singing, and Čuvari Hristovog groba.
Many Serbs contributed to the Croatian culture, such as trader Hristofor Stanković who founded the first permanent theater building in Gornji Grad, Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...
.
Religion
The Serbs of Croatia are predominantly of the Serbian Orthodox
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches.
The majori ...
faith. There are many Orthodox churches and monasteries across Croatia, built since the 14th century. Most notable and historically significant are the Krka monastery
The Krka Monastery ( sr-Cyrl, Манастир Крка, sr, Manastir Krka, italics=yes; hr, Samostan Krka) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery dedicated to the Archangel Michael, located near the river Krka, east of Kistanje, in central Dalmatia ...
, Krupa monastery
The Krupa Monastery ( sr, Манастир Крупа, Manastir Krupa) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery on the Krupa River in Croatia. It is the oldest Orthodox monastery in Croatia.
Location
It is located on the southern slopes of the Velebit m ...
, Dragović monastery
The Dragović Monastery () is a Serbian Orthodox monastery situated on a hill downstream the Cetina River not far from Vrlika in Croatia. When the artificial Peruća Lake was created, the original monastery sank due to land movement. The new monas ...
, Lepavina Monastery
The Lepavina Monastery ( sr, Манастир Лепавина, Manastir Lepavina) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery dedicated to the Presentation of Mary and located at the village of Sokolovac, near the town of Koprivnica in Croatia.
From the B ...
and Gomirje monastery
Gomirje Monastery ( sr, Манастир Гомирје, Manastir Gomirje) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery in Croatia. It is the westernmost Serb Orthodox monastery, located in the western part of Croatia near the village of Gomirje, near the town ...
. Many Orthodox churches were demolished during World War II and during the Croatian War of Independence, while some were rebuilt with EU funding, the Croatian government and Serbian diaspora donations.
In the 1560s a Serbian Orthodox bishop was installed in the Metropolitanate of Požega, seated in the monastery of Remeta. In the 17th century, the Eparchy of Marča was founded at Marča, in the Croatian frontier. These were part of the Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate of Peć, which was reestablished in 1557, and lasted under Ottoman governance until 1766. Other bishoprics were founded, although their approval by the Habsburgs hinged on the belief that they would facilitate the union of these Orthodox Christians with the Catholic Church, and in fact, many, including some Orthodox bishops, did unify with Rome.
Serbs in the Croatian Military Frontier were out of the jurisdiction of the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć and in 1611, and after demands from the community, the Pope established the Eparchy of Marča (''Vratanija'') with seat at the Serbian-built Marča Monastery, with a Byzantine vicar
A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...
instated as bishop sub-ordinate to the Roman Catholic bishop of Zagreb – working to bring Serbian Orthodox Christians into communion with Rome, which caused struggle of power between the Catholics and the Serbs over the region.
In 1695 Orthodox Eparchy of '' Lika-Krbava
Krbava (; ) is a historical region located in Mountainous Croatia and a former Catholic bishopric (1185–1460), precursor of the diocese of Modruš an present Latin titular see.
It can be considered either located east of Lika, or indeed as t ...
and Zrinopolje'' was established by metropolitan Atanasije Ljubojević and certified by Emperor Josef I in 1707. In 1735 the Serbian Orthodox protested in the Marča Monastery and became part of the Serbian Orthodox Church until 1753 when the Pope restored the Roman Catholic clergy. On 17 June 1777 the Eparchy of Križevci
Eparchy ( gr, ἐπαρχία, la, eparchía / ''overlordship'') is an ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity, that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. Eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on the ...
was permanently established by Pope Pius VI with its Episcopal see at Križevci
Križevci (; la, Crisium; hu, Kőrös ; german: Kreutz ) is a city in central Croatia with a total population of 21,122 and with 11,231 in the city itself (2011), the oldest city in its county, the Koprivnica-Križevci County.
History
The f ...
, near Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...
, thus forming the Croatian Greek Catholic Church which would after World War I include other people; the Rusyns
Rusyns (), also known as Carpatho-Rusyns (), or Rusnaks (), are an East Slavic ethnic group from the Eastern Carpathians in Central Europe. They speak Rusyn, an East Slavic language variety, treated variously as either a distinct langu ...
and ethnic Ukrainians of Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
.
Jovan, the Metropolitan of Zagreb and Ljubljana stated that 30,000 Serbs had converted to Catholicism since the Operation Oluja (1995). In the 2011 census, regarding religious affiliation, 40,000 declared as "Serbs of the Orthodox faith", while 160,000 declared as "Orthodox".
Language
The Serbian language is officially used in 23 cities and municipalities in Croatia. In April 2015 theUnited Nations Human Rights Committee
The United Nations Human Rights Committee is a treaty body composed of 18 experts, established by a 1966 human rights treaty, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Committee meets for three four-week sessions per ...
urged Croatia to ensure the right of minorities to use their language and alphabet. The committee report stated that particularly concerns surrounded the use of Serbian Cyrillic in the town of Vukovar and municipalities concerned. Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić
Ivica Dačić ( sr-cyr, Ивица Дачић, ; born 1 January 1966) is a Serbian politician serving as first deputy prime minister of Serbia and minister of foreign affairs since 2022, roles which he previously served under governments of Mirk ...
stated that Serbia welcomed the UN Human Rights Committee's report.
Although the 2011 census in Croatia listed Serbs as the largest national minority in Croatia, with 4.4% of the total population, the number of people who had declared Serbian language as their native was only 1.23% of the total population (52,879).
Politics
Serbs are officially recognized as an autochthonous national minority, and as such, they elect three representatives to theCroatian Parliament
The Croatian Parliament ( hr, Hrvatski sabor) or the Sabor is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Croatia. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sab ...
.
All elected special representatives since 1995 Parliamentary elections.
The major Serb party in Croatia is the Independent Democratic Serb Party
The Independent Democratic Serb Party ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Самостална демократска српска странка, Samostalna demokratska srpska stranka, SDSS) is a social-democratic political party in Croatia representing the intere ...
(SDSS). In the elections from 2003, the SDSS has won all Serbian seats in the parliament. In the Cabinet of Ivo Sanader II
The Tenth Government of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Deseta Vlada Republike Hrvatske) was the second of two Croatian Government cabinets led by Prime Minister Ivo Sanader. It was announced on 12 January 2008 and its term ended on 6 July 2009, w ...
, the party was part of the ruling coalition led by the conservative Croatian Democratic Union, and SDSS member Slobodan Uzelac
Slobodan Uzelac ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Узелац; born 9 August 1947) is a Croatian Serb politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia for Regional Development, Reconstruction and Return in the second cabinet of Prime Minist ...
held the post of Deputy Prime Minister. After that Serbs again entered government during Cabinet of Andrej Plenković II, in which Boris Milošević become Deputy Prime Minister and responsible for Social Affairs and Human and Minority Right.
There are also ethnic Serb politicians who are members of mainstream political parties, such as the centre-left Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
Fo ...
's MPs and Milanović cabinet members Željko Jovanović, Branko Grčić
Branko Grčić (born 16 April 1964) is a Croatian politician and economist. In 1987 he graduated on the Faculty of Economics in the University of Split. He got his master's degree in economics in 1990 and received a Doctorate on the same universi ...
and Milanka Opačić.
Croatisation
During the Second World War, the Ustashe regime systematically engaged in the extermination, expulsion and forced conversion of Serbs in Croatia. Facing discrimination after the Croatian War of Independence (1991–95), several anonymous Serbs from Zagreb testify that some young Serbs have converted to Catholicism and changed their surnames in order to 'become Croats'.Community in Serbia
Approximately 250,000 Serbs from Croatia were resettled in Serbia during and after the Croatian War of Independence, of which the larger part took Serbian citizenship. In 2011, there were 284,334 Serbs from Croatia living in Serbia (excludingKosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
), with the majority living in Vojvodina (127,884), followed by Central and South Serbia (114,434). In 2013, approximately 45,000 Serbs from Croatia were still listed as refugees in Serbia. The largest part of the Croatian Serb community in Serbia stated that they wished to integrate (60.6%), only 4.3% wanted to return to their homes in Croatia, while 27.4% who were undecided.
Notable people
See also
* Croatia-Serbia relations * Croats of Serbia *Serbs of Zagreb
The Serbs of Zagreb ( sh, Srbi u Zagrebu / ) are a traditional minority group that lives in the Croatian capital Zagreb.
History
In 1718 the Treaty of Passarowitz opened the Danube river and the Adriatic Sea for international trade with Austr ...
* Serbs of Vukovar
The Serbs of Vukovar ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Srbi u Vukovaru, Срби у Вуковару or sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=none, Vukovarski Srbi, Вуковарски Срби) are one of traditional communities living in the multicultural, multi-ethnic and mult ...
* Serb National Council
sr, Српско народно вијеће
, image = Serb_National_Council_Logo.gif
, size = 250px
, alt =
, caption = SNV logo
, motto =
, budget =
, ...
, elected body acting as a form of self-government and institution of cultural autonomy
* Flag of Serbs of Croatia
* Joint Council of Municipalities
sr, Заједничко веће општина
, logo = Joint Council of Municipalities Logo.png
, size = 150px
, alt =
, caption = Flag of The Joint Council of Municipalities
, ...
* Independent Democratic Serb Party
The Independent Democratic Serb Party ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Самостална демократска српска странка, Samostalna demokratska srpska stranka, SDSS) is a social-democratic political party in Croatia representing the intere ...
* Democratic Alliance of Serbs
* Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina or Serb Republic of Krajina ( sh, Република Српска Крајина, italics=no / or РСК / ''RSK'', ), known as the Serbian Krajina ( / ) or simply Krajina, was a self-proclaimed Serb proto-state, ...
* Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia
The Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Genocid nad Srbima u Nezavisnoj Državi Hrvatskoj, separator=" / ", Геноцид над Србима у Независној Држави Хрватској) was the sys ...
* Operation Storm
}) was the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and a major factor in the outcome of the Bosnian War. It was a decisive victory for the Croatian Army (HV), which attacked across a front against the self-declared proto-state Re ...
* Prosvjeta
The Serbian Cultural Society "Prosvjeta" (abbreviated: SKD "Prosvjeta" or sr-cyrl, СКД "Просвјета") in Zagreb, Croatia is an independent, non-governmental cultural and scientific organization that takes special responsibility for pro ...
, Croatian Serb Cultural Society
* Serbian Orthodox Secondary School in Zagreb
* Novosti (Croatia)
''Novosti'' ( sr-Cyrl, Новости, ) is a Croatian weekly magazine based in Zagreb. It is published by the Serb National Council. The organization was established in July 1997 in Zagreb, based on the provisions granting the right to self-go ...
* Radio Borovo
References
Sources
Books
* * * * * * * Karl Freiherr von Czoernig: "Ethnographie der österreichischen Monarchie", Vol. II, III, Wien, 1857. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Journals
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Documents
* * * * * * *News
*External links
*D. Roksandić, ''Srbi u Hrvatskoj – od 15. stoljeća do današnjih dana'', Vjesnik, Zagreb 1991.
(see "Censuses" at ''Crostat Database'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Serbs of Croatia Ethnic groups in Croatia
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 ...
Serbian Orthodox Church in Croatia