42 History of the Serbs of Croatia

The Serbs of Croatia or Croatian Serbs constitute the largest national minority in Croatia. The community is predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christian by religion, as opposed to the Croats who are Roman Catholic.

The 1991 riot in Zadar was an act of violence that took place in the Croatian city of Zadar on 2 May 1991. Following an incident in the Zadar hinterland in which a Croatian policeman was killed, reportedly by SAO Krajina militiamen, Croatian civilians vandalized, destroyed and looted properties belonging to ethnic Serbs and Yugoslav companies in the city.

Anthology of Modern Serbian Lyric is an anthology published in 1911 by Matica hrvatska in Zagreb, Austria-Hungary. The foreword for this book was written by Bogdan Popović. It was the first attempt to create a literary canon of the most significant poems down the ages. The book contains poems by authors including Jovan Jovanović Zmaj, Laza Kostić, Petar I Petrović-Njegoš, Vojislav Ilić, Jovan Grčić Milenko, Aleksa Šantić, Jovan Dučić, Milan Rakić, Sima Pandurović and Veljko Petrović. The book has undergone several editions, including translations into the Slovene language in 1965. In 2011, Srpska književna zadruga, a member of the Board for Standardization of the Serbian Language, published the 100th anniversary edition.

The Republic of Serbian Krajina or Serb Republic of Krajina, pronounced [rɛpǔblika sr̩̂pskaː krâjina]), known as the Serbian Krajina or simply Krajina, was a self-proclaimed Serb proto-state, a territory within the newly independent Croatia, which it defied, and which was active during the Croatian War (1991–95). It was not recognized internationally. The name Krajina ("Frontier") was adopted from the historical Military Frontier of the Habsburg Monarchy and Austria-Hungary, which had a substantial Serb population and existed up to the late 19th century. The RSK government waged a war for ethnic Serb independence from Croatia and unification with FR Yugoslavia and Republika Srpska.

Banovci is a village in eastern Croatia, 7 kilometers away from the Serbian border. It is connected to surrounding areas by the D46 road and Zagreb-Belgrade Railway. The village is 116 km away from Belgrade (Serbia), 158 km from Sarajevo (Bosnia), 249 km from Zagreb (Croatia) and 257 km from Budapest (Hungary).

Unification or Death, popularly known as the Black Hand, was a secret military society formed in 1901 by officers in the Army of the Kingdom of Serbia. It gained a reputation for its alleged involvement in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914 and for the earlier assassination of the Serbian royal couple in 1903, under the aegis of Captain Dragutin Dimitrijević.

The Blagaj massacre was the mass killing of around 400 Serb civilians by the Croatian nationalist Ustaše movement on 9 May 1941, during World War II. The massacre occurred shortly after the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia and the establishment of the Ustaše-led Axis puppet state known as the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). It was the second act of mass murder committed by the Ustaše upon coming to power and was part of a wider campaign of genocide against Serbs in the NDH that would last until the end of the war.

Đakovo was an internment camp for Jewish, and to a lesser extent Serb, women and children in the town of Đakovo in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) that was operational between December 1941 and July 1942, during World War II.

Danica was the first concentration and extermination camp established in the Independent State of Croatia during World War II. It was established in Koprivnica on 15 or 20 April 1941 in the deserted building of former fertilizer factory "Danica". Mijo Babić participated in preparations for the establishment of Danica concentration camp The first individual inmates were brought to Danica on 18 April 1941 while first groups arrived at the end of April 1941.

The Drvar uprising was the World War II uprising of the Serb population of Bosnian Krajina. Italy supported it, both politically and in arms, in its struggle against the fascist puppet state of the Independent State of Croatia between 27 July and 26 September 1941.

Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia was a short-lived Serb parallel entity in the territory of Croatia. It encompassed the same territory as the SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia formed in 1990, which had been merged into the Republic of Serbian Krajina. When the latter entity was dissolved with the end of the Croatian War of Independence in 1995, this territory remained in place for another three years.

The Erdut Agreement, officially the Basic Agreement on the Region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium, was an agreement reached on 12 November 1995 between the authorities of the Republic of Croatia and the local Serb authorities of the Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia region on the peaceful resolution to the Croatian War of Independence in eastern Croatia. It initiated process of peaceful reintegration of the region to the central government control and provided set of guarantees on minority rights and refugee return. It was named after Erdut, the village in which it was signed.

Garavice was an extermination location established by the Independent State of Croatia during World War II near Bihać, northwest Bosnia and Herzegovina. Between 12,000 and 15,000 people, mostly Serb civilians, were murdered at Garavice by the Ustaše regime in 1941.

The Genocide of the Serbs was the systematic persecution of Serbs which was committed during World War II by the fascist Ustaše regime in the Nazi German puppet state known as the Independent State of Croatia between 1941 and 1945. It was carried out through executions in death camps, as well as through mass murder, ethnic cleansing, deportations, forced conversions, and war rape. This genocide was simultaneously carried out with the Holocaust in the NDH as well as the genocide of Roma, by combining Nazi racial policies with the ultimate goal of creating an ethnically pure Greater Croatia.

The Glina massacres were killings of Serb peasants in the town of Glina in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) that occurred between May and August 1941, during World War II. The first wave of massacres in the town began on 11 or 12 May 1941, when a band of Ustaše led by Mirko Puk murdered a group of Serb men and boys in a Serbian Orthodox church before setting it on fire. The following day, approximately 100 Serb males were murdered by the Ustaše in the nearby village of Prekopi. Estimates of the overall number of Serbs killed from 11–13 May range from 260 to 417. Further killings in Glina occurred between 30 July and 3 August of that same year, when 700–2,000 Serbs were massacred by a group of Ustaše led by Vjekoslav Luburić.

The Gospić massacre was the mass killing of 100–120 predominantly Serb civilians in Gospić, Croatia during the last two weeks of October 1991, during the Croatian War of Independence. The majority of the victims were ethnic Serbs but also included some Croats, arrested in Gospić and the nearby coastal town of Karlobag. Most of them were arrested on 16–17 October. Some of the detainees were taken to the Perušić barracks and executed in Lipova Glavica near the town, while others were shot in the Pazarište area of Gospić. The killings were ordered by the Secretary of Lika Crisis Headquarters, Tihomir Orešković, and the commander of the 118th Infantry Brigade of the Croatian National Guard, Lieutenant Colonel Mirko Norac.

The Gospić concentration camp was one of 26 concentration camps in the Independent State of Croatia during World War II, established in Gospić.

The Gudovac massacre was the mass killing of around 190 Bjelovar Serbs by the Croatian nationalist Ustaše movement on 28 April 1941, during World War II. The massacre occurred shortly after the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia and the establishment of the Ustaše-led Axis puppet state known as the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). It was the first act of mass murder committed by the Ustaše upon coming to power, and presaged a wider Ustaše-perpetrated campaign of genocide against Serbs in the NDH that lasted until the end of the war.

Jablanac Jasenovački was a village that had existed in the vicinity of Jasenovac and near Mlaka in central Croatia, on the left bank of the river Sava. The village population suffered 182 deaths during World War II, and the Ustaše completely depopulated the village in 1942, and used its area for forced labor of inmates of the Jasenovac concentration camp. After the war, few people returned, and because of the Sava flooding, the village was completely disbanded in 1964.

The Jadovno concentration camp was a concentration and extermination camp in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during World War II. Commanded by Juco Rukavina, it was the first of twenty-six concentration camps in the NDH during the war. Established in a secluded area about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the town of Gospić, it held thousands of Serbs and Jews over a period of 122 days from May to August 1941. Inmates were usually killed by being pushed into deep ravines located near the camp. Estimates of the number of deaths at Jadovno range from 10,000 to 68,000, mostly Serbs. The camp was closed on 21 August 1941, and the area where it was located was later handed over to the Kingdom of Italy and became part of Italian Zones II and III. Jadovno was replaced by the greater sized Jasenovac concentration camp and its extermination facilities.

Janja Gora is a village in the municipality of Plaški, in the Lika region of Croatia. It is located 9 km northeast of the municipal seat at Plaški.

Jasenovac was a concentration and extermination camp established in Slavonia by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during World War II. The concentration camp, one of the ten largest in Europe, was established and operated by the governing Ustaše regime, which was the only quisling regime in occupied Europe to operate extermination camps solely on their own for Jews and other ethnic groups.

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, during World War II. The children had been captured as a result of massacres and counter-insurgency operations conducted by the genocidal Ustaše-led government, its Axis allies and other collaborators since the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia and establishment of the NDH in April 1941. The camp was located in the town of Jastrebarsko, about 37 kilometres (23 mi) southwest of the NDH capital, Zagreb, and operated from 12 July until October 1942. Camp administration was provided by nuns of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul order, with Ustaše guards.

Kuridža's Rebellion was a rebellion against the Republic of Venice due to taxation on newly conquered territory, which included a large peasant Orthodox Christian (Serb) population, led by Serbian Orthodox priest Petar Jagodić-"Kuridža" (1666–1749) in Bukovica and Ravni kotari that took place in 1704.

The Lobor concentration camp or Loborgrad camp was a concentration camp established in Lobor, Independent State of Croatia in the deserted palace of Keglevich family. It was established on 9 August 1941, mostly for Serb and Jewish children and women. The camp was established and operated by Ustaše, with 16 of its guards being members of the local Volksdeutsche community. Its inmates were subjected to systematic torture, robbery and murder of "undisciplined" individuals. All younger female inmates of the Lobor camp were subjected to rapes. More than 2,000 people were inmates of this camp, at least 200 died in it. All survived children and women were transported to Auschwitz concentration camp in August 1942 where they all were killed.

The Log Revolution 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, passed before these events would escalate into the Croatian War of Independence.

Museum of Serbs of Croatia was a public museum in Zagreb, which was specialized in history of Serbs of Croatia. Museum existed from 1946 till 1963 when it became part of Croatian History Museum. Today, part of the material is kept in Museum of Metropolitanate of Zagreb and Ljubljana, part in Prosvjeta, some in Museum of Croatian History and part of them were destroyed in mining of Museum of Metropolitanate of Zagreb and Ljubljana on 11 April 1992 during War in Croatia. In 2009, on 65 anniversary of Prosvjeta, organization has launched an initiative for restoration of museum work.

The Order of Kantakuzina Katarina Branković is an honor given by the Metropolitanate of Zagreb and Ljubljana in recognition of special merits to the Serbian Orthodox Church in Croatia, Slovenia and Italy. The award was established in 2007 on the occasion of the celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the enthronement of Metropolitan Jovan Pavlović of Zagreb. For this occasion the Metropolitanate commissioned a special limited edition collection of medals and diplomas that are made at the Monastery of St. Roman in South Serbia close to the city of Niš. It was decided that the medal will be named for the Orthodox Countess Kantakuzina Katarina Branković who lived in Zagreb in the 15th century.

The Paulin Dvor massacre was an act of mass murder committed by soldiers of the Croatian Army (HV) in the village of Paulin Dvor, near the town of Osijek on 11 December 1991 during the Croatian War of Independence. Of the nineteen victims, eighteen were ethnic Serbs, and one was a Hungarian national. The ages of the victims, eight women and eleven men, ranged from 41 to 85. Two former Croatian soldiers were convicted for their role in the killings and were sentenced to 15 and 11 years, respectively. In November 2010, Croatian President Ivo Josipović laid a wreath at the graveyard of the massacre victims and officially apologized for the killings.

The Prebilovci massacre was an atrocity and war crime perpetrated by the Croatian Ustaše in the Independent State of Croatia during the World War II persecution of Serbs. On 6 August 1941, the Ustaše killed around 600 women and children from the village of Prebilovci, Herzegovina, by throwing them into the Golubinka pit, near Šurmanci.

Prečani was a Serbian blanket term used at the end of the 19th- and early 20th century for ethnic Serb communities located preko ("across") the Danube, Sava and Drina rivers, beyond the northern and western borders of 19th-century Serbia, that is, in Austria-Hungary-held Vojvodina, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. It was thus used to distinguish Serbs of Serbia ("Serbians") from those in the historical Habsburg Monarchy; it was not applied to the Serbs of Montenegro or those in the Sanjak of Novi Pazar and elsewhere in the Ottoman Empire.

The Republic of Serbian Krajina or Serb Republic of Krajina, pronounced [rɛpǔblika sr̩̂pskaː krâjina]), known as the Serbian Krajina or simply Krajina, was a self-proclaimed Serb proto-state, a territory within the newly independent Croatia, which it defied, and which was active during the Croatian War (1991–95). It was not recognized internationally. The name Krajina ("Frontier") was adopted from the historical Military Frontier of the Habsburg Monarchy and Austria-Hungary, which had a substantial Serb population and existed up to the late 19th century. The RSK government waged a war for ethnic Serb independence from Croatia and unification with FR Yugoslavia and Republika Srpska.

The Serb Democratic Party was a political party in Croatia whose primary constituency were the Serbs of Croatia. It led the Republic of Serbian Krajina. It existed between 1990 and 1995.

The Serbs of Zagreb are a traditional minority group that lives in the Croatian capital Zagreb.

The Kingdom of Slavonia was a province of the Habsburg Monarchy and the Austrian Empire that existed from 1699 to 1868. The province included northern parts of present-day regions of Slavonia and Syrmia. The southern parts of these regions were part of the Slavonian Military Frontier, which was a section of the Military Frontier.

Slavonska Požega was a transit camp operated by the fascist, Croatian nationalist Ustaše movement in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) between July and October 1941, during World War II.

Srb uprising was a rebellion against the Independent State of Croatia that began on 27 July 1941 in Srb, a village in the region of Lika. The uprising was started by the local population as a response to persecutions of Serbs by the Ustaše and was led by Chetniks and Yugoslav Partisans. It soon spread across Lika and Bosanska Krajina. During the uprising numerous war crimes were committed against local Croat and Muslim population, especially in the area of Kulen Vakuf. As NDH forces lacked the strength to suppress the uprising, the Italian Army, which was not a target of the rebels, expanded its zone of influence to Lika and parts of Bosanska Krajina.

Stara Gradiška was a concentration and extermination camp in Croatia during World War II. The camp was specially constructed for women and children of Serb, Jewish and Romani ethnicity. Victims also included communist and anti-fascist Croats and Bosniaks. It was established by the Ustaše (Ustasha) regime of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in 1941 at the Stara Gradiška prison near the village of Stara Gradiška. as the fifth subcamp of the Jasenovac concentration camp.

The unveiling of the Gundulić monument in Dubrovnik on May 20, 1893, was a symbolical event in the political history of Dubrovnik, since it brought to the surface the wider tensions between the two political sides of the city, the Croats and the Serb-Catholics in the pre-World War I political struggles in the region.

The term Greater Serbia or Great Serbia describes the Serbian nationalist and irredentist ideology of the creation of a Serb state which would incorporate all regions of traditional significance to Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group, including regions outside modern-day Serbia that are partly populated by Serbs. The initial movement's main ideology (Pan-Serbism) was to unite all Serbs into one state, claiming, depending on the version, different areas of many surrounding countries.

The Z-4 Plan was a proposed basis for negotiations to end the Croatian War of Independence with a political settlement. It was drafted by Peter W. Galbraith, Leonid Kerestedjiants and Geert-Hinrich Ahrens on behalf of a mini-Contact Group comprising United Nations envoys and diplomats from the United States, Russia and the European Union. The co-chairs of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia, David Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg, were closely involved in the political process surrounding the plan. The document was prepared in the final months of 1994 and early 1995 before being presented to Croatian President Franjo Tuđman and the leaders of the self-declared Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK) on 30 January 1995. Tuđman was displeased with the proposal, but accepted it as a basis for further negotiations. However, the RSK authorities even refused to receive the document before UNPROFOR mandate status was resolved. According to later reactions, RSK leadership was not satisfied with the plan.