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{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}
{{short description|National minority in Croatia}}
F{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Redirect|Croatian Serbian|the language|Serbo-Croatian}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Serbs of Croatia
| native_name = {{lang|sr|Срби у Хрватској}}<br>{{lang|sr-latn|Srbi u Hrvatskoj}}
| flag = Flag of Serbian national minority in Croatia.svg
| flag_caption = ] as defined by the ]
| population = '''123,892''' (2021)<ref name=Census>{{Croatian Census 2021 | EO | title=3. Stanovništvo prema narodnosti po gradovima/općinama | access-date=22 September 2022}}</ref>
| region1 =
| pop1 =
| region2 =
| pop2 =
| langs = ] and ] <br>(standard varieties of ])
| rels = ]
| related = ], ], ], ]
}}

{{Serbs}} {{Serbs}}
The '''Serbs of Croatia''' ({{lang-sh-Cyrl-Latn|separator=" / "|Срби у Хрватској|Srbi u Hrvatskoj}}) or '''Croatian Serbs''' ({{lang-sh-Cyrl-Latn|separator=" / "|Хрватски Срби|Hrvatski Srbi}}) constitute the largest ] in ]. The community is predominantly ] by religion, as opposed to the ] who are ].
The '''] of ]''' are the largest ] in Croatia today since they currently comprise around ''4.5%'' of Croatia's total population. According to the 2001 Croatian population census there were 201,631 Serbs. The modern estimates, however, record a significant drop in the population, mainly due to negative increase, estimating to be around 180,000 people. The total population of ] who originate directly from ] is estimated at around 700,000 people. Due to various reasons, mainly the mass-flight during ], only a fraction of Croatian Serbs actually still live in their native homeland of Croatia. The Croatian electoral commission recorded on the 2007 minority national councils elections 274,968 eligible Croatian voters of Serb ethnicity, but mainly of foreign residence.


In some regions of modern-day Croatia, mainly in southern ], ethnic ] possibly have been present from the ]. Serbs from modern-day Serbia and ] started actively migrating to Croatia at a time the ] was engaged in a series of wars against the ]. ] happened after 1538, when the ] granted them the right to settle on the territory of the ]. In exchange for land and exemption from taxation, they had to conduct military service and participate in the protection of the border. They populated the ], ], ], ], ], and western ]. From the beginning of the 20th century, the ] led by Croat ] and Serb ] governed the ] until the ] of ]. After the ] of the ] in 1918 (later renamed to ]), a few thousand Serbs moved to Croatian territory. During ], Serbs were targeted for extermination as part of ] by the ] in the ] ] ] (NDH).
<br clear=left>


After the beginning of the ] and Croatia's ], the Serbs living in Croatia rebelled against the ] and proclaimed the ] (RSK) on parts of Croatian territory, which led to the ] (1991–1995). Several RSK leaders have been later convicted of war crimes by the ]. After the ]'s ], the RSK ceased to exist, its territory was reincorporated into Croatia, and approximately 200,000 Serbs fled from the country. In the post-war period, Serbs were exposed to ], including barriers to employment and property rights, and ]. ] has also been a prominent issue at times. Following the ], ], member of the ] (SDSS) and President of the ], was elected one of the four ]. Shortly afterward, the Croatian authorities and representatives of the Serbs marked the events of the 1991–95 war together. The expelled Croatian Serbs were the largest refugee population in Europe prior to the 2022 Ukraine war.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Adam |author-link=Adam Jones (Canadian scholar)|title=Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction |date=2023 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-000-95870-6 |language=en|page=64}}</ref>
== Population ==
The number of Serbs in Croatia was much larger in ], when they numbered at least 581,663 and over ''12,2%'' of the total population of Croatia. The largest exactly recorded number of Serbs in a census was in 1971 when there were 626,789 Serbs in SR Croatia (over 14% of the total at the time). During ], Serbs comprised ''30%'' of the population of the ] (1941-1945) and lived on one half of its soil, but that territory also included all of ]. The 1931 census in the ] recorded around 633,000. The ] ]n population census conducted in ''] and ]'', 504,179 ] were registered, which formed ''32%'' of Croatia's population {{Fact|date=August 2007}}. The loss of the heavily Serb populated Eastern ] region, the incorporation of ] region into the ], and the non-inclusion of Croat dominated regions of ] into the ], as had been done in the ] are examples of territorial changes that either increased or reduced the relative percentage of the Croatian population that was Serb.


Many ] have become internationally recognized in their fields, such as ], ], ], ], ] and ]. According to the 2021 census, there were 123,892 Serbs living in Croatia (3.2% of the population) which are recognized as a national minority by the ] and therefore have three permanent seats in the ].
The large decrease in the number of Serbs in Croatia was caused by the ], more specifically the 1991-1995 ]. The majority of the population continues to live in exile. The largest places are ], ] and ], where the estimates range from 150,000 to 400,000.


==Overview==
{| class="wikitable"
Traditional elements of their identity are the ], ] and military history, while modern elements are ] and ], civic, social and political values, concern for ethnic status and national organisation, and celebration of the ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.novosti.rs/vesti/planeta.300.html:514233-Srbi-u-Hrvatskoj-zabrinuti-da-ce-nestati|title=Srbi u Hrvatskoj zabrinuti da će nestati}}</ref>
|-
! State
! Number
! Percentage
|-
| ]
| 158,365
| 2.5%
|-
| ]
| 150,000-200,000
|
|-
| ]
| 150,000
|
|-
| Elsewhere in the world
| 100,000
|
|-
| '''Total'''
| '''600,000-750,000'''
|
|}


According to the 2021 census there were 123,892 ethnic ] 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 ] as the 1991 pre-war census had reported 581,663 Serbs living in Croatia, 12.2% of the total population.
==Geographical representation==


==History==
]
===Medieval history===
]
] in the Church of St. Michael in ].]]
]
In the 10th-century '']'' (DAI), the lands of ], ] and ] (which included parts of southern Dalmatia now in Croatia) is described as inhabited by Serbs who immigrated there from ] previously arrived there from ].{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=53}}<ref>Sima M. Ćirković (2008). (The Serbs), p. 26-27</ref> However, some scholars like ], ], and ] doubt such a claim and 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 ] in the 10th century and does not indicate ethnic origin.<ref>{{harvnb|Dvornik|Jenkins|Lewis|Moravcsik|1962|pp=138–139, 142}}: He probably saw that in his time all these tribes were in the Serb sphere of influence, and therefore called them Serbs, thus ante-dating by three centuries the state of affairs in his day... It is obvious that the small retinue of the Serbian prince could not have populated Serbia, Zachlumia, Terbounia and Narenta.</ref>{{sfn|Živković|2006|p=60–61|ps=:Data on the family origin of Mihailo Višević indicate that his family did not belong to a Serbian or Croatian tribe, but to another Slavic tribe who lived along the Vistula River and who joined the Serbs during the migration during the reign of Emperor Heraclius. The introduction of Mihajlo Višević and his family by Porphyrogenitus suggests that the rulers of Zahumlje until his time belonged to this ruling family, so that, both in Serbia and Croatia, and in Zahumlje, there would be a very early established principle of inheriting power by members of one family. Constantine Porphyrogenitus explicitly calls the inhabitants of Zahumlje Serbs who have settled there since the time of Emperor Heraclius, but we cannot be certain that the Travunians, Zachlumians and Narentines in the migration period to the Balkans were Serbs or Croats or Slavic tribes which in alliance with Serbs or Croats arrived in the Balkans. The emperor-writer says that all these principalities are inhabited by Serbs, but this is a view from his time when the process of ethnogenesis had already reached such a stage that the Serbian name became widespread and generally accepted throughout the land due to Serbia's political domination. Therefore, it could be concluded that in the middle of the 10th century the process of ethnogenesis in Zahumlje, Travunija, and Paganija was probably completed, because the emperor's informant collected data from his surroundings and transferred to Constantinople the tribal sense of belonging of the inhabitants of these archons ... The Byzantine writings on the De Ceremoniis, which were also written under the patronage of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, listed the imperial orders to the surrounding peoples. The writings cite orders from the archons of Croats, Serbs, Zahumljani, Kanalites, Travunians, Duklja and Moravia. The above-mentioned orders may have originated at the earliest during the reign of Emperor Theophilus (829 - 842) and represent the earliest evidence of the political fragmentation of the South Slavic principalities, that is, they confirm their very early formation. It is not known when Zahumlje was formed as a separate principality. All the news that Constantine Porphyrogenitus provides about this area agrees that it has always been so - that is, since the seventh-century settlement in the time of Emperor Heraclius. It is most probable that the prefects in the coastal principalities recognized the supreme authority of the Serbian ruler from the very beginning, but that they aspired to become independent, which took place according to the list of orders preserved in the book De Ceremoniis, no later than the first half of the 9th century. A falsified and highly controversial papal charter from 743 also mentions Zahumlje and Travunija as separate areas. If the basic information about these countries were correct, it would mean that they formed as very early principalities that were practically independent of the archon of Serbia.}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Budak|first=Neven|title=Prva stoljeća Hrvatske|year=1994|location=Zagreb|publisher=Hrvatska sveučilišna naklada|url=http://inet1.ffst.hr/_download/repository/Budak_1994.pdf|pages=58–61|quote=Glavnu poteškoću uočavanju etničke raznolikosti Slavena duž jadranske obale činilo je tumačenje Konstantina Porfirogeneta, po kojemu su Neretvani (Pagani), Zahumljani, Travunjani i Konavljani porijeklom Srbi. Pri tome je car dosljedno izostavljao Dukljane iz ove srpske zajednice naroda. Čini se, međutim, očitim da car ne želi govoriti ο stvarnoj etničkoj povezanosti, već da su mu pred očima politički odnosi u trenutku kada je pisao djelo, odnosno iz vremena kada su za nj prikupljani podaci u Dalmaciji. Opis se svakako odnosi na vrijeme kada je srpski knez Časlav proširio svoju vlast i na susjedne sklavinije, pored navedenih još i na Bosnu. Zajedno sa širenjem političke prevlasti, širilo se i etničko ime, što u potpunosti odgovara našim predodžbama ο podudarnosti etničkog i političkog nazivlja. Upravo zbog toga car ne ubraja Dukljane u Srbe, niti se srpsko ime u Duklji/Zeti udomaćilo prije 12. stoljeća. Povjesničari koji su bez imalo zadrške Dukljane pripisivali Srbima, pozivali su se na Konstantina, mada im on nije za takve teze davao baš nikakve argumente, navodeći Dukljane isključivo pod njihovim vlastitim etnonimom.|isbn=953-169-032-4}}</ref>{{sfn|Curta|2006|p=210|ps=: According to Constantine Porphyrogenitus, the Slavs of the Dalmatian zhupanias of Pagania, Zahumlje, Travounia, and Konavli all "descended from the unbaptized Serbs."51 This has been rightly interpreted as an indication that in the mid-tenth century the coastal zhupanias were under the control of the Serbian zhupan Časlav, who ruled over the regions in the interior and extended his power westwards across the mountains to the coast.}} ] and ] believe that what is today western and proper Bosnia and Herzegovina was part of ], while the rest was divided between Croatia and ].{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=53(I)|ps=:The Croats settled in Croatia, Dalmatia, and western Bosnia. The rest of Bosnia seems to have been territory between Serb and Croatian rule.}}{{sfn|Malcolm|2002|p=8|ps=:The Serbs settled in an area corresponding to modern south-western Serbia (a territory which later in the middle ages became known as Raška or Rascia), and gradually extended their rule into the territories of Duklje or Dioclea (Montenegro) and Hum or Zachumlje (Hercegovina). The Croats settled in areas roughly corresponding to modern Croatia, and probably also including most of Bosnia proper, apart from the eastern strip of the Drina valley.}} Some members of the ] took refuge in Croatia amid dynastic rivalry and war with the ] in the 9th and 10th century.{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=141, 150}}
], one of the oldest ] monasteries in Croatia]]


] (r. 1018–1043) ruled a territory that included the coastal region from ] in the north down to ] by 1040 after his rebellion against Byzantine rule.{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=206}} ] (1050–1081) built the St. Michael's Church in ], which has a fresco depicting him.<ref>{{cite book|author=Pavle Ivić|title=The history of Serbian culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7nItAQAAIAAJ|year=1995|publisher=Porthill Publishers|page=101|isbn=9781870732314}}</ref> Croatia entered union with Hungary in the beginning of the 12th century.<ref name="JWSedlar">{{cite book|last=Sedlar|first=Jean W.|title=East Central Europe in the Middle Ages|page=280|publisher=]|year=2011|isbn=978-0295800646|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANdbpi1WAIQC&pg=PA280|access-date=16 January 2014}}</ref> Serbia also entered close relations with Hungary (] married ]). ], a member of the Serbian royal family, became the "Ban of Croatia and Dalmatia" in 1142.{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=236–240}} By the early 13th century, the territory of Hum was under jurisdiction of the Western i.e. Roman Church,<ref>Milenko Krešić; (2016) Religious situation in the Hum land (Ston and Rat) during the Middle Ages p. 66; </ref> while the ] established the diocese of Hum in 1219, seated at Ston, that linked the ] peninsula with Hum which lasted until 1321 when Serbian Orthodox bishop had to withdraw from Ston.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andric |first=Ivo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qQpaC_ttluQC |title=The Development of Spiritual Life in Bosnia under the Influence of Turkish Rule |date=1991-01-22 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-8255-3 |language=en}}</ref> Serbia continued to hold parts of southernmost Dalmatia into the 14th century. In 1333 King of Serbia ] 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fine (jr.) |first1=John V. A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LvVbRrH1QBgC |title=The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest |last2=Fine |first2=John Van Antwerp |date=1994 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-08260-5 |language=en}}</ref> Among the oldest Orthodox churches in Croatia are the monasteries of ], ] and ], but their dating to the 14th century is controversial and improbable, as among other evidence and forgeries, have Romanesque and Gothic architectural characteristics uncommon for the style of Byzantine-Orthodox churches, showing instead 16th and later centuries foundation.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Krka & Krupa |encyclopedia=Enciklopedija likovnih umjetnosti (Encyclopedia of Fine Arts) |date=1964 |publisher=] |location=Zagreb |volume=3 |pages=251, 256 |language=sh |quote=Krka (Krovac), manastir, između Knina i Šibenika, Hrvatska, sa crkvom posvećenom sv. arhanđelu Mihailu. Prvi put se pominje 1350. po narodnom pređanju, osnovala ga je Jelena, udovica kneza Mladena III Šubića, sestra cara Dušana. I crkva i zgrade za stanovanje bile su više puta pregrađivane. U poslednje vreme crkva je imala oblik vizant. građevine s kubetom, a zvonik je podignut u romaničkom stilu. U manastirskoj riznici se čuvalo nekoliko ikona i umetničko-zanatlijskih predmeta iz XVII-XVIII. v., a u biblioteci ''Paterik'' (1346) i knjige iz XVI i XVII v... Krupa, srpsko-pravoslavni manastir u dalm. Bukovici, Hrvatska. Osnovali su ga, vjerojatno, bos. kaluđeri koji su bježali pred Turcima (1642). Na manastirskim zgradama sačuvani su gotički prozori; crkva je jednobrodna građevina s kubetom. U crkvi se ističu bogato rezbarene carske dveri, zbirka ikona iz XVII i iz XVIII st. (većinom djela italo-keltske škole), te srebrni predmeti iz XVIII st. venec. podrijetla. Bogata biblioteka stradala je u Drugom svjetskom ratu.}}</ref><ref name="Marčinko">{{cite news |last=Marčinko |first=Mate |date=19 August 1999 |title=Pravoslavni manastir sv. Arhanđela Mihaila na rijeci Krki sagrađen je na temeljima katoličkoga samostana |url=http://www.vjesnik.com/pdf/1999%5C08%5C19%5C15A15.PDF |work=] |location=Zagreb |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050520020023/http://www.vjesnik.com/pdf/1999%5C08%5C19%5C15A15.PDF |archive-date=20 May 2005 |quote=...trebao je barem zaviriti u Enciklopediju likovnih umjetnosti (ELU) Leksikografskoga zavoda. Tamo bi našao da je manastir Krka po narodnom predanju (hrv. predaji) osnovala Jelena Šubička. To je narodno predanje izmislila Srpska pravoslavna crkva i proširila ga među svojim vjernicima, da bi se onda na njega pozivala u nedostatku pravih dokaza. Još bi tamo našao i to da je zvonik krčke manastirske crkve »podignut u romaničkom stilu« (ELU, 3, Zagreb 1964., str. 251.). Na temelju svega ovoga možemo zaključiti: Pravoslavni manastir sv. Arhandjela Mihaila na rijeci Krki sagrađen je na temeljima katoličkoga samostana, ali ne prije XVIII. st. I dva ostala »glavna manastira« u južnoj Hrvatskoj – Krupa i Dragović – sagrađena su na temeljima katoličkih samostana. U manastiru Krupa do danas su »na manastirskim zgradama sačuvani gotički prozori« (ELU, 3, Zagreb 1964., str. 256.).}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Sinobad |first=Marko |date=2021 |title=Manastir Krka: arheološki lokalitet, postanak i prostorno-historijski razvoj današnjeg arhitektonskog kompleksa |url=https://www.academia.edu/69811115 |journal=Zbornik Šime Pilića |volume=1 |issue=1 |location=Split |pages=159–160 |isbn=9789533520704 |quote=Dejan Medaković (1922.-2008.), profesor na Filozofskom fakultetu u Beogradu i akademik SANU ... konstatira općenito za sva tri dalmatinska manastira kako je teško reći kada su osnovani i da je pretjerano dovoditi ih u vezu s periodom srpske srednjovjekovne države (Медаковић, 1950.: 184)}}</ref>


According to Yugoslav ethnologist ], members of the ] settled in ] and ] in 1432, later joining the ].{{sfn|Erdeljanović|1930}} In 1436 on the ], Croats, Vlachs, and Serbs appeared at the same time living on the estate of ].<ref>Sima Ćirković; (2004) ''The Serbs'' p. 117; Wiley-Blackwell, {{ISBN|0631204717}}</ref> Serbs are reported in Hungarian documents as living in Croatia in 1437 (three documents call the Serbs in Syrmia and Slavonia as ''Rascianos''–]){{sfn|Erdeljanović|1930|p=353}} and on 22 November 1447, the Hungarian King Ladislaus V wrote a letter which mentioned "Rascians, who live in our cities of ], ], both ] and in ]".<ref>{{harvnb|Erdeljanović|1930|p=353}}; {{harvnb|Derić|1914|p=50}} "Rascianis in castris nostris Medwe, Rakonok, utriusque Kemlek et Caproncza constitutis"</ref> ] complained in a letter from 1462 that 200,000 peoples during the previous three years had been taken from his country by Turks, but this information was mistakenly used in Serbian and other historiographies as a reference for Serb migration to Hungary.<ref name="Cirkovic">{{Cite book |last=Cirkovic |first=Sima M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ki1icLbr_QQC |title=The Serbs |date=2004-06-07 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-631-20471-8 |language=en}}</ref><ref>Sima Ćirković, Сеоба Срба у Краљевину Угарску у XIV и XV веку, (Migration of the Serbian people to the Kingdom of Hungary in the fourteenth and fifteenth century){"У једном писму Венецијанцима из 1462. краљ се жалио да су у протекле три године, дакле од 1459, Турци из његове земље одвукли више од 200.000 становника. (Овде морам приметити да је услед неспоразума у једној старој мађарској збирци регеста овај број тако употребљен као да се односи на становнике Србије који су прешли у Угарску. Радонић га је у том смислу употребио у својој на француском објављеној краткој историји Срба у Угарској, одатле су је преузели Јиречек, затим Ивић, а касније је безорој пута поновљено, и тешко и споро ће се та грешка отклањати.")..In a letter to the Venetians of 1462, the king complained that the Turks had taken more than 200,000 inhabitants from his country in the past three years, or since 1459. (I have to mention here that due to misunderstandings in the old Hungarian original collection, this number was used as a reference to the Serbs who immigrated to Hungary. Information was taken by ], then Aleksa Ivić, and later repeated many times, and this error will be difficult and slow corrected} https://www.rastko.rs/rastko-hu/istorija/istorija/Cirkovic_Seobe.html</ref> After the Ottoman
Most Croatian Serbs are/were concentrated in regions of ], ], ], ], Western and Eastern ], ] and ]. Smaller groups of Serbs can be also found elsewhere in ] and ], ], ], ] and ]. Serbs can be also found in all major cities in Croatia; the largest concentration of Serbs in Croatia is probably in ].
conquests of Serbia and capture of ] in 1459 and fall of Bosnia 1463 different populations of Orthodox Christians moved into ] 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 eastern Croatia.<ref>{{harvnb|Frucht|2005|p=535}}: "Population movements began in earnest after the Battle of Smederevo in 1459, and by 1483, up to two hundred thousand had moved into central Slavonia and Srijem (eastern Croatia)."</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Nicholas J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=huXruAEACAAJ&q=Between+Nation+and+State+:+Serbian+Politics+in+Croatia+Before+the+First+World |title=Between Nation and State: Serbian Politics in Croatia Before the First World War |last2=Miller |first2=Nick |date=1997 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |isbn=978-0-8229-3989-4 |language=en}}</ref>


===Early modern period===
In 2001 there were four counties where the Serbs numbered over 10% of the population: ], ], ] and ]. There were 16 municipalities with a Serb majority:
], ], ], ] and ] in 1901:
* ] and ] in ];
{{legend2|#c2efee|Catholic}}<br>
* ] in ];
{{legend2|#ff9933|Muslim}}<br>
* ] and ] in ];
{{legend2|#d4eaa2|Orthodox}}<br>
* ], ] and ] in ];
{{legend2|#ffcccc|Protestant}}<br>
* ], ], ] and ] in ];
{{legend2|#99cccc|Mixed Catholic and Orthodox}}<br>
* ], ], ] and ] in ].
{{legend2|#e0ced4|Mixed Catholic and Protestant}}]]


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.<ref>{{harv|Frucht|2005|p=535}}: "In the early sixteenth century Orthodox populations had also been established in western Croatia."</ref> 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.<ref name="sinod1972">{{cite book|last=sinod|first=Srpska pravoslavna crkva. Sveti arhijerejski|title=Službeni list Srpske pravoslavne crkve|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RBkoAQAAIAAJ|year=1972|page=55|quote=Тридесетих година XVI в. многи Срби из Босне су се населили у Крањској, Штајерској и Жумберку. ... Сеобе Срба у Славонију и Хрватску трајале су кроз цео XVI, XVII и XVIII в. У првој половини XVI в. су се најпре засељавали у турском делу Славоније, а у другој половини истог века су се пресељавали из турског у аустријски део Славони- је.}}</ref><ref name="Kostić1965-58">{{cite book|author=Lazo M. Kostić|title=Obim Srba i Hrvata|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9cK3AAAAIAAJ|year=1965|publisher=Logos|page=58}}</ref> In 1550 they established the ].<ref name="sinod2007">{{cite book|last=sinod|first=Srpska pravoslavna crkva. Sveti arhijerejski|title=Glasnik|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iqtDAQAAIAAJ|volume=89|year=2007|page=290|quote=МАНАСТИР ЛЕПАВИНА, посвећен Ваведењу Пресвете Богородице, подигнут 1550.}}</ref> As Vlach settlements by name and signature we find marked Mali i Veliki Poganac (Poganetz) which was mentioned as Vlach settlement in 1610 and ] (Lipavina) and Marča Monastery ( ] ).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Slukan Altić |first=Mirela |date=2008-06-01 |title=Kartografski izvori za povijest etnokonfesionalnih odnosa na području Varaždinskog generalata i dijela Križevačke županije |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/78016 |journal=Podravina: časopis za geografska i povijesna multidisciplinarna istraživanja |language=hr |volume=7 |issue=13 |pages=41–64 |issn=1333-5286}}</ref> The ] encouraged people from the ] to settle as free peasant soldiers, establishing the ]s (''Militärgrenze'') in 1522 (hence they were known as ], ''Krajišnici'').{{sfn|Miller|1997|p=2}}<ref name=Ramet82>Ramet, p. 82</ref> When it comes to the Austrian colonization of the Turkish Vlachs to ] and the Vlachs in the ] there are some minor differences. Vlachs to western Slavonia or to the ] 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<ref>Mirko Valentić, O etničkom korijenu hrvatskih bosanskih Srba, Vol. 24 No. 3, 1992. "Kada je riječ o austrijskoj kolonizaciji turskih vlaških prebjega u Slavonskoj i vlaških prebjega u Hrvatskoj krajini, postoje neke manje razlike. Vlasi u zapadnu Slavoniju, odnosno u Varaždinski generalat Slavonske krajine, prelaze masovno i u veoma kratko vrijeme: od 1597. do 1600. godine. U Hrvatsku krajinu, tj. u Karlovački generalat, Vlasi pristižu u manjim skupinama, ali u tijeku cijeloga XVII. stoljeća. Prema tome, Slavonska je krajina prva otvorila vrata balkanskim Vlasima. Najveći broj stiže iz slavonskih turskih sandžaka https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=307682#page=14</ref> 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.<ref name="sinod1972" /><ref name="Kostić1965-58"/>{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}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).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mažuran |first1=Ive |title=Povijest Hrvatske Od 15. Stoleća do 18. Stoleća |url=https://www.academia.edu/3749487 |page=16 |language=hr |quote=Molba učenika novaka Pečuške biskupije, Nikole iz Nevne (Levanjske Varoši), upućena papi Bonifaciju IX. da ga oslobodisvih crkvenih kazni, jer je u obrani domovine i kršćanstva okupio manji broj kršćana i ratnika (bellatores) s kojima je zarobio i ubio nekolicinu Turaka i Srba Turcos et Rascianos koji su spalili crkve, kuće, sela i posjede.}}</ref> The ] encouraged people from the ] to settle as free peasant soldiers, establishing the ]s (''Militärgrenze'') in 1522 (hence they were known as ], ''Krajišnici'').{{sfn|Miller|1997|p=2}}<ref name=Ramet82/> They were mostly of Orthodox faith, Serbs and ] (Romance-speaking).{{sfn|Miller|1997|p=4-8}}{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} Catholic Vlachs were assimilated into Croats, while the Orthodox, under the jurisdiction of the ], assimilated into Serbs.<ref name=Banac>{{cite book |last1= Banac |first1= Ivo |title= The national question in Yugoslavia: origins, history, politics |year= 1984 |publisher= Cornell University Press |isbn= 0-8014-1675-2 |page= |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/nationalquestion0000bana/page/43}}</ref><ref name=Bues>{{cite book |last1=Bues |first1=Almut |title= Zones of fracture in modern Europe: the Baltic countries, the Balkans, and Northern Italy |year= 2005 |publisher= Harassowitz Verlag |isbn= 3-447-05119-1 |page= 101}}</ref>
== Culture ==
{{main|Serbian culture}}


], ], 1742]]
=== Prominent individuals ===
The militarized frontier would serve as a buffer against Ottoman incursions.<ref name=Ramet82/> 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.<ref name=Ramet82/> The Grenzers elected their own captains (vojvode) and magistrates (knezovi). All Orthodox settlers were promised freedom of worship.{{sfn|Miller|1997|p=4-8}}<ref name=Ramet83>Sabrina P. Ramet, "Whose democracy?: nationalism, religion, and the doctrine of collective rights in post-1989 Eastern Europe", Rowman & Littlefield, 1997, {{ISBN|0-8476-8324-9}}, p. 83</ref> By 1538, the ] and ] were established.<ref name=Ramet82/> Austrians offered land to Serbs and Vlachs which acted as the '']'' together with Croats against Turkish incursions from the ].<ref>William Safran, The secular and the sacred: nation, religion, and politics, p. 169</ref>{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=389}} The Military frontiers are virtually identical to the present Serbian settlements (war-time ]).{{sfn|Miller|1997|p=10}} 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.<ref name="Cirkovic"/>
:''see also:]''
Many famed Serbs were born on the territory of today's ]. These prominent individuals include: scientist ] who had numerous inventions, the most famous arguably being the discovery of the ], geophysicist ] who confounded the ], ] ], ] General ], ] (the composer of the Croatian national anthem '']''), botanist ] and writers ], whose father was an appealed member of the ]; ], whose ancestor ] was from a noble family and leader of the ]; ]; and ], the attempted reformer of the ].


In 1593, '']'' Cristoforo Valier mentions three nations constituting the ]: "natives of Senj, Croatians, and Morlachs from the Turkish parts".{{sfn|Fine|2005|p=218}} Many of the Uskoks, who fought a guerrilla war with the ] were Orthodox Christian Serbs, who fled from Ottoman Turkish rule and settled in ] and ].<ref name="Davies">Europe:A History by Norman Davies (1996), p. 561.</ref><ref name="Goffman">Goffman (2002), p. 190.</ref><ref name="ER">{{cite book |editor1-last=Magosci |editor1-first=Paul Robert |editor2-last=Pop |editor2-first=Ivan Ivanovich |editor3-last=Pop |editor3-first=Ivan |title=Encyclopedia of Rusyn History and Culture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ovCVDLYN_JgC |date=2002 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=9780802035660}}{{page needed|date=February 2012}}</ref><ref name="GEO">{{cite book |editor1-last=Armstrong |editor1-first=Warwick |editor2-last=Anderson |editor2-first=James |title=Geopolitics of European Union Enlargement: The Fortress Empire |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780415339391 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0pmkrY29qkIC}}{{page needed|date=February 2012}}</ref><!-- the authors statements could be out of context, and there's a need for the link to the original source, letter. --> The Vlachs from ], ] and ] 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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mužić |first1=Ivan |title=Vlasi u starijoj hrvatskoj historiografiji |url=http://www.muzic-ivan.info/vlasi_u_starijoj_hrvatskoj_historiografiji.pdf |publisher=Muzej hrvatskih arheoloških spomenika |page=46 |year=2010}}</ref> Tihomir Đorđević points to the already known fact that the name 'Vlach' didn't only refer to genuine ] or ] but also to cattle breeders in general.<ref name=Gavrilovic>Gavrilović, Danijela, "Elements of Ethnic Identification of the Serbs" from FACTA UNIVERSITATIS – Series Philosophy, Sociology, Psychology and History (10/2003), </ref> In the Venetian documents from the late 16th and 17th centuries, the name "]" (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.<ref>{{cite web| title=Morlaci| url=http://www.enciklopedija.hr/Natuknica.aspx?ID=41968| author=Croatian Encyclopaedia| year=2011| language=hr}}</ref>
Prince Beloš of the Uroš branch of the ], after holding numerous offices in the ] and ], finally settled as ] of ] in the ].


] from Knin, 1899]]
] was implanted by ] ] in 1810 as the first ] of the reformed ] ] of ]. He promoted Napoleon's reforms in the Orthodox Church in Dalmatia and worked on subjecting it to the ] of ]. After his conflicts with his ] in ], ], he secretly worked on ] as soon as the ] acquired ]. He was forced by the people and Metropolitan Stracimirović to leave in ]. In ], ] was elected as Episcope of Dalmatia. He fiercely resisted attempts of the ] for conversion and uniting of his subjects; his plights were continued by his successors: Živković, Mutibarić and Knežević. A certain Ivanić was ]-] of the ] in ] - ].
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 ], 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, ] the Archbishop of Split, wrote that Morlach leader ] 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.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Živojinović|first=Dragan R.|title=Wars, population migrations and religious proselytism in Dalmatia during the second half of the XVIIth century|journal=Migrations in Balkan History|editor=Ninić, Ivan|year=1989|pages=77–82}}</ref> 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 <ref>{{cite book|last=Јачов|first=Марко|title=Историјски часопис 29-30 (1982-1983)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i8hqCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA228|date=1 August 1983|publisher=Istorijski institut|pages=228, 229, 230|quote= ... Krajem 1684. godine Stojan Janković realizovao je prelazak 1500 srpskih porodica iz Zagore na mletačku teritoriju.}}</ref> The military border was returned in 1881 to the ]. In 1918, it became part of the ], which immediately joined the Kingdom of Serbia to form the ].


Throughout the history of the Serbs in Dalmatia, the Catholic clergy, particularly through the efforts of the Archbishop of Split, sought to assert their supreme authority over the "schismatics."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ivetić |first=Eđidio |title=GRANICA NA MEDITERANU. ISTOČNI JADRAN IZMEĐU ITALIJE I JUŽNOSLOVENSKOG SVETA OD XIII DO XX VEKA |publisher=Arhipelag |year=2015 |pages=70}}</ref> The formation of the Serbian identity of Vlachs in Croatia began in the 18th century under the influence of the ] (SPC), and most of the local Orthodox priests of the ] who were educated in monasteries outside Croatia under the guidance of SPC clergy who came to the southwestern region of the ] during the ] (1690–1739). In 1695, Serbian Patriarch ] organized the SPC's hierarchy in Croatia – the territory of the ] was 'subjugated' to the ], and ] and the rest of Croatia to the ] (since 1705). The ] 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.<ref>Introduction by Mirko Valentić in: Mile Bogović: Katolička Crkva i Pravoslavlje u Dalmaciji za vrijeme mletačke vladavine, Kršćanska sadašnjost/Školska knjiga, Zagreb, 1993., p. 5-6</ref>
Dr ] founded in ] in the ] the first Serbian literal and scientific paper in Dalmatia - the "Serbian-Dalmatian Magazine" (''Srpsko-dalmatinski magazin'').


]
] was the main representer of the ] from ], a politician in the ], one of the most powerful men of the ] and creator of the Croato-Serbian opposition with ]. He died as a writer in Czechoslovakia's capital, ] in exile.
In the 1860s, the Serbian thought began spreading among the Orthodox Christians in the ]. 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 ], were won over by the Serbian thought. They were known as "]".<ref>Benedikta Zelić-Bućan, predgovor u: Mihovio Pavlinović: Misao hrvatska i misao srbska u Dalmaciji, Laus, Split, 1994., p. 10</ref> The reason for this was that Dalmatia and the ], at the time ruled by ], were extremely disadvantaged so intellectuals did not want to link themselves to them, while at the same time they found newly created Kingdoms of ] and ] with their idea of unification of the South Slavs, appealing. With the creation of ], their political goals were achieved, and after that these "one-time Serbs" disappeared from the political stage.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.slobodnadalmacija.hr/novosti/hrvatska/clanak/id/156882/pitanje-boskovica-dr-nikola-tolja-posrbljenje-dubrovcana-bio-je-cin-otpora-becu-i-pesti|title=Tolja: Posrbljenje Dubrovčana bio je čin otpora Beču i Pešti|date=7 February 2012}}</ref> 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 ]. According to the 1844 ]'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).<ref name="auto">Benedikta Zelić-Bućan, Prologue in: Mihovil Pavlinović: Misao hrvatska i misao srbska u Dalmaciji, Laus, Split, 1994., p. 11</ref> 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 ] and ].<ref name="auto"/> The 'creation' of new Serbs was carried out by identification of Orthodox Christianity in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina only with Serbs.<ref name="auto1">{{cite journal|url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/67500|title=The Serbian question in Croatian politics, 1848–1918|first=Markus|last=Tomislav|date=1 April 2011|journal=Review of Croatian History|volume=VI|issue=1}}</ref> Another argument used in the areas with no Orthodox Christians was identifying people who spoke ] 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 ] to ].<ref name="matica.hr">{{cite web |title=Srpski jezik nije štokavski |url=http://www.matica.hr/vijenac/427/Srpski%20jezik%20nije%20%C5%A1tokavski/ |website=matica.hr}}</ref> 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 ], 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 ], which was particularly strong during the reign of ] over Croatia.<ref name="matica.hr"/>
{{multiple image
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] 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 ] (also known as the Croatian National Revival) and ]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 ]. However, since ], ] and ] started writing of Dalmatia as a "Serbian land", and the recognition of Serbia as an independent state at the 1878 ], the differences between Croats and Serbs in Dalmatia increased. Following Croat enthusiasm with the successful 1878 ], 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.<ref name="slobodnadalmacija.hr">{{cite web|url=http://arhiv.slobodnadalmacija.hr/20000813/podlistak.htm|title=SLOBODNA DALMACIJA, NEDJELJA 13. kolovoza 2000. – podlistak: Preokret i odvajanje|website=arhiv.slobodnadalmacija.hr}}</ref> In 1879, Serbs from Bukovica voted for the Italian candidate instead of Croat ].<ref name="slobodnadalmacija.hr"/> 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 ] while Serbs started cooperating with the Italian nationalists.<ref name="auto1"/> Prior to this, Serbs in Dalmatia started emphasizing Serbianism more often, and for the Croats emphasize "Slovene, Yugoslavian, Slavic, Illyrian", which ] considered destructive to Croatia so he used only attributes "Croatian" in his political program.<ref>Zelić-Bućan, Benedikta, Mihovio Pavlinović: Misao hrvatska i misao srbska u Dalmaciji (Predgovor), Laus, Split, 1994., p. 12</ref>


Ban ] abolished Serbian education autonomy, which was carried out by the ] (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; ] was Deputy Ban, ] president of the Table of Seven (Supreme Court), and ] President of the Croatian Parliament.<ref>Dalibor Čepulo: Liberalne reforme Hrvatskog sabora i srpska elita u Hrvatskoj, p. 269-285</ref>
] was a famous ] in ] during the ] who started his own "]" by stealing from the rich and giving to the poor in the likelihood of ]. ] was the wife of the leader of the ] ] ] ]. ] was the initiator of a movement for Serbian autonomy within ].


During his 20-year-long reign, marked by violence and aggressive ], Ban ] 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 ] 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.azoo.hr/images/izdanja/manjine/04.html|title=Hrvati i manjine u Hrvatskoj: moderni identiteti|website=azoo.hr}}</ref><ref>N. Rumenjak, 2005, Politička i društvena elita Srba u Hrvatskoj potkraj 19. stoljeća. Uspon i pad Srpskog kluba, Zagreb, 2005.</ref> By the end of the 19th century, on the ]'s initiative, Serbs established a number of institutions such as the ], the Association of Serbian Agricultural Cooperatives and the ].<ref>Dušan Bilandžić, Hrvatska moderna povijest, Zagreb, 1999., p. 30</ref>
Count ] was one of the most prominent men of the ] ]. ] was the creator of the first constitution of ]. ] was the initiator of a movement to convert all ] Serbs to ]. ] was a famous bicyclist and flight pioneer. Other famous ] writers were ] and ]. ] was also a prominent figure.


] where ] was born, today hosts the ]]]
The current ] of the ] ] is from ].
In 1894, Srbobran, a journal of Serbs in Croatia, which was funded by the Serbian government,<ref>Artuković, Mato (1991). Ideologija srpsko-hrvatskih sporova (Srbobran 1884.-1902.), Naprijed, Zagreb, p. 32-33 {{ISBN|86-349-0257-9}}</ref> 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 ] 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."<ref>Artuković, Mato (1991). Ideologija srpsko-hrvatskih sporova (Srbobran 1884.-1902.), Naprijed, Zagreb, p. 34 {{ISBN|86-349-0257-9}}</ref><ref>Srbobran, 4(16) October 1894, no. 113</ref> The Croatian-Serbian conflict culminated on 10 August 1902, when, after years of controversial writing,<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/60126|title=Pitanje šteta i odštete u antisrpskim demonstracijama 1902. godine|first=Artuković|last=Mato|date=4 June 2010|journal=Časopis Za Suvremenu Povijest|volume=42|issue=1}}</ref> Srbobran published a text titled ''To Investigation Yours or Ours'' in which author ], 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 will be Croats." Enraged crowds reacted by burning Serbian flags and attacking Serb-owned shops, and buildings used by the Serbian institutions.<ref>Dušan Bilandžić, Hrvatska moderna povijest, Zagreb, 1999., p. 31</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.matica.hr/vijenac/523/do-istrage-nase-ili-vase-22996/|title = Do istrage naše ili vaše}}</ref>
Father of politician ] in ] is from ]. The actor ] is from a village near ].


], one of the founders of the ] and Vice President of the ]]]
] is a famous basketball player. ] was a famous Croatian writer. Milka Dudundić from Kostajnica is the wife of the Croatian President, ].
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 ] (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.<ref>Dušan Bilandžić, Hrvatska moderna povijest, Zagreb, 1999., p. 25</ref><ref>Kolar, p. 136-38</ref> 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 ], the ] received 12,917 votes and only 3 seats, while the ] 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.<ref>Ivan Bulić, Politika Hrvatsko-srpske koalicije uoči Prvoga svjetskog rata 1907.–1913. ČSP, no. 2., p. 415-453</ref> 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===
Footballer ] and ] are Croats of Serb heritage.
Immediately upon the outbreak of the ], all organizations that the government considered favored unification of South Slavs or Serbia, which was on the side of the ], were banned. ]'s associates took advantage of some provocations and the anger of the people after the ] by Serb ] 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.<ref>Agičić, Damir: "Civil Croatia on the Eve of the First World War (The Echo of the Assassination and Ultimatum)", Povijesni prilozi 14, p. 305</ref><ref>Karaula, p. 274</ref> Croat-Serb Coalition MP's were also attacked.<ref>Karaula, p. 268-79</ref> On the other hand, members of the ] held a rally in which they spoke against the violence.<ref name="Agičić, p. 306">Agičić, p. 306</ref> 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 ], in which protesters attacked ''Serbian Society "Dušan Magnificant"''<ref>Demonstracije u Dubrovniku, Ilustrovani list, no. 29, Year I, 18 July 1914, Zagreb</ref> Riots have been reported in ], ], ], ] and ] where protesters burned the Serbian flag. In ] and ] riots become so violent that the army intervention was requested.<ref name="Agičić, p. 306"/> In addition, a curfew was imposed in the town of ]. In ] and ] police managed to prevent more clashes. Most ] approved assassination. Cases of provocation, such as showing images of King ], joy, insults and celebrations, have been reported.<ref>Agičić, Damir: "Civil Croatia on the Eve of the First World War (The Echo of the Assassination and Ultimatum)", Povijesni prilozi 14, p. 309.-310</ref><ref>Karaula, Željko: "Sarajevski atentat – reakcije Hrvata i Srba u Kraljevini Hrvatskoj, Slavoniji i Dalmaciji", Radovi Zavoda za hrvatsku povijest 43 (1): p. 255-291</ref> 14 Serbs were arrested in Zadar for celebrating the assassination.<ref>Karaula, p. 277</ref>


Following the end of World War I, previously independent ] and ] merged in 1918 into the ]. 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 ] and ], increased.<ref>Lorković, Mladen (2005.). Narod i zemlja Hrvata, Split,: Marjan tisak (reprint from 1939), p. 105</ref> Relative growth in the number of Serb citizens was recorded in ] (35% increase), and ] and ] counties, mainly due to the migration of Serbian war veterans who fought on ] 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 ] and ].<ref>Lorković, Mladen (2005.). Narod i zemlja Hrvata, Split,: Marjan tisak (reprint from 1939), p. 114</ref> Although most of the Serbian parties in Croatia have been co-operating with ] in the struggle against Serbian unitarism for years, following the creation of ] 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 ] which had Serb majority.<ref>Krešimir Regan, Srpski kulturni klub i Banovina Hrvatska, LZMK, Časopis za suvremenu povijest, Vol. 40, No. 2, October 2008</ref>
=== Language ===


===World War II===
Most of the Croatian Serbs use a neo-] dialect of ] with ijekavian pronunciation, while those in eastern ] and ] mostly use ekavian pronunciation. For reference, see the following maps of dialects:
{{Main|World War II in Yugoslavia|Independent State of Croatia|Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia|The Holocaust in the Independent State of Croatia|Chetnik war crimes in World War II}}
]'', a monument to the victims of ], which was part of the ] committed by ]]]
Following the ] in April 1941, the ] occupied the entire territory of the ] and established a puppet state, the so-called ] (NDH) on the territory of present-day ] and ]. The ] 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.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Adriano|first1=Pino|last2=Cingolani|first2=Giorgio|title=Nationalism and Terror: Ante Pavelić and Ustasha Terrorism from Fascism to the Cold War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U7tWDwAAQBAJ|year=2018|page=190|publisher=Central European University Press|isbn=978-9-63386-206-3}}</ref> Upon the establishment of the NDH, Ustaše officials immediately began making harsh statements against the Serbs.<ref>Matković, 2002., p. 180</ref> 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,<ref>Hrvatski narod, no. 85, 8 May 1941, p. 3</ref> could walk through Zagreb only during the day,<ref>Hrvatki narod, no. 85, 8 May 1941, p. 3</ref> had to wear a badge with the letter "P" (stood for "Pravoslavni", meaning Orthodox Christians),<ref>Đurić Veljko, Srbi u Nezavisnoj Državi Hrvatskoj i Hrvati u Srbiji 1941–1944. Viđenje kroz sudbine sveštenoslužitelja, p. 156</ref> the name of their faith was changed from Serbian Orthodox to Greek-Eastern, and usage of the Cyrillic script was prohibited.<ref>Pupovac Milorad, NDH na životu, ''Večernje novosti'', no. 530</ref> Ustaše were making lists of Serbs which they used for deportations to ]. About 175,000 Serbs were deported from NDH to Serbia during the first two years of NDH's existence.<ref>Jonjić Tomislav, Hrvatska između sila osovine, p. 5</ref> The regime systematically and brutally massacred Serbs in villages in the countryside, using a variety of tools.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Yeomans |first1=Rory |title=Visions of Annihilation: The Ustasha Regime and the Cultural Politics of Fascism, 1941–1945 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yxv4-iqVe2wC&pg=PA17 |date=2012 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |isbn=978-0822977933 |page=17}}</ref> In addition, Nazi-style concentration camps were set up for enemies of the state, the most notorious being ] where some 50,000 Serbs were killed.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tanner |first1=Marcus |title=Croatia: A Nation Forged in War |date=2001 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-30009-125-0 |page=152 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sfcpsAoSoewC&pg=PA152}}</ref> ] and ] were specially ].<ref name="JMCSisakCamp">{{cite web|title=SISAK CAMP|url=http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=7375|website=Jasenovac Memorial Cite|access-date=30 January 2018}}</ref><ref>Marija Vuselica: Regionen Kroatien in Der Ort des Terrors: Arbeitserziehungslager, Ghettos, Jugendschutzlager, Polizeihaftlager, Sonderlager, Zigeunerlager, Zwangsarbeiterlager, Volume 9 of Der Ort des Terrors, Publisher C.H.Beck, 2009, {{ISBN|9783406572388}} pages 321–323</ref><ref>Anna Maria Grünfelder: Arbeitseinsatz für die Neuordnung Europas: Zivil- und ZwangsarbeiterInnen aus Jugoslawien in der "Ostmark" 1938/41-1945, Publisher Böhlau Verlag Wien, 2010 {{ISBN|9783205784531}} pages 101–106</ref> During the war, around 300,000 Serbs are estimated to have been murdered under the ] regime as a result of their ].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Totten |first1=Samuel |last2=Parsons |first2=William S. |title=Century of Genocide: Critical Essays and Eyewitness Accounts |date=2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-13594-558-9 |page=422 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HVSSAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA422}}</ref> ], a humanitarian of Austrian descent, carried out rescue operations and saved more than 15,000 children from Ustashe camps.<ref>{{cite book | editor-last = Kolanović | editor-first = Josip | publisher = ] and Public Institution ] | title = Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević 1941–1945 | location = Zagreb | year = 2003 | isbn = 978-9-536-00562-8 |pages=284–85}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=Die Heldin aus Innsbruck – Diana Obexer Budisavljević|year=2014|publisher=Svet knjige|location=Belgrade|url=http://svetknjige.net/book.php?var=531|first=Boško|last=Lomović | isbn = 978-86-7396-487-4 |page=28}}</ref>
] which was especially ]]] Budisavljević and her team was assisted by the ] and the ] branch of ]. Thousands of rescued Serb children were placed with ethnic Croat families from Zagreb and rural communities.{{sfn|Kolanović|2003|p=284-285}}


The Ustasha policy towards Serbs further drove a number of them joined either ] or the ] who were particularly strong in the regions of ], ] and ]. 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 ] member, ], to join the Partisans in June 1943, and partly due to the surrender of Italy in September 1943.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|pp=362–363}}<ref>Strugar, Vlado, Jugoslavija 1941–1945, Vojnoizdavački zavod</ref><ref>Anić, Nikola, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska Jugoslavije: pregled razvoja oružanih snaga narodnooslobodilačkog pokreta 1941–1945, Vojnoistorijski institut, 1982</ref><ref>Jelić Ivo, Putevima Glavnog štaba Hrvatske, Republički štab teritorijalne obrane SRH i Zavod za općenarodnu obranu i društvenu samozaštitu, 1976</ref> 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.<ref>Marko Attila Hoare, 2002, Whose is the Partisan movement? Serbs, Croats and the legacy of a shared resistance, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/38174088_Whose_is_the_Partisan_movement_Serbs_Croats_and_the_legacy_of_a_shared_resistance #page=30</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/serbiassecretwar0000cohe|url-access=registration|last1=Crnobrnja|first1=Mihailo|title=Yugoslav Drama, Second Edition| publisher=McGill-Queen's Press|year=1996|isbn=9780773566156|page=96}}</ref><ref name=anic>{{cite book|last1=Anić|first1=Nikola|last2= Joksimović|first2=Sekula|last3=Gutić|first3=Mirko|title=Narodnooslobodilačka vojska Jugoslavije| publisher=Vojnoistorijski institut|year=1982}}</ref>
Although after dissolution of Yugoslavia respective nations started to call their language according to ethnic affiliation most Serbs in Croatia declared their language as Croatian and minor part as Serbian. Nevertheless, this shouldn't be considered a linguistic division but a personal preference.


After the invasion of Yugoslavia by Axis forces, Serbian uprisings broke out under the Chetnik leadership in ], ], ], ] and ]. The uprisings in the NDH were a reaction to the genocide policies of the Ustaše towards the Serbs.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=412, 506}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alonso |first1=Miguel |last2=Kramer |first2=Alan |title=Fascist Warfare, 1922–1945: Aggression, Occupation, Annihilation |date=2019 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-3-03027-648-5 |page=253 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XXfADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA253}}</ref> The policy of the Chetniks under the leadership of ] varied from the struggle with the Nazis to tactical or selective collaboration with them in different periods throughout the war. The Chetnik movement operated as "legalised" auxiliary forces under Axis control.<ref>{{harvnb|Ramet|2006|p=147}}, {{harvnb|Tomasevich|1975|pp=224–225}}, {{harvnb|MacDonald|2002|pp=140–142}}, {{harvnb|Pavlowitch|2007|pp=65–67}}</ref> They had collaboration agreements with the ] in occupied ] and, after the ] in September 1943, with the ] directly.{{sfn|Tomasevich|1975|p=196}} They also collaborated with some of the Ustashe forces in northern Bosnia and they fought together against the Yugoslav Partisans during the ].{{sfn|Tomasevich|1975|p=196}} Contracting parties obliged to a joint struggle against the Partisans, in return, Serb villages would be protected by the NDH authorities together with the Chetniks from "attacks by communists, so-called Partisans".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sobolevski |first=Mihael |date=1995 |title=Uloga četnika u Nezavisnoj Državi Hrvatskoj |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/213630 |journal=Časopis za suvremenu povijest |language=hr |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=475–487 |issn=0590-9597}}</ref> The goal of the Chetniks, based on a 1941 directive, was the creation of an ethnically homogeneous ]. The largest Chetnik massacres took place in eastern Bosnia within the NDH where they preceded any significant Ustashe operations.{{sfn|Hoare|2006|p=143}} In the territories they controlled, Chetniks committed ]<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TtWycwryensC&q=chetnik+genocide&pg=PA430|isbn=978-0-203-89043-1|title=Century of genocide: critical essays and eyewitness accounts|page=430|author1=Samuel Totten|author2=William S. Parsons|year=1997|publisher=Routledge|access-date=11 January 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Redžić|first=Enver|title=Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Second World War|year=2005|publisher=Tylor and Francis|location=New York|isbn=978-0714656250|page=84 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pVCx3jerQmYC&q=Chetniks+extermination&pg=PA146}}</ref> against the Croat and Muslim civilian populations.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=747}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Redžić|first=Enver|title=Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Second World War|year=2005|publisher=Tylor and Francis|location=New York|isbn=978-0714656250|page=155|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pVCx3jerQmYC&q=Chetniks+extermination&pg=PA146}}</ref>{{sfn|Hoare|2006|p=386}} Estimates of the number of ] in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina range from 50,000 to 68,000.<ref name="Geiger">{{cite journal|first=Vladimir|last=Geiger|publisher=Croatian Institute of History|title=Human Losses of the Croats in World War II and the Immediate Post-War Period Caused by the Chetniks (Yugoslav Army in the Fatherand) and the Partisans (People's Liberation Army and the Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia/Yugoslav Army) and the Communist Authorities: Numerical Indicators |journal=Review of Croatian History |volume=VIII |issue=1 |date=2012 |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/103223?lang=en|page=117}}</ref> In April 1943, ] Chetniks set up a prison and execution site in the village of Kosovo (today ]), near Knin.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ilija T. Radaković: BESMISLENA YU-RATOVANJA 1991-1995 |url=https://znaci.org/00001/23_10_12.htm |website=znaci.org}}</ref> Thousands of local civilians, (both Croats and even Serb Anti-Fascists) including women and children, as well as captured Partisans, were held and mistreated at this prison, while hundreds of prisoners (as many as over 1,000<ref>Popovic; "Nasa Rec, monthly political and literary review (Middlesex, England), No. 402/XLII (Feb 1989), pp 248-249</ref>) were tortured and killed at an execution site near a ravine close to the camp.<ref>NOB u Dalmaciji, 6, 116</ref> Chetnik propaganda claimed that the Partisan resistance consisted of Jews.{{sfn|Tomasevich|1975|p=192}} Some ] who hid in the countryside were killed and robbed by Chetniks.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Semlin Judenlager 1941-1942 - Semlin Judenlager - Open University |url=http://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/semlin/en/semlin-judenlager.php |access-date=2024-07-06 |website=www.open.ac.uk}}</ref> As the Chetniks increased their cooperation with the Germans, their attitude toward the Jews in the areas under their control deteriorated, and they identified the Jews with the hated Communists. There were many instances of Chetniks murdering Jews or handing them over to the Germans.{{sfn|Hoare|2006|pp=156–162}}
The Serbian children receive education in standard ] and the Cyrillic script in schools of eastern Slavonia, as defined by Treaty of Erdut (which re-integrated the region into Croatia in 1997/1998).


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.<ref>Jonjić Tomislav, Hrvatska između sila osovine</ref> Afterwards, Ustaše founded the ] and Serbs were recruited to the ] units.<ref>Božić, Tvrtko, Ivan Košutić: Rađanje, život i umiranje jedne države- 49 mjeseci NDH, Časopis za suvremenu povijest</ref> 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 ] 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.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=547}} At the beginning of 1942, NDH authorities started making agreements with the Chetniks to avoid conflicts and coordinate actions against the Yugoslav Partisans.<ref>Fikreta Jelić-Butić: Četnici u Hrvatskoj 1941–1945, Globus, Zagreb 1986</ref><ref>Kotur Goran, NDH četnicima davala oružje i mirovine, Slobodna Dalmacija from 15 August 2009</ref> In 1944 the Chetniks recognized the sovereignty of the Independent State of Croatia and became a legalized movement in it.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Redžić |first1=Enver |title=Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Second World War |last2=Vidan |first2=Aida |last3=Donia |first3=Robert J. |last4=Redžić |first4=Enver |date=2005 |publisher=Cass |isbn=978-0-7146-5625-0 |series=Cass military studies series |location=London New York, NY |pages=141}}</ref> The necessary ammunition and provisions were supplied to the Chetniks by the Ustaše military. Chetniks who were wounded in such operations would be cared for in NDH hospitals, while the orphans and widows of Chetniks killed in action would be supported by the Ustaše state. The agreements did not stop crimes against Serbs by the Ustaše or against Muslims and Croats by the Chetniks. In early May 1945 Chetnik forces withdrew through Ustaše-held Zagreb; many of these were later killed, along with captured Ustaše, by the Partisans as part of the ]. 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 ].
A Croatian Serb by the name of ] had attempted to reform the language before ], but failed to finish his work.


=== Religion === ===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 (]) 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.<ref> edited by Snežana Trifunovska, page 477, it says: "at the Second and Third sessions of the National Anti-Fascist Council of the Peoples Liberation of Croatia (ZAVNOH),..., the equality of the Serbs and the Croats, as constituent peoples of the federal unit of Croatia, were recognized in every respect."</ref> 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".{{cn|date=June 2024}}


===Croatian War of Independence===
Most of Serbs in Croatia are ].
{{See also|Breakup of Yugoslavia|Croatian War of Independence|Yugoslav Wars}}
There is one Metropolinate divided in 4 Dioceses:
], proclaimed unilaterally in 1991 and disestablished in 1995]]
Amid rising Serbian nationalism and tensions between Yugoslav republics during the ], on 8 July 1989 Serbs held a rally in ] during which numerous Chetnik symbols were exhibited and a JNA military intervention against Croatia was invoked. With the introduction of the multiparty system, the first ethnic Serb parties were founded in Croatia, largest being ] (SDS). Soon afterward, extremist leaders of the Serb movements in Lika, Northern Dalmatia, Kordun, and Podunavlje called for armed rebellion against the Croatian government, violence against Croats and refused to recognize legally elected Croatian authorities.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhkaQdzhm8s| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211118/LhkaQdzhm8s| archive-date=2021-11-18 | url-status=live|title=Jovan Raskovic Benkovac 1990.|last=zivstepa|date=8 March 2010|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> By this point, several opposition parties in Serbia, such as ]'s ], were openly calling for a ] that would incorporate Serbs living in different regions of Yugoslavia into one state, rejecting the then existing boundaries of the republics as the artificial creation of Tito's Partisans. The crisis in Yugoslavia was furthered fueled by Serbian President ], who supported these groups. Milošević "endorsed a ] agenda" and "exploited a growing wave of Serbian nationalism in order to strengthen ] in the ]".<ref>{{Cite book |title=State-society relations in Yugoslavia, 1945 - 1992 |date=1997 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-312-12690-2 |editor-last=Bokovoy |editor-first=Melissa K. |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=295 |editor-last2=Irvine |editor-first2=Jill A. |editor-last3=Lilly |editor-first3=Carol S.}}</ref> The republics of Croatia and Slovenia eventually sought to secede from Yugoslavia following disagreements between the republics regarding the structure of the federal government.<ref name="UN">{{cite web |last=Bassiouni |first=Cherif |date=28 December 1994 |title=Final Report of the Commission of Experts Established Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 780 |url=http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/comexpert/ANX/IV.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504142243/http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/comexpert/ANX/IV.htm |archive-date=4 May 2012 |access-date=10 May 2010 |publisher=United Nations}}</ref>


Tension grew following the ] (HDZ) 's victory in the ], led by ], since one of its political goals was Croatia's independence from Yugoslavia. ], leader of SDS, refused to participate in the work of the ] in May 1990. Some prominent Serbian politicians and scientists, such as ] and ], called for coexistence, de-escalation and peace, while others organized Serb parties in the Croatian government-controlled areas, like ], while others, like ], unsuccessfully tried to organize the parties in the rebelled areas, but their work was prevented by Serb nationalists.<ref>{{in lang|hr}} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227063849/http://www.legalis.hr/modules/news/article.php?storyid=860 |date=27 February 2012}} Đakula prvi svjedočio protiv Martića</ref> On 17 August 1990, part of the Croatian Serbs, supported by Serbia, rebelled against Croatian government in the so-called ].
*'''Metropolitanate of Zagreb, Ljubljana and whole Italy''', with a ] in ]
**''']''', with a See in ]
**''']''', with a ] in Šibenik
**'''Eparchy of Osječko polje and Baranja''', with a See in ]
**'''Eparchy of Slavonia''', with a See in ]


On 22 December 1990, Croatian Parliament ratified a new constitution in which Serbs were classified as a ].<ref name="Bonacci, Jareb">{{in lang|hr}} 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</ref><ref> edited by Snežana Trifunovska, page 477</ref><ref> by George Macesich, page 24</ref><ref> by Bo Rothstein, page 89</ref><ref> by ], page 67</ref> Previously Serbs were considered autochthonous constituent 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.<ref name="LickliderBloom"> by Roy Licklider and ], page 158, says: Previously, a constituent nation in the Republic of Croatia, ..."</ref> Furthermore, a number of Serbs were removed from the bureaucracies and the police and replaced by ethnic Croats.<ref name="LickliderBloom"/> 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, or by saying that the numbers of people killed in ], one of the largest ] in Europe, were inflated.<ref> by Piers Letcher, page 20, it says: "The HDZ also put Croatias 600,000 Serbs on the defensive by changing their status from "constituent nation" in Croatia, to "national minority" and many Serbs in government lost their jobs."</ref> The proclamation of the new constitution was considered by Serbian leaders evidence of Croat hostility towards Serbs. Thus, SDS, which rejected the new constitution,<ref name="LickliderBloom"/> 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.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Greenberg |editor1-first=Melanie C. |editor2-last=Barton |editor2-first=John H. |editor3-last=McGuinness |editor3-first=Margaret E. |title=Words Over War: Mediation and Arbitration to Prevent Deadly Conflict |date=2000 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9780847698936 |page=83 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l2nofEbB4wgC&dq=serbs+constituent+nation+croatia&pg=PA83}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Seim 2008"/> ] wrote that Tuđman's regime "promoted a traditionalist and exclusive vision of Croatia" as a Croat state in which Serbs were "unwelcome", while journalist ] 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Sadkovich|2010}}</ref> Under the influence of propaganda and with the support from ] as well as in response to actions by President Tudjman's administration,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.icty.org/en/press/judgement-case-prosecutor-v-milan-babic-milan-babic-sentenced-13-years-imprisonment|title = Judgement in the Case the Prosecutor v. Milan Babic: Milan Babic Sentenced to 13 Years' Imprisonment &#124; International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia}}</ref> rebelled Serbs established an unrecognized state called ] (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 ], 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".<ref name="Judgement" />
There are also numerous Orthodox monasteries across the country: ], ], ], ] and ] being one of them. Many Orthodox churches were demolished during recent war.


In the spring of 1991, an ] 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.<ref name="Judgement" /> Nearly all non-Serbs were expelled; between 170,000 (according to the ICTY), 250,000 (according to ]) and 500,000 (according to the ]),<ref name="milosevicnyt">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/10/world/milosevic-indicted-again-is-charged-with-crimes-in-croatia.html?scp=1&sq=milo%C5%A1evi%C4%87%20170000&st=cse|title=Milosevic, Indicted Again, Is Charged With Crimes in Croatia|author=Marlise Simons|access-date=26 December 2010|date=10 October 2001|newspaper=The New York Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520112601/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/10/world/milosevic-indicted-again-is-charged-with-crimes-in-croatia.html?scp=1&sq=milo%C5%A1evi%C4%87%20170000&st=cse|archive-date=20 May 2013|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/en/news/2001/10/28/milosevic-important-new-charges-croatia|title=Milosevic: Important New Charges on Croatia|access-date=29 October 2010|date=21 October 2001|publisher=]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225134329/http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2001/10/28/milosevic-important-new-charges-croatia|archive-date=25 December 2010|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="UNHCR">{{cite news | newspaper = UNHCR | url = http://www.unhcr.org/42f38b084.html | title = Home again, 10 years after Croatia's Operation Storm | author= UNHCR | date = August 5, 2005 | access-date=November 24, 2017}}</ref> and hundreds of Croat and other non-Serb civilians were killed.<ref name="Judgement" /><ref name="milosevicnyt" /> There were numerous instances of ] against Croat civilians and prisoners of war perpetrated by Serb and Yugoslav forces in Croatia.<ref name="Theunens report">{{cite web |date=December 16, 2003 |title=Prosecution submission of an expert report of Reynaud J.M. Theunens pursuant to Rule 94bis |url=http://hague.bard.edu/reports/Reynaud_Theunens.pdf |access-date=10 May 2011 |publisher=The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia |page=27633-27630, 27573 & 27565-27561 |location=The Hague}}</ref> Among them, the ],<ref name="BBC-Milosevic-indictment2001">{{cite news |date=29 October 2001 |title=Milosevic Indictment (text) |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/354561.stm |access-date=19 December 2010 |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC}}</ref> the ],<ref name="B92-Lovas">{{cite web |date=20 October 2010 |title=69 hrvatskih civila ubijeno u Lovasu u oktobru 1991 |trans-title=69 Croatian civilians killed in Lovas in October 1991 |url=http://www.b92.net/info/dokumenti/index.php?nav_id=466651 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104134015/http://www.b92.net/info/dokumenti/index.php?nav_id=466651 |archive-date=November 4, 2012 |access-date=22 December 2010 |publisher=B92 |language=sr}}</ref><ref name="JURIST-Lovas">{{cite web |date=30 May 2007 |title=Serbia war crimes prosecutor investigating 12 for 1991 mass murders of Croats |url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/05/serbia-war-crimes-prosecutor.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110113195439/http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/05/serbia-war-crimes-prosecutor.php |archive-date=January 13, 2011 |access-date=19 December 2010 |work=jurist.law.pitt.edu |publisher=Jurist Legal News & Research Services, Inc.}}</ref> the ],<ref name="BBC-Milosevic-indictment2001" /> the ],<ref name="BBC-Milosevic-indictment2001" /><ref name="NYTimes-Voćin-19Dec1991">{{cite news |author=Stephen Engelberg |date=19 December 1991 |title=Villagers in Croatia Recount Massacre by Serbian Forces |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/19/world/villagers-in-croatia-recount-massacre-by-serbian-forces.html?ref=croatia |access-date=16 December 2010 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> the ], the ], the ], the ], ] and the ]. According to the ], a total of 8,000 Croatian civilians and ] (a large number after the fall of ]) went through Serb prison camps such as ], ], ], ] and others where they were subjected to abuse and torture. A total of 300 people died in them.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Natalya Clark |first1=Janine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tr7cAwAAQBAJ&q=Croatian+Association+of+Prisoners+in+Serbian+Concentration+Camps+300&pg=PT130 |title=International Trials and Reconciliation: Assessing the Impact of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317974741}}</ref>
== History ==
{{POV|date=December 2007}}
=== Early Middle Ages ===
==== Toponyms and early appearances ====
According to Serbian linguists the first mention of Serbs is a ] - the ancient stronghold of ''Srb'' on the river ] as early as the ], citing the resemblance of the terms Serb & Srb. Croatian linguists reject this citing the noun "Srb" derived from the old Croatian verb "serbati" and denoting the spring of the river Una{{ref|Srb}}.


Meanwhile, Serbs living in Croatian towns, especially those near the front lines, were subjected to various forms of discrimination and harassment.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goldstein |first1=Ivo |title=Croatia: A History |date=1999 |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |isbn=978-0-77352-017-2 |page=233 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HJexhW3C0TIC&pg=PA233}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bassiouni |first1=Mahmoud Cherif |last2=Manikas |first2=Peter |title=The Law of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia |date=1996 |publisher=Transnational Publishers |isbn=978-1-57105-004-5 |page=86}}</ref> The Croatian Government sought to stop such occurrences and were not a part of the Government's policy.{{sfn|Allen|1996|p=46}} War crimes were also committed by Croatian forces against Serb civilians. Serb prisoners were detained and tortured in camps such as ], ], and ].<ref name="novosti">{{cite news |last1=Jovanović |first1=Nenad |last2=Opačić |first2=Tamara |last3=Bajto |first3=Nikola |title=Dossier: Zločini nad Srbima |url=https://www.portalnovosti.com/dossier-zlocini-nad-srbima |work=Portal Novosti |date=15 October 2018}}</ref> The war ended with a Croatian military success in ] in 1995 and subsequent peaceful reintegration of the remaining renegade territory in ] in 1998 as a result of the signed ] from 1995. Local Serbs, on the ground that Agreement, established the ] and gained the right to establish the ]. During and in the aftermath of Operation Storm about 200,000 Serbs fled from the RSK<ref name="bbc-storm">{{cite news|ref={{harvid|BBC News|5 August 2005}}|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4747379.stm|work=]|title=Evicted Serbs remember Storm|date=5 August 2005|first=Matt|last=Prodger|author-link=Matt Prodger|archive-date=23 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023091143/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4747379.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> and hundreds of mainly elderly Serb civilians were killed in the aftermath.<ref>{{cite web |title=Croatia marks 25 years since war with tolerance message |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/8/5/croatia-marks-25-years-since-war-with-tolerance-message |website=AlJazeera |date=5 August 2020}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bartrop |first1=Paul R. |last2=Jacobs |first2=Steven Leonard |title=Modern Genocide: The Definitive Resource and Document Collection : The Definitive Resource and Document Collection |date=2014 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-61069-364-6 |page=240 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JB4UBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA240}}</ref>
According to the ] of the ] ] ], ] of ] (continental ]) fled to the ] in ], tricked the Serbian ruler by killing him and taking the power over Serbs for himself. At this time, the Serbs controlled the greater part of ] (referring to the ex Roman province).


In February 2015, during the ], the ] (ICJ) unanimously dismissed the Serbian lawsuit claim that Operation Storm constituted genocide,<ref name="ReferenceA">{{harvnb|BBC News|2015}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|ICJ|2015|p=25}}</ref> 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.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>{{harvnb|ICJ|2015|pp=4, 141, 142}}</ref> 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.<ref name="ICJ 2015 131">{{harvnb|ICJ|2015|p=131}}</ref> 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 ] at the ICTY.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hodge |first1=Carole |title=The Balkans on Trial: Justice vs. Realpolitik |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-00000-712-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=slSXDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT282}}</ref> 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.<ref name="ICJ 2015 131"/> 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.<ref>{{harvnb|ICJ|2015|pp=4, 132, 133}}</ref> 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, ] (HRW) estimated that more than 5,000 houses were destroyed in the area during and after the battle.<ref>{{harvnb|HRW|1996|p=19}}</ref> Out of the 122 ] 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 ]s 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.<ref name="HRW 1996">{{harvnb|HRW|1996}}</ref> ], involved in the Operation Storm, were later acquitted by the ] (ICTY) of charges of committing war crimes and partaking in a ] to force the Serb population out of Croatia.<ref>{{harvnb|ICTY|2012}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{harvnb|ICTY|2012|pp=30–34}}</ref> Examples of crimes are massacres, most often elderly Serb villagers killed by the ], such as the ], the ] and the ].<ref name="novilist.hr">{{cite web|url=http://www.novilist.hr/Vijesti/Hrvatska/Vrhovni-sud-Hrvatska-je-odgovorna-za-zlocin-u-Varivodama|title=Vrhovni sud: Hrvatska je odgovorna za zločin u Varivodama!|author=Neomedia Komunikacije|date=20 July 2012 }}</ref>
According to one of the theories of the coming of Serbs onto the Balkan peninsula, they first came to western ] to ] (at ]) and then ] (near Split).


At the ICTY, Milan Babić was indicted, pleaded guilty and was convicted for "persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds, a crime against humanity".<ref name=Judgement>{{cite web |author=ICTY |year=2004 |url=https://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2004/p861-e.htm |title=Judgement in the Case the Prosecutor v. Milan Babic |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070717213516/http://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2004/p861-e.htm|access-date=7 March 2006 |archive-date=17 July 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/babic/ind/en/bab-ii031117e.pdf |author=ICTY|date=6 November 2003 |title=Indictment |access-date=21 August 2012}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/babic/tjug/en/bab-sj040629e.pdf |title=Sentencing judgement |date=29 June 2004 |access-date=21 August 2012}}</ref> RSK President, ], was also trialled by the ICTY for various ] and ], 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 ] on Zagreb, in 1995.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6743607.stm|title=Serb leader jailed for war crimes|access-date=12 June 2007|work=]|date=12 June 2007}}</ref> On 12 June 2007, Martić was sentenced to 35 years in prison.<ref name="BBC"/><ref name="ICTY judgment">{{cite web|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/martic/tjug/en/070612_summary_en.pdf|title=Summary of Judgement for Milan Martić|access-date=18 May 2011|publisher=]}}</ref> 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 ], Milan Babić, ], ], ], Slobodan Milošević, ], Vojislav Šešelj, ], ], and ].<ref name="ICTY judgment"/>
==== Pattern of Serb Settlement In Illyricum ====


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 and ].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/croatia-operation-storm-still-no-justice-ten-years |title=Croatia: Operation "Storm" – still no justice ten years on |publisher=]|date=4 August 2005 |access-date=21 August 2012}}</ref> After Croatian and other ], Serbia became home to highest number of refugees (Serbs who fled from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia) in Europe.<ref>{{cite web|title=Serbia home to highest number of refugees and IDPs in Europe |url=http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society.php?yyyy=2011&mm=06&dd=20&nav_id=75016|publisher=]|date=20 June 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Serbia: Europe's largest proctracted refugee situation |url=http://www.osce.org/serbia/24323?download=true|publisher=]|year=2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Cross |editor1-first=S. |editor2-last=Kentera |editor2-first=S. |editor3-last=Vukadinovic |editor3-first=R. |editor4-last=Nation |editor4-first=R. |title=Shaping South East Europe's Security Community for the Twenty-First Century: Trust, Partnership, Integration |date=2013 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9781137010209 |page=169 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=el-YZHB8hzYC&pg=PP1}}</ref>
According to ] (chapters 32-36) from ], written by Byzantine Emperor ], the following lands in the south of the Roman province of ] were settled by the Serbs:
* ]
* ]
* ] (Narenta)
* ] (Zachlumoi)
* ] and ]


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.<ref>{{harvnb|ICTY|2012|pp=33}}</ref><ref name="HRW 1996"/> Also, Serbs are still face significant barriers to employment and to regain their property.<ref name="Amnesty 2017">{{harvnb|Amnesty|2017}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Seim 2008">{{harvnb|Seim|2008}}</ref>
Of these areas, Pagania/Narenta bordered on a Croat area, and it was inhabited by what are described as unbaptized Serbs. The other regions did not directly border the Croat lands (although the description of the high country is unclear in the document), and were Christian.


Currently, the official status of "autochthonous national minority" for the Serbs of Croatia is recognized by the ] 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.
Most of Pagania/Narenta and small southern parts of Zahumlje and Travunia and Konavli are today part of Croatia, and the rest is mostly part of ]. Raška is located in ] and Duklja mostly in ].


===Late Middle Ages=== ===Recent history===
Tension and violence between Serbs and Croats has reduced since 2000 and has remained low to this day, however, significant problems remain.<ref name=Amnesty>{{cite press release|title=Croatia: European Court of Human Rights to consider important case for refugee returns |url=http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGEUR640032005 |publisher=]|date=14 September 2005 |access-date=16 September 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807044434/http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGEUR640032005 |archive-date=7 August 2007}}</ref> The main issue is thought to be due to high-level official and social discrimination against the Serbs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/regions/europe-and-central-asia/croatia |title=Amnesty International &#124; Working to Protect Human Rights |publisher=Amnesty International |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081012092240/http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/regions/europe-and-central-asia/croatia |archive-date=12 October 2008 |url-status=dead|date=11 August 2011 |access-date=21 August 2012}}</ref> In 2005, the Republic of Croatia ratified a bilateral agreement with ] on the protection of the Serbian and Montenegrin minority in Croatia and the Croatian national minority in Serbia and Montenegro.<ref>{{cite web| title = Croatia: Serbs| date = 19 June 2015 | url = https://minorityrights.org/minorities/serbs-2/ | publisher = ]}}</ref> Some Croats, including politicians, continue to ] and minimise the magnitude of the genocide perpetrated against Serbs in the ].<ref>{{cite web|work=BCR Issue 73|publisher=]|author=Drago Hedl|url=https://iwpr.net/global-voices/croatias-willingness-tolerate-fascist-legacy|title=Croatia's Willingness To Tolerate Fascist Legacy Worries Many|date=10 November 2005|access-date=29 July 2019|author-link=Drago Hedl}}</ref>
Throughout the late Middle Ages, the term Vlach was both used as an umbrella term and interchangeable term with Serb. However, given the solidifying of modern national identities around the confessional rule (although not exclusively), most modern scholars equate the term Vlach with Serb.
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.<ref name = Amnesty /> For example, lengthy and in some cases unfair proceedings,<ref name = Amnesty/> particularly in lower level courts, remain a major problem for Serbian returnees pursuing their rights in court.<ref name = Amnesty/> In addition, Serbs continue to be discriminated against in access to employment and in realizing other economic and social rights.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/region/croatia/report-2008 | title=Croatia – Amnesty International Report 2008| year=2008 | publisher=] | access-date=21 August 2012}}</ref> Also some cases of violence and harassment against Croatian Serbs continue to be reported.<ref name = Amnesty />
Most of the migrants that passed through ]n lands were ]. During the Tartar hordes that passed on a raiding campaign through Hungary in ], there is a mention of these Vlachs-Serbs as having just been settled in ], ] and ].


The property laws allegedly favor Bosnian Croats refugees who took residence in houses that were left unoccupied and unguarded by Serbs after ].<ref name = Amnesty/> ]'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.<ref name = Amnesty/>
] have throughout the 15th century gained numerous vestiges in eastern ], where they have ruled with title ] ] because this territory is part of ]. After the Ottoman Turks expelled the entity with the conquest of ] in 1459, the Titular Serb Despots continued to maintain baron title (and territory) on Hungarian soil until 1530


The ] decided against Croatian Serb Kristina Blečić, stripped her of occupancy rights after leaving her house in 1991 in Zadar.<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217062610/http://www.vsnm-ri.org/blecic.htm |date=17 December 2008}}</ref> In 2009, the UN ] found a wartime termination of occupancy rights of a Serbian family to violate ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bayefsky.com/pdf/croatia_t5_iccpr_1510_2006.pdf |title=Microsoft Word – croatia_t5_iccpr_1510_2006|access-date=17 November 2012}}</ref> 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 ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/socialcharter/Complaints/CC52Merits_en.pdf |title=ECSR decision in case no 52/2008|access-date=17 November 2012}}</ref> In 2013, the ] were a series of protests in late 2013 against the application of bilingualism in ], whereby Serbian and the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet were assigned co-official status due to the local minority population.
There are three major Serbian Orthodox monasteries in northern Dalmatia: ''Krupa'', started by King ] in ]. It was finished by Emperor ] in ]; both being of the ]. ''Krka'' was built in 1346 by the wife of ban Mladen ], Jelena, sister of ]. ''Dragović'' was also built in the ], but it was moved stone by stone during the construction of an artificial Peruča lake nearby during ].


In 2015 ] 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/europe-and-central-asia/croatia/report-croatia/|title=Croatia report |date=25 February 2015|access-date=16 January 2016}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Amnesty 2017"/>
===Early Modern Period===


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 ] because, as they said, Croatian authorities refused to denounce the Ustasha legacy explicitly and they downplayed and revitalized crimes committed by Ustashe.<ref>{{cite news|title=Dokle će se u Jasenovac u tri kolone?|url=http://rs.n1info.com/Vesti/a244146/Dokle-ce-se-u-Jasenovac-u-tri-kolone.html|access-date=28 July 2019|publisher=N1|date=23 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Jasenovac Camp Victims Commemorated Separately Again|url=https://balkaninsight.com/2019/04/12/jasenovac-camp-victims-commemorated-separately-again/|access-date=28 July 2019|publisher=balkaninsight.com|date=12 April 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Jewish and Serbian minorities boycott official 'Croatian Auschwitz' commemoration|url=https://www.neweurope.eu/article/jewish-serbian-minorities-boycott-official-croatian-auschwitz-commemoration/|access-date=28 July 2019|publisher=neweurope.eu|date=28 March 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Former top Croat officials join boycott of Jasenovac event|url=https://www.b92.net/eng/news/region.php?yyyy=2016&mm=04&dd=12&nav_id=97667|access-date=28 July 2019|publisher=B92|date=12 April 2016}}</ref>
]


Following the ], ], member of the ] and President of the ], was elected one of the four ] in charge of social affairs and human and minority rights in the new ] of ].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Croatia votes in a new government, a Serb Vice President|url=https://www.b92.net/eng/news/region.php?yyyy=2020&mm=07&dd=24&nav_id=108992|access-date=27 August 2020|website=B92.net| date=24 July 2020 |language=en}}</ref> On the 25th anniversary of the Operation Storm, the ] were attended for the first time ever by an ethnic Serb political representative, Boris Milošević.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-08-05|title=Croatia marks 25 years since war with tolerance message|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/croatia-marks-25-years-war-tolerance-message-200805085400673.html|access-date=2020-08-07|website=Al Jazeera}}</ref> On 25 August 2020, ] (]), ] (]), along with members of the Independent Democratic Serb Party, ] and Deputy Prime Minister Milošević, attended a commemoration of the ], the mass murder of elderly Serbs civilians.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Vladisavljevic |first1=Anja |title=Croatia Commemorates Wartime Massacre of Serb Civilians in Grubori |url=https://balkaninsight.com/2020/08/25/croatia-commemorates-wartime-massacre-of-serb-civilians-in-grubori/ |publisher=balkaninsight.com |date=25 August 2020}}</ref>
During the period of the ]-] wars there have been constant population migrations in the territory of modern-day Croatia. Turkish invasion instigated a partial change in the ethnic aspect of Croatian lands. Large numbers of ] abandoned their homes and moved northward seeking safety, some even going out of ] altogether into ] (see ])<ref>The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Edition 1986 Reference: EB, Edition 1986, Macropedia, Vol 29, page 1061 Entry: Yugoslavia, Croatia, History </ref>. The Ottomans, on the other hand were settling, first orthodox ], and then Serbs in the area. During the following centuries, the Vlachs were assimilated by the Serbs but evidence of their existence is the ] document, the ]. The ] created the ] out of territory of the Croatian Crown as a defense against the Turks, and greatly expanded it further upon reconquering large territories the Ottomans conquered from Croatia. The Frontier (i.e. the "Vojna Krajina") was mostly inhabited by Serbs and Vlachs the Turks had settled there. In ] the area was populated largely by Orthodox Serbs. The Serbs were also fleeing to Krajina due to Ottoman persecution, and became frontiersmen for the Habsburgs in exchange for land and liberty. In addition, this was the only requirement for their permanent stay in the region. These inhabitants were required to serve a certain amount of years in the Habsburg army, after wich they would be granted land, becoming free peasants. Serbs were thus regarded as some kind of military class because of this. The tradition lasted up to the breakup of ], where Serbs were disproportionately represented in the Croatian military and law enforcement.<br>
The area of the Military Frontier was reunited with the ] in the year ] after ] had been occupied by ]<ref>The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Edition 1986 Reference: EB, Edition 1986, Macropedia, Vol 29, page 1061 Entry: Yugoslavia, Croatia, History </ref> . Up to the unification with Croatia the Military Frontier ''Vice-Ban'' was always of Serb nationality. During the last two decades of the ] Croatian ''Ban'' (Viceroy) ] (a Hungarian), relied on Serb parties in the Croatian parliament to maintain a governing majority. Because of this the Serbs came to occupy a disproportionate share of civil service posts in Croatia, causing resentment on the part of the majority Croatian population.


===World War II=== ==Demographics==
{{Main|Demographics of Croatia}}
World War II was a dark age for Serbs in Croatia, because the ] organization came to power. ] had formed ] and enacted racial laws aimed primarily against the Croatian Serbs. The ] persecuted and killed hundreds of thousands of Orthodox ] and ] . Catholic monks and other priests are alleged to have taken an active part in this struggle for the "purity" of the Croatian land. The ] fascist regime set about a policy of "racial purification" against Serbs, Jews and Gypsies. It was declared that one-third of the Serbian population would be deported, one-third converted to Roman Catholicism, and one third killed. Ustaša bands actively terrorized the countryside. In addition, the Ustaše regime organized extermination camps, the most notorious one at ] where Serbs, Jews, Gypsies, and other opponents were massacred in large numbers. Between 330,000 and 500,000 of Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina were killed by the Ustasha during the entire war.
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 three-quarters in the aftermath of the 1991–95 ] as the 1991 pre-war census had reported 581,663 Serbs living in Croatia, 12.2% of the total population.


{{Multiple image
===Recent history===
| align = right
]
| direction = vertical
]]
| width = 250
| image1 = Serbs in Croatia 1991 (modern administrative division).jpg
| caption1 = ] in Croatia, 1991<ref name="Srbi u RH 1991">{{cite web |language=sr |title=PROMENE UDELA STANOVNIŠTVA HRVATSKE I SRPSKE NACIONALNE PRIPADNOSTI U REPUBLICI HRVATSKOJ PO GRADOVIMA I OPŠTINAMA NA OSNOVU REZULTATA POPISA IZ 1991. I 2001. GODINE |year=2008 |url=http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0038-982X/2008/0038-982X0802023B.pdf|access-date=12 July 2013}}</ref>
| image2 = Serbs in Croatia.jpg
| caption2 = Serbs in Croatia, 2011
| image3 = Serbian language in municipalities in Croatia.jpg
| footer = Municipalities in Croatia where ] is in official use
}}


{| class="wikitable"
]
|-
! Year
! Serbs
! %
|-
| 1900<ref name=Kocsis>Karoly Kocsis, Eszter Kocsis-Hodosi: , Simon Publications LLC, 2001, p. 171</ref> || 548,302 || 17.35%
|-
| 1910<ref name=Kocsis/> || 564,214 || 16.60%
|-
|1921<ref name=Kocsis/> || 584,058 || 16.94%
|-
| 1931<ref name=Kocsis/> || 636,518 || 16.81%
|-
| 1948<ref>, p. 3 {{in lang|sr}}</ref> || 543,795 || 14.47%
|-
| 1953<ref>, p. 35 {{in lang|sr}}</ref> || 588,411 || 15.01%
|-
| 1961<ref>, p. 12 {{in lang|sr}}</ref> || 624,956 || 15.02%
|-
| 1971<ref name=Kocsis/> || 626,789 || 14.16%
|-
| 1981<ref name=Kocsis/> || 531,502 || 11.55%
|-
| 1991<ref name=Kocsis/> || 581,663 || 12.16%
|-
| 2001 || 201,631 || 4.54%
|-
| 2011 || 186,633 || 4.36%
|-
| 2021 || 123,892 || 3.20%
|}


===Counties===
The census of 1991 was the last one held before the war in Croatia, marked by ethnic conflict between the Orthodox Serbs and the Catholic Croats. Around 580,000 citizens declared themselves as Serbs. In the ethnic and religious makeup of population of Croatia of that time, those two sets of numbers are quoted as important:
* Croats 78.1%, Catholics 76.5%
* Serbs 12.2%, Orthodox Christians 11.1%


Counties with significant Serb minority (7.50% or more):{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}
Two major sets of the population changed during this period - the first one during the earlier stage of the war, around 1991, and the second one during the later stage of the war, around 1995.


{| class="wikitable"
After the ], the numbers are:
|-
* Croats 89.6%, Catholics 87.8%
! County
* Serbs 4.5%, Orthodox Christians 4.4%
! Serbs
! %
|-
|]
|19,309
|13.49%
|-
|]
|4,062
|9.50%
|-
|]
|12,153
|8.71%
|-
|]
|8,064
|8.37%
|-
|]
|8,683
|7.74%
|}


===Cities===
In the earlier stages of the war, most of the Croats of eastern Slavonia, Baranja, Banija, Kordun, eastern Lika, northern Dalmatian Zagora and Konavle fled those areas as they were under Serbian military control. Most of the Serbs from Bilogora and northwestern Slavonia fled those areas as they were under Croatian military control {{Fact|date=February 2008}}. In later stages of the war, most of the Serbs of western Slavonia, Banija, Kordun, eastern Lika and northern Dalmatian Zagora fled those areas as they came under Croatian military control.


Cities with significant Serb minority (10% or more):
The population move is seen by some as a campaign of ]. Many incidents can be clearly explained as ethnic cleansing:
{{refbegin|colwidth=20em}}
* the attacks on and the subsequent expulsion of Croatian population from the villages and towns of ], ], ], ], etc;
*] (1,255 or 32.38%)
* and the attacks on and the subsequent expulsion of Serbian population from places such as the ], and the events such as the ].
*] (1,082 or 31.34%)
*] (6,890 or 29.73%)
*] (428 or 22.78%)
*] (2,492 or 21.42%)
*] (1,462 or 20.55%)
*] (1,605 or 20.13%)
*] (605 or 18.07%)
*] (1,841 or 15.03%)
*] (1,315 or 13.58%)
*] (801 or 11.30%)
*] (540 or 10.53%)


{{refend}}
It is widely assumed to have been a war in which ethnic cleansing was generally used. But no international institution has yet established a clear pattern that would indicate that either side in the war in Croatia committed ethnic cleansing on the scale of the whole country, including the ] at ]. The leader of the rebel Serbs ] was indicted, plead guilty and was convicted for ''persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds, a crime against humanity'', which combined with the content of his indictment implies that there was ethnic cleansing on the whole area of ].


===Municipalities===
The war ended with military victories of the Croatian government in 1995 and subsequent peaceful reintegration of the remaining renegade territory in eastern Slavonia in ]. The exodus of the Krajina Serbs in 1995 was prompted by the advance of the Croatian troops, but was mostly self-organized rather than forced. All of them were officially called upon to stay shortly before the operation, and called to return after the end of the hostilities, with varying but increasing degrees of guarantees from the Croatian government. Everyone that participated in the rebellion but committed no crimes were pardoned by the government in ].


Municipalities with significant Serb population (10% or more):
Two thirds of the Serbs remain in exile. The other third either returned or had remained in Zagreb and other parts of Croatia not directly hit by war. But most other Croat refugees returned to their homes.
{{refbegin|colwidth=20em}}
*] (765 or 96.96%)
*] (952 or 96.85%)
*] (3,224 or 90.69%)
*] (1,600 or 90.24%)
*] (3,659 or 87.81%)
*] (964 or 81.90%)
*] (1,082 or 79.21%)
*] (950 or 78.06%)
*] (126 or 73.68%)
*] 2,015 or 67.26%)
*] (943 or 62.87%)
*] (1,282 or 62.63%)
*] (773 or 58.03%)
*] (2,908 or 53.68%)
*] (1,375 or 51.89%)
*] (311 or 47.63%)
*] (1,360 or 43.37%)
*] (569 or 42.65%)
*] (656 or 39.76%)
*] (1,385 or 38.45%)
*] (337 or 31.20%)
*] (556 or 25.02%)
*] (838 or 22.97%)
*] (1,090 or 20.08%)
*] (150 or 19.74%)
*] (88 or 18.88%)
*] (612 or 18.71%)
*] (700 or 16.97%)
*] (554 or 16.50%)
*] (240 or 16.42%)
*] (235 or 16.25%)
*] (371 or 15.97%)
*] (142 or 15.06%)
*] (392 or 14.90%)
*] (227 or 13.96%)
*] (95 or 12.39%)
*] (296 or 12.06%)
*] (104 or 11.42%)
*] (312 or 11.19%)
*] (217 or 10.97%)
*] (188 or 10.47%)
*] (60 or 10.12%)


{{refend}}
The current reasons why many Serb refugees still have not returned vary:
* Integration at the current place of displacement.
* Appalling economic conditions in areas they fled from, by and large rural ones.
* Fear of prosecution for war crimes. The Croatian legal system, like the ], has secret lists of war crimes suspects, and many returnees were caught by surprise when the authorities arrested them upon re-entering the country.
* Fear of retribution.
* Ethnic discrimination.
* Unfavorable property laws.


==Culture==
In 2004/2005, the government of ] had about 140,000 refugees of unsolved status from Croatia registered on its territory. About 13,000 house repair demands were pending with the Croatian authorities.
{{see also|Serbian culture}}
Serbs in Croatia have cultural traditions ranging from ] and singing, which are kept alive today by performances by various folklore groups. Notable traditions include ], ],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Diple i svirale vuka sa Dinare|url=https://srbi.hr/diple-i-svirale-vuka-sa-dinare/|last=Radulović|first=Vaska|date=6 December 2019|website=srbi hr|language=sr-RS|access-date=19 May 2020}}</ref> ], and ].


Many Serbs contributed to the Croatian culture, such as trader Hristofor Stanković who founded the first permanent theater building in Gornji Grad, ].<ref>{{Cite web|date=27 December 2018|title=Zaboravljeno zajedništvo: "Da je Hrvat Srbu bratac mio" ⋆ P-portal|url=https://p-portal.net/zaboravljeno-zajednistvo-da-je-hrvat-srbu-bratac-mio/|access-date=12 June 2020|website=P-portal|language=hr}}</ref>
The property laws allegedly favor Croats who immigrated into the previously Serb-dominant areas after having been forced out of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Serbs. Under the current law, a person who occupies someone else's previously vacated house and does not have alternative accommodation (such as their own home or a place in a refugee camp), is allowed to stay in someone else's ] as a refugee, without being charged for squatting. The number of such individuals and families has dropped significantly in the 2000s, and a certain amount of property was returned to its previous owners. However, at the same time not all of the former refugees actually left the same houses, and instead remained in the occupied houses illegally. In 2004, the authorities noted around 1,400 houses still occupied by former refugees, and in 2005, this number was reduced to 385 housing units.


===Religion===
With regard to reparation of war damages, the plight of the Serbs is similar to the plight of the Croats - the money and/or resources offered by the government often amount to only a small fraction of the value of the people's properties prior to the war. There are fewer options to reinstate people's livelihood - it's not really likely to get back one's livestock, or a job in a destroyed factory. In a recent public protest, a group of Serbs from Vukovar who had worked in the Borovo shoe factory demanded that their pre-war employment was honoured as it was for the Croatian employees which has stayed loyal to Croatia during war. Because during Krajina period Serb workers has made payment outside Croatia pension funds (in Krajina pension funds) state position is that they have lost this and many others workers rights .
{{see also|Serbian Orthodox Church}}
] and monument to ] in ]]]
The Serbs of Croatia are predominantly of the ] faith. There are many Eastern Orthodox churches and monasteries across Croatia. Most notable and historically significant are the ], ], ], ] and ]. Many Eastern 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://stmichael-soc.org/background.htm |title=Serbian Orthodox Church History – St Michael Serbian Orthodox Church |publisher=Stmichael-soc.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828032311/http://stmichael-soc.org/background.htm |archive-date=28 August 2008 |url-status=dead|access-date=21 August 2012}}</ref>


In the 1560s a Serbian Orthodox bishop was installed in the Metropolitanate of Požega, seated in the monastery of Remeta.{{sfn|Miller|1997|p=13}} In the 17th century, the ] was founded at ], in the Croatian frontier.{{sfn|Miller|1997|p=13}} These were part of the ], which was re-established in 1557 and lasted under Ottoman governance until 1766.{{sfn|Miller|1997|p=13}} 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.{{sfn|Miller|1997|p=13}}
This has created the situation where many if not most Serbs from the former RSK areas only come to get some reparation and do not continue to actually live in Croatia.


] in ]]]
The successive post-war Governments have consistently worked with the local Serb representatives to rectify the war-related problems, with the support of the international community and under the watch of the independent media, but at the same time, cooperation on the lower levels has been lacking. The participation of the largest Serbian party ] in the ] of ] has eased tensions to an extent, but the refugee situation is still politically sensitive. In 2005 and 2006, the presidents ] of Croatia and ] of Serbia exchanged official visits and both met with the respective national minorities in each country, hoping to improve relations.


Serbs in the Croatian Military Frontier were out of the jurisdiction of the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć and in 1611, after demands from the community, the Pope established the ] (''Vratanija'') with a seat at the Serbian-built ], with a Byzantine ] instated as bishop subordinate 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.<ref name="ER"/><ref name="GEO"/>
On the 2007 elections for local National Councils, there were 274,968 eligible Croatian voters of Serb ethnicity for the County national councils. Only 23,325 voted or 8.48%. For the Civic National Councils there were 131,717 registered Serb voters, 8,413 or 6.39% voted. And for the municipal Serb national councils with 76,697 eligible voters, 11,161 or 14.55% voted.
<gallery>
<!-- Deleted image removed: Image:8002oo7.jpg|Knin - Former Capital of self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina -->


In 1695 Orthodox Eparchy of '']-] and ]'' was established by metropolitan ] and certified by Emperor ] in 1707. In 1735 the Serbian Orthodox protested in the Marča Monastery and became part of the ] until 1753 when the Pope restored the Roman Catholic clergy. On 17 June 1777 the ] was permanently established by ] with its ] at ], near ], thus forming the ] which would after World War I include other people; the ] and ethnic Ukrainians of ].<ref name="ER"/><ref name="GEO"/>
Image:Krajisnikbrkonja20040bv.jpg|An old man of presumably Serb nationality. Unlike the beards that Chetniks wear, the beard seen in the picture is not related to the symbolic struggle against the occupation.
Image:Cuvar_hristovog_groba.jpg| An replica of an outfit that a typical soldier from Krajina might wear.


According to the ], 101,250 (81.72%) Serbs declared themselves as Eastern Orthodox, 11,406 (9.02%) declared as atheists or non-religious, and 2,342 (1.89%) as agnostics. The smaller portion of Serbs declared themselves to be of different confession, with 2,076 (1.67%) being members of various Christian churches, and 2,042 (1.64%) being Catholics. There are 4,004 (3.23%) Serbs whose confession remained undisclosed or unknown.<ref>{{Croatian Census 2021 | E |access-date=14 April 2023}}</ref>
</gallery>


===Language===
{{main|Serbian language in Croatia}}
The Serbian language is officially used in 23 cities and municipalities in Croatia.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pravosudje.hr/europska-povelja-o-regionalnim-ili-manjinskim-jezi |language=hr |publisher=] |title=Europska povelja o regionalnim ili manjinskim jezicima|date=12 April 2011 |access-date=8 February 2012}}</ref>
{{multiple image
| footer = '''Left:''' Bilingual street sign in ] and ] in ]<br />'''Right:''' Graffiti during ]
| width1 = 180
| image1 = Dalj_Street_sign.JPG
| width2 = 180
| image2 = 20130609 Zagreb 041.jpg
}}


In April 2015 the ] urged Croatia to ensure the right of minorities to use their language and alphabet.<ref name="B92-UN">{{cite web |url=http://www.b92.net/eng/news/region.php?yyyy=2015&mm=04&dd=03&nav_id=93697 |title=UN calls on Croatia to ensure use of Serbian Cyrillic |website=B92|date=3 April 2015 |access-date=11 April 2015}}</ref> The committee report stated that particularly concerns surrounded the ] and municipalities concerned.<ref name="B92-UN"/> Serbian Foreign Minister ] stated that Serbia welcomed the UN Human Rights Committee's report.<ref name="Tanjug-UN Serbia reaction">{{cite web |url=http://www.tanjug.rs/news/172551/serbia-welcomes-un-stance-on-use-of-cyrillic-in-croatia.htm |title=Serbia welcomes UN stance on use of Cyrillic in Croatia |website=Tanjug|date=3 April 2015 |access-date=11 April 2015}}</ref>


Although the 2021 census in Croatia listed Serbs as the largest national minority in Croatia, with 3.2% of the total population, the number of people who had declared Serbian language as their native was only 1.16% of the total population (45,004).<ref name="www.dzs.hr">{{cite web |url=http://www.dzs.hr/Hrv/censuses/census2011/results/htm/usp_05_HR.htm |title=Population according to native language |website=dzs.hr}}</ref>
== See also ==


==Politics==
* ]
Serbs are officially recognized as an autochthonous national minority, and as such, they elect three representatives to the ].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sabor.hr/Default.aspx?art=1874 |language=hr |work=Zakon o izborima zastupnika u Hrvatski sabor|publisher=Croatian Parliament |title=Pravo pripadnika nacionalnih manjina u Republici Hrvatskoj na zastupljenost u Hrvatskom saboru |access-date=29 December 2011}}</ref>
* ]

All elected special representatives since ].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!Election
!Representative
!Party
!Term
!Representative
!Party
!Term
!Representative
!Party
!Term
|-
!]
| rowspan="2" |]
| rowspan="2" |]
| rowspan="2" |1995–2003
|Veselin Pejnović
|]
|1995–2000
|]
|]
|1995–2000
|-
!]
| colspan="6" |''not elected under the law''
|-
!]
| rowspan="3" |]
| rowspan="7" |]
| rowspan="3" |2003–2015
| rowspan="2" |Ratko Gajica
| rowspan="7" |]
| rowspan="2" |2003–2011
| rowspan="7" |Milorad Pupovac
| rowspan="7" |]
| rowspan="7" |2003–
|-
!]
|-
!]
|Jovo Vuković
|2011–2015
|-
!]
| rowspan="2" |Mile Horvat
| rowspan="2" |2015–2020
|Mirko Rašković
|2015–2016
|-
!]
| rowspan="2" |]
| rowspan="2" |2016–2024
|-
!]
| rowspan="2" | Dragana Jeckov
| rowspan="2" | 2020–
|-
!]<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.izbori.hr/site/UserDocsImages/2024/Izbori_za_zastupnike_u_Hrvatski_sabor/Rezultati/Sabor%202024.%20Kona%C4%8Dni%20rezultati%20izbora.pdf | language = hr | title = KONAČNE REZULTATE IZBORA ZASTUPNIKA U HRVATSKI SABOR U XII. IZBORNOJ JEDINICI U KOJOJ SE BIRAJU ZASTUPNICI SRPSKE NACIONALNE MANJINE PROVEDENIH 16., 17. I 21. TRAVNJA 2024. | publisher = State Election Commission of the Republic of Croatia | date = 29 April 2024 }}</ref>
| Anja Šimpraga
| 2024–
|}
The major Serb party in Croatia is the ] (SDSS). In the elections from ], the SDSS has won all Serbian seats in the parliament. In the ], the party was part of the ruling coalition led by the conservative ], and SDSS member ] held the post of Deputy Prime Minister.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Pleše|first=Mladen|date=30 December 2012|title=SLOBODAN UZELAC Nije mi žao što sam bio u HDZ-ovoj vladi. Ali, mogli smo bolje|trans-title=SLOBODAN UZELAC I'm not sorry that I was in the HDZ government. But we could have done better|url=https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/slobodan-uzelac-nije-mi-zao-sto-sam-bio-u-hdz-ovoj-vladi.-ali-mogli-smo-bolje-1375557|access-date=6 September 2021|website=Jutarnji list|language=hr}}</ref> After that Serbs again entered government during ], in which Boris Milošević become Deputy Prime Minister and responsible for Social Affairs and Human and Minority Right.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Šobak|first=Mateja|date=13 July 2020|title=SDSS-ov čovjek u Vladi: Rođen u Šibeniku, zovu ga 'Neočekivani' i obožava igrati PlayStation|trans-title=SDSS government man: Born in Šibenik, called 'Unexpected' and loves to play PlayStation|url=https://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/sdss-ov-covjek-u-vladi-roden-u-sibeniku-zovu-ga-neocekivani-i-obozava-igrati-playstation-1416975|access-date=6 September 2021|website=Večernji list|language=hr}}</ref>

There are also ethnic Serb politicians who are members of mainstream political parties, such as the centre-left ]'s MPs and ] members ], ] and ].

==Croatisation==
During the Second World War, the ] regime systematically engaged in the extermination, expulsion and forced conversion of Serbs in Croatia.<ref name="Ramet2011">{{cite book|author=Sabrina P. Ramet|title=Serbia and the Serbs in World War Two|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gkiEDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA237|date=31 October 2011|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|isbn=978-0-230-34781-6|pages=237–}}</ref><ref name="Yeomans2013">{{cite book|author=Rory Yeomans|title=Visions of Annihilation: The Ustasha Regime and the Cultural Politics of Fascism, 1941-1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yxv4-iqVe2wC&pg=PA21|date=April 2013|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Pre|isbn=978-0-8229-7793-3|pages=21–}}</ref> Facing discrimination after the ] (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'.<ref name="Thomas2003">{{cite book|author=Raju G. C. Thomas|title=Yugoslavia Unraveled: Sovereignty, Self-Determination, Intervention|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aSo2AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA14|date=13 October 2003|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-585-45499-3|pages=14,37(note,30)}}</ref>

==Community in Serbia==
] in his laboratory]]
] during work]]
<!-- {{main article|Croatian Serbs 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.<ref name=IIH>{{cite web|title=Izbeglice iz Hrvatske: Bez prava, a Evropljani|work=Večernje novosti|url=http://www.novosti.rs/vesti/naslovna/drustvo/aktuelno.290.html:436817-Izbeglice-iz-Hrvatske-Bez-prava-a-Evropljani}}</ref> In 2011, there were 284,334 Serbs from Croatia living in Serbia (excluding ]), 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.<ref name=IIH/><ref>{{cite web|title=Србија земља са највећим бројем избеглица у Европи|work=Politika|url=http://www.politika.rs/rubrike/Drustvo/Srbija-zemlja-sa-najvecim-brojem-izbeglica-u-Evropi.lt.html}}</ref> The largest part of the Croatian Serb community in Serbia stated that they wished to ] (60.6%), only 4.3% wanted to return to their homes in Croatia, while 27.4% who were undecided.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fale Srbi, al' fale i Hrvati|date=30 May 2002|publisher=Vreme|url=http://www.vreme.com/cms/view.php?id=315168}}</ref>

==Notable people==
{{main|List of Serbs of Croatia}}{{Further|Category:Serbs of Croatia|Category:Croatian people of Serbian descent}}

==See also==
{{portal|Serbia|Croatia}}
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ], elected body acting as a form of self-government and institution of cultural autonomy
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ] * ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ], Croatian Serb Cultural Society
* ]
* ]
* ]


==References==
== External links ==
{{Reflist}}
*
*
*
*


== References == ==Sources==
{{reflist}} {{refbegin|2}}
*{{endnote|census_2001}}
* ''Development of Astronomy among Serbs II'', Publications of the Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade, , Belgrade: M. S. Dimitrijević, 2002.


===Books===
* Vladimir Ćorović. ''Illustrated History of Serbs'', Books 1 - 6. Belgrade: Politika and Narodna Knjiga, 2005
* {{cite book|first=Beverly|last=Allen|title=Rape Warfare: The Hidden Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia|year=1996|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0816628186|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/rapewarfarehidde00alle}}
* {{cite book|last=Artuković|first=Mato|title=Srbi u Hrvatskoj: Khuenovo doba|year=2001|language=hr}}
* {{Cite book|editor-last=Bataković|editor-first=Dušan T.|editor-link=Dušan T. Bataković|title=Histoire du peuple serbe|trans-title=History of the Serbian People|language=fr|date=2005|location=Lausanne|publisher=L’Age d’Homme|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a0jA_LdH6nsC|isbn=9782825119587}}
* {{cite book|last=Begović|first=Nikola|title=Život i običaji Srba-Graničara|publisher=Tiskarski zavod "Narodnih novinah"|year=1887|url=https://archive.org/details/ivotiobiajisrba00begogoog |language=sr}} {{PD-icon}}
* {{cite book|last1=Bideleux|first1=Robert|last2=Jeffries|first2=Ian|title=The Balkans: A Post-Communist History|publisher=The Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies|year=2006|isbn=9780415229623|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/balkanspostcommu0000bide}}
* {{cite book|last=Ćirković|first=Sima|author-link=Sima Ćirković|year=2004|title=The Serbs|location=Malden|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Wc-DWRzoeIC|isbn=9781405142915}}
* {{cite book|last=Ćorović|first=Vladimir|author-link=Vladimir Ćorović|title=Istorija srpskog naroda|edition=Internet|year=2001 |orig-year=1997|location=Belgrade|publisher=Ars Libri|url=http://www.rastko.rs/rastko-bl/istorija/corovic/istorija/index.html}} {{in lang|sh}}
*{{cite book |last=Curta |first=Florin |year=2006 |title=Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250 |url=https://archive.org/details/southeasterneuro0000curt |url-access=registration |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-89452-4}}
* Karl Freiherr von Czoernig: "Ethnographie der österreichischen Monarchie", Vol. II, III, Wien, 1857.
* {{cite book|last=Dakina|first=Gojo Riste|title=Genocide Over the Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia: Be Catholic Or Die|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s1c1AAAAMAAJ|year=1994|publisher=Institute of Contemporary History|isbn=9788674030585}}
* {{cite book|last=Derić|first=Vasilije|title=O Srpskom imenu po zapadnijem krajevima našega naroda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DZ8BAAAAMAAJ|year=1914}}
* {{cite book|last=Đurić|first=Veljko Đ.|title=Prekrštavanje Srba u Nezavisnoj Državi Hrvatskoj: prilozi za istoriju verskog genocida|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q5eBAAAAIAAJ|year=1991|publisher=Alfa}}
* {{cite book|last1=Dvornik |first1=F. |last2=Jenkins |first2=R. J. H. |last3=Lewis |first3=B. |last4=Moravcsik |first4=Gy. |last5=Obolensky |first5=D. |last6=Runciman |first6=S. |editor=P. J. H. Jenkins|title=De Administrando Imperio: Volume II. Commentary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DWVxvgAACAAJ|year=1962|publisher=University of London: The Athlone Press}}
* {{cite book|last=Erdeljanović|first=Jovan|title=O poreklu Bunjevaca|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yV4iAQAAMAAJ|year=1930|publisher=Srpska kraljevska akademija}}
* {{Cite book|last=Fine|first=John Van Antwerp Jr.|author-link=John Van Antwerp Fine Jr.|title=The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century|year=1991|orig-year=1983|location=Ann Arbor, Michigan|publisher=University of Michigan Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0NBxG9Id58C|isbn=0472081497}}
* {{Cite book|last=Fine|first=John Van Antwerp Jr.|author-link=John Van Antwerp Fine Jr.|title=The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest|year=1994|orig-year=1987|location=Ann Arbor, Michigan|publisher=University of Michigan Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LvVbRrH1QBgC|isbn=0472082604}}
* {{Cite book|last=Fine|first=John Van Antwerp Jr.|author-link=John Van Antwerp Fine Jr.|title=When Ethnicity Did Not Matter in the Balkans: A Study of Identity in Pre-Nationalist Croatia, Dalmatia, and Slavonia in the Medieval and Early-Modern Periods|year=2005|location=Ann Arbor, Michigan|publisher=University of Michigan Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wEF5oN5erE0C|isbn=0472025600}}
* {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lVBB1a0rC70C|first=Richard C.|last=Frucht|title=Eastern Europe: An Introduction to the People, Lands, and Culture|year=2005|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-800-6|access-date=18 October 2011}}
* {{cite book|last=Gavrilović|first=Slavko|title=Srbi u Habsburškoj monarhiji: 1792–1849|publisher=Matica srpska|year=1994}}
* {{cite book|last=Gavrilović|first=Slavko|title=Iz istorije Srba u Hrvatskoj, Slavoniji i Ugarskoj: XV-XIX vek|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5oJpAAAAMAAJ|year=1993|publisher=Filip Višnjić |isbn=9788673631264}}
* {{cite journal|last=Grujić|first=Radoslav M.|title=Најстарија српска насеља по северној Хрватској (до 1597. год)|journal=Гласник Српског географског друштва|volume=1|issue=2|year=1912|url=http://www.poreklo.rs/2012/05/17/gruji%C4%87-srpska-naselja-po-severu-hrvatske-do-1579/}}
* {{cite book |last1=Hoare |first1=Marko |title=Genocide and Resistance in Hitler's Bosnia: The Partisans and Chetniks, 1941–1943 |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780191734458 }}
* {{cite journal|last=Ilić|first=Jovan|title=The Serbs in the Former SR of Croatia|journal=The Serbian Questions in the Balkans|year=1995|url=http://www.rastko.rs/istorija/srbi-balkan/jilic-croatia.html}}
* {{cite book|last=Ivić|first=Aleksa|title=Seoba Srba u Hrvatsku i Slavoniju|year=1909|url=https://archive.org/stream/seobasrbauhrvats00ivia |language=sr}} {{PD-icon}}
* {{cite book|last=Ivić|first=Aleksa|title=Историја Срба у Угарској: од пада Смедерева до сеобе под Чарнојевићем (1459–1690)|publisher=Привредникова|location=Zagreb|year=1914|language=sr}} {{PD-icon}}
* {{cite book|last=Jačov|first=Marko|title=Венеција и Срби у Далмацији у XVIII веку|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-LdBAAAAYAAJ|year=1984|publisher=Просвета}}
* {{cite book|last=Jačov|first=Marko|title=Srbi u mletačko-turskim ratovima u XVII veku|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vMM2AAAAMAAJ|year=1990|publisher=Sveti arhijerejski sinod Srpske pravoslavne crkve}}
* {{cite book|last1=Krestić|first1=Vasilije|last2=Milosavljević|first2=Margot|title=History of the Serbs in Croatia and Slavonia 1848–1914|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ZRpAAAAMAAJ|year=1997|publisher=Beogradski izdavačko-grafički zavod|isbn=9788613008880}}
* {{cite book|last=Krestić|first=Vasilije|title=Историја Срба у Хрватској и Славонији 1848–1914|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CBKCpwAACAAJ|year=2010|publisher=Zavod za Udžbenike|isbn=978-86-17-17047-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Leutloff-Grandits|first=Carolin|title=Claiming Ownership in Postwar Croatia: The Dynamics of Property Relations and Ethnic Conflict in the Knin Region|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QfK3q9vSeOMC|year=2006|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|isbn=978-3-8258-8049-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Malcolm|first=Noel|title=Bosnia: A Short History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ToYfeuTfhF8C|date=2002|publisher=Pan Books|isbn=978-0-330-41244-5|access-date=25 March 2016|archive-date=6 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170106042311/https://books.google.com/books?id=ToYfeuTfhF8C|url-status=live}}
* {{cite book|last=Milaš|first=Nikodim|author-link=Nikodim Milaš|title=Pravoslavna Dalmacija: istorijski pregled|location=Novi Sad|publisher=A. Pajevića|year=1901|url=https://archive.org/details/pravoslavnadalma00mila |language=sr}} {{PD-icon}}
* {{cite book|last=Mileusnić|first=Slobodan|title=Spiritual Genocide: A survey of destroyed, damaged and desecrated churches, monasteries and other church buildings during the war 1991–1995 (1997)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_TaPAAAAMAAJ|year=1997|location=Belgrade|publisher=Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church}}
* {{cite book|last=Milinković|first=B.|year=2001|title=O srbima u Hrvatskoj: selektivna bibliografija 1984.-1999. godine.|publisher=Srpsko kulturno društvo Prosvjeta}}
* {{Cite book|last=Miller|first=Nicholas J.|title=Between Nation and State: Serbian Politics in Croatia Before the First World War|year=1997|location=Pittsburgh|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press|isbn=9780822939894|url=https://archive.org/details/betweennationsta00mill_0|url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book|last=Novak|first=Viktor|author-link=Viktor Novak|title=Magnum Crimen: Half a Century of Clericalism in Croatia|volume=1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b1jyvQAACAAJ|year=2011|location=Jagodina|publisher=Gambit|isbn=9788676240494}}
* {{cite book|last=Novak|first=Viktor|author-link=Viktor Novak|title=Magnum Crimen: Half a Century of Clericalism in Croatia|volume=2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vF9GMwEACAAJ|year=2011|location=Jagodina|publisher=Gambit|isbn=9788676240494}}
* {{cite book|last=Pavlowitch|first=Stevan K.|author-link=Stevan K. Pavlowitch|title=Hitler's New Disorder: The Second World War in Yugoslavia|year=2008|location=New York|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=9780231700504|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dI9pAAAAMAAJ}}
* {{cite book|last=Pleterski|first=J.|year=1988|title=Srbi u političkoj strukturi NOB u Hrvatskoj}}
* {{cite book|last=Pupovac|first=M.|year=1999|title=Čuvari imena: Srbi u Hrvatskoj i raspad Jugoslavije|publisher=Prosvjeta}}
* {{cite journal|last=Pupovac|first=M.|year=1997|title=Raspad Jugoslavije i Srbi u Hrvatskoj|journal=Ljetopis Srpskog kulturnog društva Prosvjeta|volume=2|pages=256–264}}
* {{cite book|last=Rudić|first=Vujadin|title=Срби у Хрватској: насељаване, број и територијални размешта|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_kegAAAACAAJ|year=1993|publisher=Ун-т у Београду|isbn=978-86-419-0128-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Štrbac|first=Savo|author-link=Savo Štrbac|title=Gone with the Storm: A Chronicle of Ethnic Cleansing of Serbs from Croatia|year=2015|location=Knin, Banja Luka, Beograd|publisher=Grafid, DIC Veritas|isbn=9789995589806|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uSqBnQAACAAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last=Tomasevich|first=Jozo|author-link=Jozo Tomasevich|title=War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: The Chetniks|volume=1|year=1975|location=Stanford|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=9780804708579|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yoCaAAAAIAAJ}}
* {{Cite book|last=Tomasevich|first=Jozo| author-link=Jozo Tomasevich|title=War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Collaboration|volume=2|year=2001|location=Stanford|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=9780804779241|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fqUSGevFe5MC}}
* {{cite book|last=Trbovich|first=Ana S.|title=A Legal Geography of Yugoslavia's Disintegration|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ojur7dVoxIcC|year=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-533343-5}}


===Journals===
* Nicholas J. Miller. ''Between Nation and State: Serbian Politics in Croatia before the First World War,'' Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997.
* {{cite journal|last1=Berber|first1=M.|last2=Grbić|first2=B.|last3=Pavkov|first3=S.|year=2008|title=Changes in the share of ethnic Croats and Serbs in Croatia by town and municipality based on the results of censuses from 1991 and 2001|journal=Stanovništvo|volume=46|issue=2|pages=23–62|doi=10.2298/stnv0802023b|doi-access=free}}
* {{cite journal|last=Božić|first=Sofija|title=Serbs in Croatia (1918–1929): Between the myth of "Greater-Serbian Hegemony" and social reality|journal=Balcanica|year=2010|issue=41|pages=185–208|doi=10.2298/BALC1041185B|url=http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/ft.aspx?id=0350-76531041185B|doi-access=free}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Đurđev|first1=Branislav S.|last2=Livada|first2=Svetozar|last3=Arsenović|first3=Daniela|title=The disappearance of Serbs in Croatia|journal=Zbornik Matice Srpske Za Društvene Nauke|volume=148|year=2014|pages=583–591}}
* {{cite journal|last=Gavrilović|first=Slavko|title=Srbi u Hrvatskoj i Slavoniji u narodnom pokretu 1848–1849|journal=Zbornik O Srbima U Hrvatskoj|volume=1|location=Beograd|publisher=SANU|year=1989|pages=9–32|language=sr}}
* {{cite journal|last=Gavrilović|first=Slavko|title=Migracije iz Gornje krajine u Slavoniju i Srem od početka XVIII. do sredine XIX. veka|journal=Zbornik O Srbima U Hrvatskoj|volume=2|location=Beograd|year=1991}}
* {{cite journal|last=Grujić|first=Radoslav M.|title=Najstarija srpska naselja po severnoj Hrvatskoj|journal=Glasnik srpskog geografskog društva|year=1912}}
* {{cite journal|last=Ilić|first=J.|year=2006|title=The Serbs in Croatia before and after the break-up of Yugoslavia|journal=Zbornik Matice Srpske Za Društvene Nauke|volume=120|issue=120|publisher=Matica srpska|url=http://scindeks-clanci.nb.rs/data/pdf/0352-5732/2006/0352-57320620253I.pdf|pages=253–270|doi=10.2298/ZMSDN0620253I}} {{dead link|date=May 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}
* {{cite journal|last=Ivanović-Barišić|first=M. M.|year=2004|title=Serbs in Croatia: Ethnological reflections|journal=Teme|volume=28|issue=2|url=http://scindeks-clanci.nb.rs/data/pdf/0353-7919/2004/0353-79190402779I.pdf|pages=779–788}} {{dead link|date=March 2018}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Lajić|first1=I.|last2=Bara|first2=M.|year=2010|title=Effects of the war in Croatia 1991–1995 on changes in the share of ethnic Serbs in the ethnic composition of Slavonia|journal=Stanovništvo|volume=48|pages=49–73|url=http://scindeks-clanci.nb.rs/data/pdf/0038-982X/2010/0038-982X1001049L.pdf|doi=10.2298/stnv1001049l|doi-access=free}} {{dead link|date=March 2018}}
* {{cite journal|last=Ljušić|first=Radoš|title=The Dalmatian Serbs: One nation and two religions: The examples of Marko Murat and Nikodim Milaš|journal=Anali Pravnog Fakulteta U Beogradu|volume=60|issue=2|year=2012|pages=26–55}}
* {{cite journal|last=Mirkovic|first=D.|s2cid=72467680|year=2000|title=The historical link between the Ustasha genocide and the Croato-Serb civil war: 1991-1995|journal=Journal of Genocide Research|volume=2|issue=3|pages=363–373|doi=10.1080/713677614}}
* {{cite journal|last=Roksandić|first=Drago|title=O Srbima u hrvatskim zemljama u Mrkaljevo doba|journal=Književnost|volume=4–5|pages=520–534|year=1984}}
* {{cite web |last=Škiljan|first=Filip|title=Znameniti Srbi u Hrvatskoj|location=Zagreb|year=2009|url=http://snv.hr/file/attachment/file/znameniti-srbi-u-hrvatskoj.pdf}}
* {{cite journal|last=Škiljan|first=Filip|title=Identitet Srba u Hrvatskoj|journal=Croatian Political Science Review|volume=51|issue=2|location=Zagreb|year=2014|url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/126052}}
* {{cite journal|last=Stojanović|first=M.|year=2004|title=Serbs in Eastern Croatia|journal=Glasnik Etnografskog muzeja u Beogradu|volume=67–68|url=http://scindeks-clanci.nb.rs/data/pdf/0350-0322/2004/0350-03220468387S.pdf|pages=387–390}} {{dead link|date=May 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}
* {{cite journal|last=Stokes|first=Gale|s2cid=158041383|title=From nation to minority: Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia at the outbreak of the Yugoslav wars|journal=Problems of Post-Communism|volume=52|issue=6|pages=3–20|year=2005|doi=10.1080/10758216.2005.11052224}}
* {{cite journal|last=Seim |first=Øyvind Hvenekilde |s2cid=143695144 |year=2008|title=Including the Serbs of Croatia into Croatia's History Writing|journal=Glasnik Etnografskog muzeja u Beogradu|volume=21|pages=55–67 |doi=10.1353/ser.0.0041}}
* {{Cite journal|last= Sadkovich|first=James |year=2010|title= Forging Consensus: How Franjo Tuđman Became an Authoritarian Nationalist|journal= Review of Croatian History|volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=7–35|url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/67472}}
* {{Cite book|last=Živković|first=Tibor|author-link=Tibor Živković|year=2006|title=Портрети српских владара: IX-XII век|trans-title=Portraits of Serbian Rulers: IX-XII Century|language=sr|location=Београд|publisher=Завод за уџбенике и наставна средства|isbn=9788617137548|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d-KTAAAACAAJ}}


===Documents===
* OSCE Report on Croatian treatment of Serbs
*{{cite web |title=OSCE Report on Croatian treatment of Serbs|year=2004|publisher=OSCE|url=http://www.osce.org/documents/mc/2004/04/2783_en.pdf}}
*{{cite web |title=The Status of the Croatian Serb Population in Bosnia and Herzegovina|publisher=United Nations High Commission for Refugees|url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/pdfid/3eccfafc2.pdf}}
*{{cite book |editor=Davidov, Dinko|title=War damage sustained by orthodox churches in Serbian areas of Croatia in 1991|publisher=Ministry of Information|location=Belgrade|year=1992}}
*{{Cite web |title=Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Croatia v. Serbia) – Summary of the Judgment of 3 February 2015|url=https://www.icj-cij.org/files/case-related/118/18450.pdf|date=3 February 2015|publisher=International Court of Justice (ICJ)|ref={{harvid|ICJ|2015}}}}
*{{cite web|ref={{harvid|ICTY|2012}}|publisher=]|title=Appeals Judgement Summary for Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/gotovina/acjug/en/121116_summary.pdf|date=16 November 2012}}
*{{cite web|ref={{harvid|HRW|1996}}|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/c/croatia/croatia968.pdf|title=Croatia: Impunity for abuses committed during "Operation Storm" and the denial of the right of refugees to return to the Krajina|publisher=]|date=August 1996}}
*{{cite web|ref={{harvid|Amnesty|2017}}|title=Amnesty International report 2016/2017 | url=https://www.amnesty.nl/content/uploads/2017/02/POL1048002017ENGLISH.pdf?x93624| publisher=] | date=1 January 2017}}


===News===
* {{note|Srb}} In an interview on Fokus (30 September 2005), Croat academic ] explained that the name of Srb originates from an old Croatian verb serbati, srebati meaning "to sip", from which the noun "srb" has been derived. Thus "srb" denotes the spring of river Una, where the village lies. Compare this with the villages of Srbani (near Pula), and Srbinjak, both in Istria, which clearly have nothing to do with the Serbian name. The ] from 13th century mentions the name of srbar, meaning a water spring.
*{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31104973 |title=Court rejects Balkan genocide claims |language=en-GB |date=3 February 2015 |work=BBC News|access-date=30 December 2018|ref={{harvid|BBC News|2015}}}}
{{refend}}


==External links==
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* {{cite web|title=Prosvjeta|publisher=SKD "Prosvjeta"|url=http://prosvjeta.net/}}
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* (see "Censuses" at ''Crostat Database'')


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{{Genocide of Serbs}}
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Latest revision as of 07:39, 30 December 2024

National minority in Croatia

F

"Croatian Serbian" redirects here. For the language, see Serbo-Croatian. Ethnic group
Serbs of Croatia
Срби у Хрватској
Srbi u Hrvatskoj
Flag of Serbs of Croatia as defined by the Serb National Council
Total population
123,892 (2021)
Languages
Croatian and Serbian
(standard varieties of Serbo-Croatian)
Religion
Serbian Orthodox Church
Related ethnic groups
Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbs of Vojvodina, Serbs of Montenegro, Kosovo Serbs
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The Serbs of Croatia (Serbo-Croatian: Срби у Хрватској / Srbi u Hrvatskoj) or Croatian Serbs (Serbo-Croatian: Хрватски Срби / Hrvatski Srbi) constitute the largest national minority in Croatia. The community is predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christian by religion, as opposed to the Croats who are Catholic.

In some regions of modern-day Croatia, mainly in southern Dalmatia, ethnic Serbs possibly have been present from the Early Middle Ages. Serbs from modern-day Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina started actively migrating to Croatia at a time the Habsburg monarchy was engaged in a series of wars against the Ottoman Empire. Several migration waves happened after 1538, when the Emperor Ferdinand I granted them the right to settle on the territory of the Military Frontier. In exchange for land and exemption from taxation, they had to conduct military service and participate in the protection of the border. They populated the Dalmatian Hinterland, Lika, Kordun, Banovina, Slavonia, and western Syrmia. From the beginning of the 20th century, the Croat-Serb Coalition led by Croat Frano Supilo and Serb Svetozar Pribićević governed the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia until the dissolution of Austria-Hungary. After the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918 (later renamed to Yugoslavia), a few thousand Serbs moved to Croatian territory. During World War II, Serbs were targeted for extermination as part of genocide by the Ustashas in the Nazi German puppet state Independent State of Croatia (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 and proclaimed the Republic of Serbian Krajina (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's Operation Storm, the RSK ceased to exist, its territory was reincorporated into Croatia, and approximately 200,000 Serbs fled from the country. In the post-war period, Serbs were exposed to discriminatory measures and rhetoric, including barriers to employment and property rights, and use of the minority languages. Denial of genocide in the NDH has also been a prominent issue at times. Following the 2020 elections, Boris Milošević, member of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) and President of the Serb National Council, was elected one of the four Deputy Prime Ministers. Shortly afterward, the Croatian authorities and representatives of the Serbs marked the events of the 1991–95 war together. The expelled Croatian Serbs were the largest refugee population in Europe prior to the 2022 Ukraine war.

Many prominent Croatian Serbs have become internationally recognized in their fields, such as Nikola Tesla, Milutin Milanković, Sava Šumanović, Rade Šerbedžija, Siniša Mihajlović and Peja Stojaković. According to the 2021 census, there were 123,892 Serbs living in Croatia (3.2% of the population) which are recognized as a national minority by the Croatian Constitution and therefore have three permanent seats in the Croatian Parliament.

Overview

Traditional elements of their identity are the Orthodox faith, Cyrillic script and military history, while modern elements are language and literature, civic, social and political values, concern for ethnic status and national organisation, and celebration of the Liberation of Yugoslavia.

According to the 2021 census there were 123,892 ethnic Serbs 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 as the 1991 pre-war census had reported 581,663 Serbs living in Croatia, 12.2% of the total population.

History

Medieval history

Fresco of Mihailo Vojislavljević in the Church of St. Michael in Ston.

In the 10th-century De Administrando Imperio (DAI), the lands of Konavle, Zahumlje and Pagania (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. However, some scholars like Francis Dvornik, Tibor Živković, and Neven Budak doubt such a claim and 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. John Van Antwerp Fine Jr. and Noel Malcolm believe that what is today western and proper Bosnia and Herzegovina was part of Croatia, while the rest was divided between Croatia and Serbia. Some members of the Serbian royal family took refuge in Croatia amid dynastic rivalry and war with the First Bulgarian Empire in the 9th and 10th century.

Krka monastery, one of the oldest Serbian Orthodox monasteries in Croatia

Stefan Vojislav (r. 1018–1043) ruled a territory that included the coastal region from Ston in the north down to Skadar by 1040 after his rebellion against Byzantine rule. Mihailo Vojislavljević (1050–1081) built the St. Michael's Church in Ston, 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, 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 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 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, but their dating to the 14th century is controversial and improbable, as among other evidence and forgeries, have Romanesque and Gothic architectural characteristics uncommon for the style of Byzantine-Orthodox churches, showing instead 16th and later centuries foundation.

According to Yugoslav ethnologist Jovan Erdeljanović, members of the Orlović clan settled in Lika and Senj in 1432, later joining the Uskoks. In 1436 on the Cetina, 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 RascianosRascians) and on 22 November 1447, the Hungarian King Ladislaus V wrote a letter which mentioned "Rascians, who live in our cities of Medvedgrad, Rakovac, both Kalinik and in Koprivnica". Matthias Corvinus complained in a letter from 1462 that 200,000 peoples during the previous three years had been taken from his country by Turks, but this information was mistakenly used in Serbian and other historiographies as a reference for Serb migration to Hungary. After the Ottoman conquests of Serbia and capture of Smederevo fortress 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 eastern Croatia.

Early modern period

Map of demographic distribution of main religious confessions in Croatia, Dalmatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro in 1901:   Catholic
  Muslim
  Orthodox
  Protestant
  Mixed Catholic and Orthodox
  Mixed Catholic and Protestant

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. 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 (Lipavina) and Marča Monastery ( Eparchy of Marča ). The Habsburg Empire encouraged people from the Ottoman Empire to settle as free peasant soldiers, establishing the Military Frontiers (Militärgrenze) in 1522 (hence they were known as Grenzers, Krajišnici). When it comes to the Austrian colonization of the Turkish Vlachs to Slavonian Military Frontier and the Vlachs in the Croatian Military Frontier 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 encouraged people from the Ottoman Empire to settle as free peasant soldiers, establishing the Military Frontiers (Militärgrenze) in 1522 (hence they were known as Grenzers, Krajišnici). They were mostly of Orthodox faith, Serbs and Vlachs (Romance-speaking). Catholic Vlachs were assimilated into Croats, while the Orthodox, under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Church, assimilated into Serbs.

Serbian frontiersman in Syrmia, Military Frontier, 1742

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. By 1538, the Croatian and Slavonian Military Frontier were established. Austrians offered land to Serbs and Vlachs which acted as the cordon sanitaire together with Croats against Turkish incursions from the Ottoman Empire. The Military frontiers are virtually identical to the present Serbian settlements (war-time Republic of Serbian Krajina). 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 Cristoforo Valier mentions three nations constituting the Uskoks: "natives of Senj, Croatians, and Morlachs from the Turkish parts". Many of the Uskoks, who fought a guerrilla war with the Ottoman Empire were Orthodox Christian Serbs, who fled from Ottoman Turkish rule and settled in White Carniola and Žumberak. The Vlachs from Glamoč, 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 or Serbs but also to cattle breeders in general. 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.

Serb national costume from Knin, 1899

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, Stjepan I. 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, which immediately joined the Kingdom of Serbia to form the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Throughout the history of the Serbs in Dalmatia, the Catholic clergy, particularly through the efforts of the Archbishop of Split, sought to assert their supreme authority over the "schismatics." The formation of the Serbian identity of Vlachs 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 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 (1690–1739). In 1695, Serbian Patriarch Arsenije III Čarnojević organized the SPC's hierarchy in Croatia – the territory of the Military Frontier was 'subjugated' to the Eparchy of Gornji Karlovac, and Varaždin Generalate and the rest of Croatia to the Eparchy of Pakrac (since 1705). The Serbianisation 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.

Serbian costumes from Dalmatia, the end of the 19th and early 20th century

In the 1860s, the Serbian thought began spreading among the Orthodox Christians in the Kingdom of Dalmatia. 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, 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, 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 and Montenegro with their idea of unification of the South Slavs, appealing. With the creation of Yugoslavia, 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. According to the 1844 Ilija Garašanin'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). 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. 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 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. 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, which was particularly strong during the reign of Károly Khuen-Héderváry over Croatia.

Left: Matija Ban, poet and dramatist, member of Serb-Catholic movement in Dubrovnik
Right: Josip Runjanin, composer of Croatian national anthem

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 (also known as the Croatian National Revival) and Yugoslavian 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, Ilija Garašanin and Jovan Subotić started writing of Dalmatia as a "Serbian land", and the recognition of Serbia as an independent state at the 1878 Congress of Berlin, 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. 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 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 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 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 in Zagreb, the Association of Serbian Agricultural Cooperatives and the Serbian Business Association 'Privrednik'.

House in Dalj where Milutin Milanković was born, today hosts the Cultural and Scientific Center

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 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 will be Croats." Enraged crowds reacted by burning Serbian flags and attacking Serb-owned shops, and buildings used by the Serbian institutions.

Svetozar Pribićević, one of the founders of the Croat-Serb Coalition and Vice President of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs

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 (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 received 12,917 votes and only 3 seats, while the Serb Independent Party 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 the World War I, 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's associates took advantage of some provocations and the anger of the people after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serb Gavrilo Princip 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 held a rally in which they spoke against the violence. 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, in which protesters attacked Serbian Society "Dušan Magnificant" Riots have been reported in Zadar, Metković, Bjelovar, Virovitica and Konavle where protesters burned the Serbian flag. In Đakovo and Slavonski Brod riots become so violent that the army intervention was requested. In addition, a curfew was imposed in the town of Petrinja. In Vukovar and Zemun police managed to prevent more clashes. Most Serbs in Croatia approved assassination. Cases of provocation, such as showing images of King Peter I of Serbia, 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 and Kingdom of Serbia merged in 1918 into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. 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, increased. Relative growth in the number of Serb citizens was recorded in Virovitica (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. Although most of the Serbian parties in Croatia have been co-operating with Croatian Peasant Party 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 which had Serb majority.

World War II

Main articles: World War II in Yugoslavia, Independent State of Croatia, Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia, The Holocaust in the Independent State of Croatia, and Chetnik war crimes in World War II
Stone Flower, a monument to the victims of Jasenovac death camp, which was part of the Genocide of Serbs committed by Ustashe

Following the Invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, the Axis powers occupied the entire territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and established a puppet state, the so-called Independent State of Croatia (NDH) on the territory of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. The Ustaše 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. 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 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.

Prisoners in the Sisak concentration camp which was especially created for children

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 who were particularly strong in the regions of Lika, Kordun 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 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, Drvar and Bosansko Grahovo. The uprisings in the NDH were a reaction to the genocide policies of the Ustaše towards the Serbs. 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 Chetnik movement operated as "legalised" auxiliary forces under Axis control. They had collaboration agreements with the Italians in occupied Dalmatia and, after the Italian capitulation in September 1943, with the Germans directly. They also collaborated with some of the Ustashe forces in northern Bosnia and they fought together against the Yugoslav Partisans during the Case White. Contracting parties obliged to a joint struggle against the Partisans, in return, Serb villages would be protected by the NDH authorities together with the Chetniks from "attacks by communists, so-called Partisans". The goal of the Chetniks, based on a 1941 directive, was the creation of an ethnically homogeneous Greater Serbia. 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 against the Croat and Muslim civilian populations. Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the Chetniks in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina range from 50,000 to 68,000. In April 1943, Đujić's Chetniks set up a prison and execution site in the village of Kosovo (today Biskupija), near Knin. Thousands of local civilians, (both Croats and even Serb Anti-Fascists) including women and children, as well as captured Partisans, were held and mistreated at this prison, while hundreds of prisoners (as many as over 1,000) were tortured and killed at an execution site near a ravine close to the camp. Chetnik propaganda claimed that the Partisan resistance consisted of Jews. Some Jews who hid in the countryside were killed and robbed by Chetniks. As the Chetniks increased their cooperation with the Germans, their attitude toward the Jews in the areas under their control deteriorated, and they identified the Jews with the hated Communists. There were many instances of Chetniks murdering Jews or handing them over to the Germans.

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 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. In 1944 the Chetniks recognized the sovereignty of the Independent State of Croatia and became a legalized movement in it. The necessary ammunition and provisions were supplied to the Chetniks by the Ustaše military. Chetniks who were wounded in such operations would be cared for in NDH hospitals, while the orphans and widows of Chetniks killed in action would be supported by the Ustaše state. The agreements did not stop crimes against Serbs by the Ustaše or against Muslims and Croats by the Chetniks. In early May 1945 Chetnik forces withdrew through Ustaše-held Zagreb; many of these were later killed, along with captured Ustaše, by the Partisans as part of the Bleiburg repatriations. 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.

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) 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".

Croatian War of Independence

See also: Breakup of Yugoslavia, Croatian War of Independence, and Yugoslav Wars
Territorial extent of Republic of Serbian Krajina, proclaimed unilaterally in 1991 and disestablished in 1995

Amid rising Serbian nationalism and tensions between Yugoslav republics during the breakup of Yugoslavia, on 8 July 1989 Serbs held a rally in Knin during which numerous Chetnik symbols were exhibited and a JNA military intervention against Croatia was invoked. 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 the Croatian government, violence against Croats and refused to recognize legally elected Croatian authorities. By this point, several opposition parties in Serbia, such as Vojislav Šešelj's Serbian Radical Party, were openly calling for a Greater Serbia that would incorporate Serbs living in different regions of Yugoslavia into one state, rejecting the then existing boundaries of the republics as the artificial creation of Tito's Partisans. The crisis in Yugoslavia was furthered fueled by Serbian President Slobodan Milošević, who supported these groups. Milošević "endorsed a Serbian nationalist agenda" and "exploited a growing wave of Serbian nationalism in order to strengthen centralised rule in the SFRY". The republics of Croatia and Slovenia eventually sought to secede from Yugoslavia following disagreements between the republics regarding the structure of the federal government.

Tension grew following the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) 's victory in the 1990 general election, led by Franjo Tudjman, since one of its political goals was Croatia's independence from Yugoslavia. Jovan Rašković, leader of SDS, refused to participate in the work of the Croatian Parliament 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, 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.

On 22 December 1990, Croatian Parliament ratified a new constitution in which Serbs were classified as a national minority. Previously Serbs were considered autochthonous constituent 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. 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, or by saying that the numbers of people killed in Jasenovac, one of the largest extermination camp in Europe, were inflated. 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 (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 (according to the ICTY), 250,000 (according to Human Rights Watch) and 500,000 (according to the UNHCR), and hundreds of Croat and other non-Serb civilians were killed. There were numerous instances of war crimes against Croat civilians and prisoners of war perpetrated by Serb and Yugoslav forces in Croatia. Among them, the Dalj massacre, the Lovas killings, the Baćin massacre, the Voćin massacre, the Vukovar massacre, the Škabrnja massacre, the Tovarnik massacre, the Široka Kula massacre, Petrinja killings and the Zagreb rocket attacks. According to the Croatian Association of Prisoners in Serbian Concentration Camps, a total of 8,000 Croatian civilians and prisoners of war (a large number after the fall of Vukovar) went through Serb prison camps such as Velepromet camp, Sremska Mitrovica camp, Stajićevo camp, Begejci camp and others where they were subjected to abuse and torture. A total of 300 people died in them.

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. War crimes were also committed by Croatian forces against Serb civilians. Serb prisoners were detained and tortured in camps such as Lora, Pakračka Poljana, and Marino Selo. The war ended with a Croatian military success in Operation Storm in 1995 and subsequent peaceful reintegration of the remaining renegade territory in eastern Slavonia in 1998 as a result of the signed Erdut Agreement from 1995. Local Serbs, on the ground that Agreement, established the Serb National Council and gained the right to establish 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 International Court of Justice (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 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 (HRW) estimated that more than 5,000 houses were destroyed in the area during and after the battle. Out of the 122 Serbian Orthodox 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 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, such as the Varivode massacre, the Kijani massacre and the Golubić massacre.

At the ICTY, Milan Babić 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, 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, Radmilo Bogdanović, Veljko Kadijević, Radovan Karadžić, Slobodan Milošević, Ratko Mladić, Vojislav Šešelj, Franko Simatović, Jovica Stanišić, 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 and Republika Srpska. After Croatian and other Yugoslav Wars, 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 the Independent State of Croatia. 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. 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 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 found a wartime termination of occupancy rights of a Serbian family to violate ICCPR. 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. In 2013, 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 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 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, Boris Milošević, member of the Independent Democratic Serb Party and President of the Serb National Council, 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. 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 (President of Croatia), Tomo Medved (Minister of Croatian Veterans), along with members of the Independent Democratic Serb Party, Milorad Pupovac and Deputy Prime Minister Milošević, attended a commemoration of the Grubori massacre, the mass murder of elderly Serbs civilians.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Croatia

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 three-quarters in the aftermath of the 1991–95 War in Croatia as the 1991 pre-war census had reported 581,663 Serbs living in Croatia, 12.2% of the total population.

Serbs in Croatia, 1991Serbs in Croatia, 2011Municipalities in Croatia where Serbian language is in official use
Year Serbs %
1900 548,302 17.35%
1910 564,214 16.60%
1921 584,058 16.94%
1931 636,518 16.81%
1948 543,795 14.47%
1953 588,411 15.01%
1961 624,956 15.02%
1971 626,789 14.16%
1981 531,502 11.55%
1991 581,663 12.16%
2001 201,631 4.54%
2011 186,633 4.36%
2021 123,892 3.20%

Counties

Counties with significant Serb minority (7.50% or more):

County Serbs %
Vukovar-Srijem County 19,309 13.49%
Lika-Senj County 4,062 9.50%
Sisak-Moslavina County 12,153 8.71%
Šibenik-Knin County 8,064 8.37%
Karlovac County 8,683 7.74%

Cities

Cities with significant Serb minority (10% or more):

Municipalities

Municipalities with significant Serb population (10% or more):

Culture

See also: Serbian 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, 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.

Religion

See also: Serbian Orthodox Church
Serbian Orthodox Cathedral and monument to Petar Preradović in Zagreb

The Serbs of Croatia are predominantly of the Serbian Orthodox faith. There are many Eastern Orthodox churches and monasteries across Croatia. Most notable and historically significant are the Krka monastery, Krupa monastery, Dragović monastery, Lepavina Monastery and Gomirje monastery. Many Eastern 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 re-established 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.

Eparchy of Osječko polje and Baranja in Dalj

Serbs in the Croatian Military Frontier were out of the jurisdiction of the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć and in 1611, after demands from the community, the Pope established the Eparchy of Marča (Vratanija) with a seat at the Serbian-built Marča Monastery, with a Byzantine vicar instated as bishop subordinate 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 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 was permanently established by Pope Pius VI with its Episcopal see at Križevci, near Zagreb, thus forming the Croatian Greek Catholic Church which would after World War I include other people; the Rusyns and ethnic Ukrainians of Yugoslavia.

According to the 2021 Croatian census, 101,250 (81.72%) Serbs declared themselves as Eastern Orthodox, 11,406 (9.02%) declared as atheists or non-religious, and 2,342 (1.89%) as agnostics. The smaller portion of Serbs declared themselves to be of different confession, with 2,076 (1.67%) being members of various Christian churches, and 2,042 (1.64%) being Catholics. There are 4,004 (3.23%) Serbs whose confession remained undisclosed or unknown.

Language

Main article: Serbian language in Croatia

The Serbian language is officially used in 23 cities and municipalities in Croatia.

Left: Bilingual street sign in Croatian and Serbian in Dalj
Right: Graffiti during anti-Cyrillic protests

In April 2015 the United Nations Human Rights Committee 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 stated that Serbia welcomed the UN Human Rights Committee's report.

Although the 2021 census in Croatia listed Serbs as the largest national minority in Croatia, with 3.2% of the total population, the number of people who had declared Serbian language as their native was only 1.16% of the total population (45,004).

Politics

Serbs are officially recognized as an autochthonous national minority, and as such, they elect three representatives to the Croatian Parliament.

All elected special representatives since 1995 Parliamentary elections.

Election Representative Party Term Representative Party Term Representative Party Term
1995 Milan Đukić SNS 1995–2003 Veselin Pejnović SNS 1995–2000 Milorad Pupovac ASH 1995–2000
2000 not elected under the law
2003 Vojislav Stanimirović SDSS 2003–2015 Ratko Gajica SDSS 2003–2011 Milorad Pupovac SDSS 2003–
2007
2011 Jovo Vuković 2011–2015
2015 Mile Horvat 2015–2020 Mirko Rašković 2015–2016
2016 Boris Milošević 2016–2024
2020 Dragana Jeckov 2020–
2024 Anja Šimpraga 2024–

The major Serb party in Croatia is the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS). In the elections from 2003, the SDSS has won all Serbian seats in the parliament. In the Cabinet of Ivo Sanader II, the party was part of the ruling coalition led by the conservative Croatian Democratic Union, and SDSS member Slobodan Uzelac 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's MPs and Milanović cabinet members Željko Jovanović, Branko Grčić 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

A picture of Nikola Tesla in his laboratory
Notable Yugoslav and Croatian sculptor Vojin Bakić during work

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 (excluding Kosovo), 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

Main article: List of Serbs of CroatiaFurther information: Category:Serbs of Croatia and Category:Croatian people of Serbian descent

See also

References

  1. "Population by Ethnicity/Citizenship/Mother tongue/Religion by Towns/Municipalities" (xlsx). Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in 2021. Zagreb: Croatian Bureau of Statistics. 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  2. Jones, Adam (2023). Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction. Taylor & Francis. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-000-95870-6.
  3. "Srbi u Hrvatskoj zabrinuti da će nestati".
  4. Fine 1991, p. 53.
  5. Sima M. Ćirković (2008). Srbi među Europsim narodima (The Serbs), p. 26-27
  6. Dvornik et al. 1962, pp. 138–139, 142: He probably saw that in his time all these tribes were in the Serb sphere of influence, and therefore called them Serbs, thus ante-dating by three centuries the state of affairs in his day... It is obvious that the small retinue of the Serbian prince could not have populated Serbia, Zachlumia, Terbounia and Narenta.
  7. Živković 2006, p. 60–61:Data on the family origin of Mihailo Višević indicate that his family did not belong to a Serbian or Croatian tribe, but to another Slavic tribe who lived along the Vistula River and who joined the Serbs during the migration during the reign of Emperor Heraclius. The introduction of Mihajlo Višević and his family by Porphyrogenitus suggests that the rulers of Zahumlje until his time belonged to this ruling family, so that, both in Serbia and Croatia, and in Zahumlje, there would be a very early established principle of inheriting power by members of one family. Constantine Porphyrogenitus explicitly calls the inhabitants of Zahumlje Serbs who have settled there since the time of Emperor Heraclius, but we cannot be certain that the Travunians, Zachlumians and Narentines in the migration period to the Balkans were Serbs or Croats or Slavic tribes which in alliance with Serbs or Croats arrived in the Balkans. The emperor-writer says that all these principalities are inhabited by Serbs, but this is a view from his time when the process of ethnogenesis had already reached such a stage that the Serbian name became widespread and generally accepted throughout the land due to Serbia's political domination. Therefore, it could be concluded that in the middle of the 10th century the process of ethnogenesis in Zahumlje, Travunija, and Paganija was probably completed, because the emperor's informant collected data from his surroundings and transferred to Constantinople the tribal sense of belonging of the inhabitants of these archons ... The Byzantine writings on the De Ceremoniis, which were also written under the patronage of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, listed the imperial orders to the surrounding peoples. The writings cite orders from the archons of Croats, Serbs, Zahumljani, Kanalites, Travunians, Duklja and Moravia. The above-mentioned orders may have originated at the earliest during the reign of Emperor Theophilus (829 - 842) and represent the earliest evidence of the political fragmentation of the South Slavic principalities, that is, they confirm their very early formation. It is not known when Zahumlje was formed as a separate principality. All the news that Constantine Porphyrogenitus provides about this area agrees that it has always been so - that is, since the seventh-century settlement in the time of Emperor Heraclius. It is most probable that the prefects in the coastal principalities recognized the supreme authority of the Serbian ruler from the very beginning, but that they aspired to become independent, which took place according to the list of orders preserved in the book De Ceremoniis, no later than the first half of the 9th century. A falsified and highly controversial papal charter from 743 also mentions Zahumlje and Travunija as separate areas. If the basic information about these countries were correct, it would mean that they formed as very early principalities that were practically independent of the archon of Serbia.
  8. Budak, Neven (1994). Prva stoljeća Hrvatske (PDF). Zagreb: Hrvatska sveučilišna naklada. pp. 58–61. ISBN 953-169-032-4. Glavnu poteškoću uočavanju etničke raznolikosti Slavena duž jadranske obale činilo je tumačenje Konstantina Porfirogeneta, po kojemu su Neretvani (Pagani), Zahumljani, Travunjani i Konavljani porijeklom Srbi. Pri tome je car dosljedno izostavljao Dukljane iz ove srpske zajednice naroda. Čini se, međutim, očitim da car ne želi govoriti ο stvarnoj etničkoj povezanosti, već da su mu pred očima politički odnosi u trenutku kada je pisao djelo, odnosno iz vremena kada su za nj prikupljani podaci u Dalmaciji. Opis se svakako odnosi na vrijeme kada je srpski knez Časlav proširio svoju vlast i na susjedne sklavinije, pored navedenih još i na Bosnu. Zajedno sa širenjem političke prevlasti, širilo se i etničko ime, što u potpunosti odgovara našim predodžbama ο podudarnosti etničkog i političkog nazivlja. Upravo zbog toga car ne ubraja Dukljane u Srbe, niti se srpsko ime u Duklji/Zeti udomaćilo prije 12. stoljeća. Povjesničari koji su bez imalo zadrške Dukljane pripisivali Srbima, pozivali su se na Konstantina, mada im on nije za takve teze davao baš nikakve argumente, navodeći Dukljane isključivo pod njihovim vlastitim etnonimom.
  9. Curta 2006, p. 210: According to Constantine Porphyrogenitus, the Slavs of the Dalmatian zhupanias of Pagania, Zahumlje, Travounia, and Konavli all "descended from the unbaptized Serbs."51 This has been rightly interpreted as an indication that in the mid-tenth century the coastal zhupanias were under the control of the Serbian zhupan Časlav, who ruled over the regions in the interior and extended his power westwards across the mountains to the coast.
  10. Fine 1991, p. 53(I):The Croats settled in Croatia, Dalmatia, and western Bosnia. The rest of Bosnia seems to have been territory between Serb and Croatian rule.
  11. Malcolm 2002, p. 8:The Serbs settled in an area corresponding to modern south-western Serbia (a territory which later in the middle ages became known as Raška or Rascia), and gradually extended their rule into the territories of Duklje or Dioclea (Montenegro) and Hum or Zachumlje (Hercegovina). The Croats settled in areas roughly corresponding to modern Croatia, and probably also including most of Bosnia proper, apart from the eastern strip of the Drina valley.
  12. Fine 1991, p. 141, 150.
  13. Fine 1991, p. 206.
  14. Pavle Ivić (1995). The history of Serbian culture. Porthill Publishers. p. 101. ISBN 9781870732314.
  15. Sedlar, Jean W. (2011). East Central Europe in the Middle Ages. University of Washington Press. p. 280. ISBN 978-0295800646. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  16. Fine 1991, p. 236–240.
  17. Milenko Krešić; (2016) Religious situation in the Hum land (Ston and Rat) during the Middle Ages p. 66;
  18. Andric, Ivo (22 January 1991). The Development of Spiritual Life in Bosnia under the Influence of Turkish Rule. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-8255-3.
  19. Fine (jr.), John V. A.; Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5.
  20. "Krka & Krupa". Enciklopedija likovnih umjetnosti (Encyclopedia of Fine Arts) (in Serbo-Croatian). Vol. 3. Zagreb: FNRJ. 1964. pp. 251, 256. Krka (Krovac), manastir, između Knina i Šibenika, Hrvatska, sa crkvom posvećenom sv. arhanđelu Mihailu. Prvi put se pominje 1350. po narodnom pređanju, osnovala ga je Jelena, udovica kneza Mladena III Šubića, sestra cara Dušana. I crkva i zgrade za stanovanje bile su više puta pregrađivane. U poslednje vreme crkva je imala oblik vizant. građevine s kubetom, a zvonik je podignut u romaničkom stilu. U manastirskoj riznici se čuvalo nekoliko ikona i umetničko-zanatlijskih predmeta iz XVII-XVIII. v., a u biblioteci Paterik (1346) i knjige iz XVI i XVII v... Krupa, srpsko-pravoslavni manastir u dalm. Bukovici, Hrvatska. Osnovali su ga, vjerojatno, bos. kaluđeri koji su bježali pred Turcima (1642). Na manastirskim zgradama sačuvani su gotički prozori; crkva je jednobrodna građevina s kubetom. U crkvi se ističu bogato rezbarene carske dveri, zbirka ikona iz XVII i iz XVIII st. (većinom djela italo-keltske škole), te srebrni predmeti iz XVIII st. venec. podrijetla. Bogata biblioteka stradala je u Drugom svjetskom ratu.
  21. Marčinko, Mate (19 August 1999). "Pravoslavni manastir sv. Arhanđela Mihaila na rijeci Krki sagrađen je na temeljima katoličkoga samostana" (PDF). Vjesnik. Zagreb. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 May 2005. ...trebao je barem zaviriti u Enciklopediju likovnih umjetnosti (ELU) Leksikografskoga zavoda. Tamo bi našao da je manastir Krka po narodnom predanju (hrv. predaji) osnovala Jelena Šubička. To je narodno predanje izmislila Srpska pravoslavna crkva i proširila ga među svojim vjernicima, da bi se onda na njega pozivala u nedostatku pravih dokaza. Još bi tamo našao i to da je zvonik krčke manastirske crkve »podignut u romaničkom stilu« (ELU, 3, Zagreb 1964., str. 251.). Na temelju svega ovoga možemo zaključiti: Pravoslavni manastir sv. Arhandjela Mihaila na rijeci Krki sagrađen je na temeljima katoličkoga samostana, ali ne prije XVIII. st. I dva ostala »glavna manastira« u južnoj Hrvatskoj – Krupa i Dragović – sagrađena su na temeljima katoličkih samostana. U manastiru Krupa do danas su »na manastirskim zgradama sačuvani gotički prozori« (ELU, 3, Zagreb 1964., str. 256.).
  22. Sinobad, Marko (2021). "Manastir Krka: arheološki lokalitet, postanak i prostorno-historijski razvoj današnjeg arhitektonskog kompleksa". Zbornik Šime Pilića. 1 (1). Split: 159–160. ISBN 9789533520704. Dejan Medaković (1922.-2008.), profesor na Filozofskom fakultetu u Beogradu i akademik SANU ... konstatira općenito za sva tri dalmatinska manastira kako je teško reći kada su osnovani i da je pretjerano dovoditi ih u vezu s periodom srpske srednjovjekovne države (Медаковић, 1950.: 184)
  23. Erdeljanović 1930.
  24. Sima Ćirković; (2004) The Serbs p. 117; Wiley-Blackwell, ISBN 0631204717
  25. Erdeljanović 1930, p. 353.
  26. Erdeljanović 1930, p. 353; Derić 1914, p. 50 "Rascianis in castris nostris Medwe, Rakonok, utriusque Kemlek et Caproncza constitutis"
  27. ^ Cirkovic, Sima M. (7 June 2004). The Serbs. Wiley. ISBN 978-0-631-20471-8.
  28. Sima Ćirković, Сеоба Срба у Краљевину Угарску у XIV и XV веку, (Migration of the Serbian people to the Kingdom of Hungary in the fourteenth and fifteenth century){"У једном писму Венецијанцима из 1462. краљ се жалио да су у протекле три године, дакле од 1459, Турци из његове земље одвукли више од 200.000 становника. (Овде морам приметити да је услед неспоразума у једној старој мађарској збирци регеста овај број тако употребљен као да се односи на становнике Србије који су прешли у Угарску. Радонић га је у том смислу употребио у својој на француском објављеној краткој историји Срба у Угарској, одатле су је преузели Јиречек, затим Ивић, а касније је безорој пута поновљено, и тешко и споро ће се та грешка отклањати.")..In a letter to the Venetians of 1462, the king complained that the Turks had taken more than 200,000 inhabitants from his country in the past three years, or since 1459. (I have to mention here that due to misunderstandings in the old Hungarian original collection, this number was used as a reference to the Serbs who immigrated to Hungary. Information was taken by Konstantin Jireček, then Aleksa Ivić, and later repeated many times, and this error will be difficult and slow corrected} https://www.rastko.rs/rastko-hu/istorija/istorija/Cirkovic_Seobe.html
  29. Frucht 2005, p. 535: "Population movements began in earnest after the Battle of Smederevo in 1459, and by 1483, up to two hundred thousand had moved into central Slavonia and Srijem (eastern Croatia)."
  30. Miller, Nicholas J.; Miller, Nick (1997). Between Nation and State: Serbian Politics in Croatia Before the First World War. University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 978-0-8229-3989-4.
  31. (Frucht 2005, p. 535): "In the early sixteenth century Orthodox populations had also been established in western Croatia."
  32. ^ sinod, Srpska pravoslavna crkva. Sveti arhijerejski (1972). Službeni list Srpske pravoslavne crkve. p. 55. Тридесетих година XVI в. многи Срби из Босне су се населили у Крањској, Штајерској и Жумберку. ... Сеобе Срба у Славонију и Хрватску трајале су кроз цео XVI, XVII и XVIII в. У првој половини XVI в. су се најпре засељавали у турском делу Славоније, а у другој половини истог века су се пресељавали из турског у аустријски део Славони- је.
  33. ^ Lazo M. Kostić (1965). Obim Srba i Hrvata. Logos. p. 58.
  34. sinod, Srpska pravoslavna crkva. Sveti arhijerejski (2007). Glasnik. Vol. 89. p. 290. МАНАСТИР ЛЕПАВИНА, посвећен Ваведењу Пресвете Богородице, подигнут 1550.
  35. Slukan Altić, Mirela (1 June 2008). "Kartografski izvori za povijest etnokonfesionalnih odnosa na području Varaždinskog generalata i dijela Križevačke županije". Podravina: časopis za geografska i povijesna multidisciplinarna istraživanja (in Croatian). 7 (13): 41–64. ISSN 1333-5286.
  36. ^ Miller 1997, p. 2.
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  38. Mirko Valentić, O etničkom korijenu hrvatskih bosanskih Srba, Vol. 24 No. 3, 1992. "Kada je riječ o austrijskoj kolonizaciji turskih vlaških prebjega u Slavonskoj i vlaških prebjega u Hrvatskoj krajini, postoje neke manje razlike. Vlasi u zapadnu Slavoniju, odnosno u Varaždinski generalat Slavonske krajine, prelaze masovno i u veoma kratko vrijeme: od 1597. do 1600. godine. U Hrvatsku krajinu, tj. u Karlovački generalat, Vlasi pristižu u manjim skupinama, ali u tijeku cijeloga XVII. stoljeća. Prema tome, Slavonska je krajina prva otvorila vrata balkanskim Vlasima. Najveći broj stiže iz slavonskih turskih sandžaka https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=307682#page=14
  39. Mažuran, Ive. "Povijest Hrvatske Od 15. Stoleća do 18. Stoleća" (in Croatian). p. 16. Molba učenika novaka Pečuške biskupije, Nikole iz Nevne (Levanjske Varoši), upućena papi Bonifaciju IX. da ga oslobodisvih crkvenih kazni, jer je u obrani domovine i kršćanstva okupio manji broj kršćana i ratnika (bellatores) s kojima je zarobio i ubio nekolicinu Turaka i Srba Turcos et Rascianos koji su spalili crkve, kuće, sela i posjede.
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