Serbs of Croatia#Language

Traditional elements of their identity are the Serbian 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.{{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}}

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.

File:Srpski kralj Mihajlo.jpg 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.{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=53}}Sima M. Ćirković (2008). [http://www.mo-vrebac-pavlovac.hr/attachments/article/451/Sima%20%C4%86irkovi%C4%87%20SRBI%20ME%C4%90U%20EVROPSKIM%20NARODIMA.pdf Srbi među Europsim narodima] (The Serbs), p. 26-27 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.{{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.{{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.}}{{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}}{{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.}} 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.{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=53(I)|ps=:The Croats settled in Croatia, Dalmatia, and western Bosnia. The rest of Bosnia seems to have been a 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 Serbian royal family took refuge in Croatia amid dynastic rivalry and war with the First Bulgarian Empire in the 9th and 10th centuries.{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=141, 150}}

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.{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=206}} Mihailo Vojislavljević (1050–1081) built the St. Michael's Church in Ston, which has a fresco depicting him.{{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}} Croatia entered union with Hungary in the beginning of the 12th century.{{cite book|last=Sedlar|first=Jean W.|title=East Central Europe in the Middle Ages|page=280|publisher=University of Washington Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0295800646|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANdbpi1WAIQC&pg=PA280|access-date=16 January 2014}} Serbia also entered close relations with Hungary (Béla II married a Serbian princess, Helena). Beloš, 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 the jurisdiction of the Western i.e. Roman Church,Milenko Krešić; (2016) Religious situation in the Hum land (Ston and Rat) during the Middle Ages p. 66; [https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=247029] 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.{{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}} 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 coastland 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 Eastern Orthodox believers in this territory.{{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}}

According to Yugoslav ethnologist Jovan Erdeljanović, members of the Orlović clan settled in Lika and Senj in 1432, later joining the Uskoks.{{sfn|Erdeljanović|1930}} In 1436 on the Cetina, Croats, Vlachs, and Serbs appeared at the same time living on the estate of Ivan Frankopan.Sima Ćirković; (2004) The Serbs p. 117; Wiley-Blackwell, {{ISBN|0631204717}} Serbs are reported in Hungarian documents as living in Croatia in 1437 (three documents call the Serbs in Syrmia and Slavonia as Rascianos–Rascians){{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 Medvedgrad, Rakovac, both Kalinik and in Koprivnica".{{harvnb|Erdeljanović|1930|p=353}}; {{harvnb|Derić|1914|p=50}} "Rascianis in castris nostris Medwe, Rakonok, utriusque Kemlek et Caproncza constitutis" 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.{{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}}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 slowly corrected} https://www.rastko.rs/rastko-hu/istorija/istorija/Cirkovic_Seobe.html After the Ottoman conquests of Serbia and capture of Smederevo fortress in 1459 and fall of Bosnia 1463 different populations of Eastern Orthodox Christians moved into Syrmia and by 1483 perhaps 200,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians moved into central Slavonia and Syrmia. The Turkish conquest of Bosnia also pushed refugees and migrants into eastern Croatia.{{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)."{{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}}

File:Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro religious demographics map, 1901.png, Dalmatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro in 1901:

{{legend2|#c2efee|Catholic}}

{{legend2|#ff9933|Muslim}}

{{legend2|#d4eaa2|Eastern Orthodox}}

{{legend2|#ffcccc|Protestant}}

{{legend2|#99cccc|Mixed Catholic and Eastern Orthodox}}

{{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 Eastern Orthodox Christians were also established in modern-day western Croatia.{{harv|Frucht|2005|p=535}}: "In the early sixteenth century Orthodox populations had also been established in 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 the Austrian part of Slavonia.{{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.}}{{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}} In 1550 they established the Lepavina Monastery.{{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.}} 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).{{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}} The Habsburg Empire encouraged people from the Ottoman Empire to settle as free peasant soldiers, establishing the Military Frontiers ({{Lang|de|Militärgrenze}}) in 1522 (hence they were known as Grenzers, {{Lang|sr|Krajišnici}}).{{sfn|Miller|1997|p=2}}Ramet, p. 82 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 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. The biggest number of Vlachs comes from Slavonian Turkish SandžaksMirko 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 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 the Austrian part of Slavonia.{{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).{{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.}} 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).{{sfn|Miller|1997|p=2}} They were mostly of Eastern Orthodox faith, Serbs and Vlachs (Romance-speaking).{{sfn|Miller|1997|p=4-8}}{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} Catholic Vlachs were assimilated into Croats, while the Eastern Orthodox, under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Church, assimilated into Serbs.{{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= [https://archive.org/details/nationalquestion0000bana/page/43 43] |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/nationalquestion0000bana/page/43}}{{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}}

File:Serbian frontiersman in Syrmia, 1742.jpg, 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 captains (vojvode) and magistrates (knezovi). All Eastern Orthodox settlers were promised freedom of worship.{{sfn|Miller|1997|p=4-8}}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 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.William Safran, The secular and the sacred: nation, religion, and politics, p. 169{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=389}} The Military frontiers are virtually identical to the present Serbian settlements (war-time Republic of Serbian Krajina).{{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.

In 1593, Provveditore Generale Cristoforo Valier mentions three nations constituting the Uskoks: "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 Ottoman Empire were Eastern Orthodox Christian Serbs, who fled from Ottoman Turkish rule and settled in White Carniola and Žumberak.Europe:A History by Norman Davies (1996), p. 561.Goffman (2002), p. 190.{{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}}{{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}} The Vlachs from Glamoč, Srb and Una area moved in among Eastern Orthodox Christians and settled in 1530 under the protection of King Ferdinand I. on the border of the Julian Alps (now Uskoks mountain) in Žumberak area.{{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}} 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.Gavrilović, Danijela, "Elements of Ethnic Identification of the Serbs" from FACTA UNIVERSITATIS – Series Philosophy, Sociology, Psychology and History (10/2003), [http://facta.junis.ni.ac.rs/pas/pas2003/pas2003-02.pdf pp. 717–730] 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 Eastern Orthodox and Catholic faith, settled inland of the coastal cities of Dalmatia, and entered the military service of both Venice and Ottoman Empire.{{cite web| title=Morlaci| url=https://www.enciklopedija.hr/clanak/morlaci| author=Croatian Encyclopaedia| year=2011| language=hr}}

File:Serbs in their national costumes in Knin, Dalmatia, 1874.jpg 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 defence of Dalmatia. Grain sent by the Pope proved insufficient, and these were forced to launch expeditions into Ottoman territory.{{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}} Under Janković's leadership Serbs settled in Dalmatia in several waves. In July 1684. around 9000 Serbs settled around the 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 {{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.}} 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."{{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}} 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 Eastern 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 Eastern 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.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

File:Manastir Krka DSC07498.JPG (mid-16th century), one of the oldest Serbian Orthodox monasteries in Croatia]]

Among the oldest Eastern Orthodox churches in Croatia are the monasteries of Krupa, Krka and Dragović, and other smaller churches (in settlements Kula Atlagića, Pađene, Golubić, Miranje, Biljane, Ostrovica, Karin, Biovičino Selo, Đevrske, Kistanje, Žagrović, Radučić, Mokro Polje, Benkovac, Dragišić-Grabovci, Bratiškovci, Kosovo-Markovac, Morpolača, Žegar, Plavno, Drniš, Ervenik, Kolarina, Brgud, Vrbnik, Kričke, Islam Grčki, Dobropoljci among others). These churches were converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in the mid-16th century and later, during the Ottoman period were forbidden to build new Christian churches.{{cite journal |last=Ivetic |first=Egidio |date=2006 |title=La tolleranza verso l'altro nelle città della Dalmazia veneta (1540-1645) |url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/242076 |language=it |journal=Atti |volume=XXXVI |pages=500 |access-date=12 February 2025}} The claim by Nikodim Milaš that they date back to the 14-15th century is controversial and unlikely, as they display Romanesque and Gothic architectural features that are unusual for Byzantine-Orthodox churches. Additionally, Eastern Orthodoxy did not exist in Croatia before the Ottoman conquest, which further challenges such dating of these churches.{{cite book |last=Bačić |first=Stanko |date=1998 |title=Osvrt na knjigu "Pravoslavna Dalmacija" E. Nikodima Milaša |trans-title=Critics of points of view of Nikodim Milaš in his book "Orthodox Dalmatia" |url=https://archive.org/details/osvrt_na_knjigu_pravoslavna_dalmacija_e_nikodima_milasa_1998-stanko_bacic/mode/1up |language=hr |location=Zadar |publisher=Matica hrvatska |isbn=953-6419-19-X |pages=208, 218–231, 238–267, 290–295, 309–315}}{{cite book |last=Škiljan |first=Filip |date=2008 |chapter=Problem srednjovjekovnih crkava koje su predane pravoslavnima |title=Međunarodni znanstveni skup Srpsko-hrvatski odnosi u 20. veku: zbornik radova |chapter-url=https://chdr-ns.com/pdf/Filip-Skiljan-Problem-srednjovjekovnih-crkava-koje-su-predane-pravoslavnima.pdf |location=Novi Sad |publisher=Centar za istoriju, demokratiju i pomirenje, Udruga za povijest, suradnju i pomirenje |language=hr |page=91–102 |isbn=978-86-86601-05-6 |access-date=11 February 2025}}{{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)}}

In the 1860s, Serbian thought began spreading among the Eastern Orthodox Christians in the Kingdom of Dalmatia. At first through the religious denomination, and over 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".Benedikta Zelić-Bućan, predgovor u: Mihovio Pavlinović: Misao hrvatska i misao srbska u Dalmaciji, Laus, Split, 1994., p. 10 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.{{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}} 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).Benedikta Zelić-Bućan, Prologue in: Mihovil Pavlinović: Misao hrvatska i misao srbska u Dalmaciji, Laus, Split, 1994., p. 11 To accomplish this, the ground had to be prepared, so that diplomacy and the military would have a stronger base for taking action. The basis 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 was Eastern Orthodox Christians in the neighbouring, non-Serb countries. In 1848/50, the 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 Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina only with Serbs.{{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}} Another argument used in the areas with no Eastern 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.{{cite web |title=Srpski jezik nije štokavski |url=http://www.matica.hr/vijenac/427/Srpski%20jezik%20nije%20%C5%A1tokavski/ |website=matica.hr}} The idea was that it was easier to "govern Belgrade and Zagreb if the same language was spoken in them". Geostrategic position of Belgrade to Zagreb further contributed to favouring the Serbs whom Austrians did not perceive as a danger, unlike Croats who had their 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 wished to expand into the Southeast Europe, which was particularly strong during the reign of Károly Khuen-Héderváry over Croatia.

{{multiple image

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Right: Josip Runjanin, composer of Croatian national anthem

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| image2 = Josip Runjanin.png

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The revolutionary 1848 and the process of building a modern Croatian nation resulted in closer cooperation 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 unitarian 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 in 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.{{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}} 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. Before 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.Zelić-Bućan, Benedikta, Mihovio Pavlinović: Misao hrvatska i misao srbska u Dalmaciji (Predgovor), Laus, Split, 1994., p. 12

Ban Ivan Mažuranić abolished Serbian education autonomy, which was carried out by the Serbian Orthodox Church, as part of his educational reforms and liberal endeavours. 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.Dalibor Čepulo: Liberalne reforme Hrvatskog sabora i srpska elita u Hrvatskoj, p. 269-285

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 to "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 the 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 favouring the Serbs was to encourage inter-ethnic (Croat/Serb) conflicts which would lead to the prevention of Croatian resistance against the Austrian Empires' state policies.{{cite web|url=http://www.azoo.hr/images/izdanja/manjine/04.html|title=Hrvati i manjine u Hrvatskoj: moderni identiteti|website=azoo.hr}}N. Rumenjak, 2005, Politička i društvena elita Srba u Hrvatskoj potkraj 19. stoljeća. Uspon i pad Srpskog kluba, Zagreb, 2005. By the end of the 19th century, on the Vladimir Matijević's initiative, Serbs established several institutions such as the Serbian Bank in Zagreb, the Association of Serbian Agricultural Cooperatives and the Serbian Business Association 'Privrednik'.Dušan Bilandžić, Hrvatska moderna povijest, Zagreb, 1999., p. 30

File:Rodna kuća Milutina Milankovića.jpg 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,Artuković, Mato (1991). Ideologija srpsko-hrvatskih sporova (Srbobran 1884.-1902.), Naprijed, Zagreb, p. 32-33 {{ISBN|86-349-0257-9}} 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 Eastern 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, Eastern 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."Artuković, Mato (1991). Ideologija srpsko-hrvatskih sporova (Srbobran 1884.-1902.), Naprijed, Zagreb, p. 34 {{ISBN|86-349-0257-9}}Srbobran, 4(16) October 1894, no. 113 The Croatian-Serbian conflict culminated on 10 August 1902, when, after years of controversial writing,{{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}} 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 [falling] will be Croats." Enraged crowds reacted by burning Serbian flags and attacking Serb-owned shops, and buildings used by the Serbian institutions.Dušan Bilandžić, Hrvatska moderna povijest, Zagreb, 1999., p. 31{{Cite web|url=http://www.matica.hr/vijenac/523/do-istrage-nase-ili-vase-22996/|title = Do istrage naše ili vaše}}

File:Svetozar Pribićević (1).jpg, 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 to fight for 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.Dušan Bilandžić, Hrvatska moderna povijest, Zagreb, 1999., p. 25Kolar, p. 136-38 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.Ivan Bulić, Politika Hrvatsko-srpske koalicije uoči Prvoga svjetskog rata 1907.–1913. ČSP, no. 2., p. 415-453 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.

File:Etnografski_muzej_Beograd_Dungodung_50.jpg

Immediately upon the outbreak of the World War I, all organizations that the government considered favoured the 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.Agičić, Damir: "Civil Croatia on the Eve of the First World War (The Echo of the Assassination and Ultimatum)", Povijesni prilozi 14, p. 305Karaula, p. 274 Croat-Serb Coalition MP's were also attacked.Karaula, p. 268-79 On the other hand, members of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia and Slavonia held a rally in which they spoke against the violence.Agičić, p. 306 Simultaneously with the large anti-Serbian protests held in Vienna, Budapest and Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which there were wounded and dead, protests against pro-Yugoslav oriented citizens were held in many Croatian cities, including Dubrovnik, in which protesters attacked Serbian Society "Dušan Magnificant"Demonstracije u Dubrovniku, Ilustrovani list, no. 29, Year I, 18 July 1914, Zagreb 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.Agičić, Damir: "Civil Croatia on the Eve of the First World War (The Echo of the Assassination and Ultimatum)", Povijesni prilozi 14, p. 309.-310Karaula, Željko: "Sarajevski atentat – reakcije Hrvata i Srba u Kraljevini Hrvatskoj, Slavoniji i Dalmaciji", Radovi Zavoda za hrvatsku povijest 43 (1): p. 255-291 14 Serbs were arrested in Zadar for celebrating the assassination.Karaula, p. 277

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 areas of Syrmia and Lika-Krbava County, increased.Lorković, Mladen (2005.). Narod i zemlja Hrvata, Split,: Marjan tisak (reprint from 1939), p. 105 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.Lorković, Mladen (2005.). Narod i zemlja Hrvata, Split,: Marjan tisak (reprint from 1939), p. 114 Although most of the Serbian parties in Croatia have been co-operating with Croatian Peasant Party in the struggle against Serbian unitarianism 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 a Serb majority.Krešimir Regan, Srpski kulturni klub i Banovina Hrvatska, LZMK, Časopis za suvremenu povijest, Vol. 40, No. 2, October 2008

{{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}}

File:Jasenovac HDR D.jpg, 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.{{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}} Upon the establishment of the NDH, Ustaše officials immediately began making harsh statements against the Serbs.Matković, 2002., p. 180 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,Hrvatski narod, no. 85, 8 May 1941, p. 3 could walk through Zagreb only during the day,Hrvatki narod, no. 85, 8 May 1941, p. 3 had to wear a badge with the letter "P" (stood for "Pravoslavni", meaning Eastern Orthodox Christians),Đurić Veljko, Srbi u Nezavisnoj Državi Hrvatskoj i Hrvati u Srbiji 1941–1944. Viđenje kroz sudbine sveštenoslužitelja, p. 156 The name of their faith was changed from Serbian Orthodox to Greek-Eastern, and usage of the Cyrillic script was prohibited.Pupovac Milorad, NDH na životu, Večernje novosti, no. 530 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.Jonjić Tomislav, Hrvatska između sila osovine, p. 5 The regime systematically and brutally massacred Serbs in villages in the countryside, using a variety of tools.{{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}} 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.{{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}} Sisak and Jastrebarsko concentration camp were specially formed for children.{{cite web|title=SISAK CAMP|url=http://www.jusp-jasenovac.hr/Default.aspx?sid=7375|website=Jasenovac Memorial Cite|access-date=30 January 2018}}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 321–323Anna 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 During the war, around 300,000 Serbs are estimated to have been murdered under the Ustashe regime as a result of their genocide campaign.{{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}} Diana Budisavljević, a humanitarian of Austrian descent, carried out rescue operations and saved more than 15,000 children from Ustashe camps.{{cite book | editor-last = Kolanović | editor-first = Josip | publisher = Croatian State Archives and Public Institution Jasenovac Memorial Area | title = Dnevnik Diane Budisavljević 1941–1945 | location = Zagreb | year = 2003 | isbn = 978-9-536-00562-8 |pages=284–85}}{{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}}

File:Deca u logoru Sisak.jpg 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.{{sfn|Kolanović|2003|p=284-285}}

The Ustasha policy towards Serbs further drove a number of them to join 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.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|pp=362–363}}Strugar, Vlado, Jugoslavija 1941–1945, Vojnoizdavački zavodAnić, Nikola, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska Jugoslavije: pregled razvoja oružanih snaga narodnooslobodilačkog pokreta 1941–1945, Vojnoistorijski institut, 1982Jelić Ivo, Putevima Glavnog štaba Hrvatske, Republički štab teritorijalne obrane SRH i Zavod za općenarodnu obranu i društvenu samozaštitu, 1976 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.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 Eventually, Serbian percentage dropped in favour 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.{{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}}{{cite book|last1=Anić|first1=Nikola|last2= Joksimović|first2=Sekula|last3=Gutić|first3=Mirko|title=Narodnooslobodilačka vojska Jugoslavije| publisher=Vojnoistorijski institut|year=1982}}

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.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=412, 506}}{{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}} 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.{{harvnb|Ramet|2006|p=147}}, {{harvnb|Tomasevich|1975|pp=224–225}}, {{harvnb|MacDonald|2002|pp=140–142}}, {{harvnb|Pavlowitch|2007|pp=65–67}} They had collaboration agreements with the Italians in occupied Dalmatia and, after the Italian capitulation in September 1943, with the Germans 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 Case White.{{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".{{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}} 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.{{sfn|Hoare|2006|p=143}} In the territories they controlled, Chetniks committed genocide{{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}}{{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}} against the Croat and Muslim civilian populations.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=747}}{{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}}{{sfn|Hoare|2006|p=386}} Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the Chetniks in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina range from 50,000 to 68,000.{{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}} In April 1943, Đujić's Chetniks set up a prison and execution site in the village of Kosovo (today Biskupija), near Knin.{{Cite web |title=Ilija T. Radaković: BESMISLENA YU-RATOVANJA 1991-1995 |url=https://znaci.org/00001/23_10_12.htm |website=znaci.org}} 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 1,000Popovic; "Nasa Rec, monthly political and literary review (Middlesex, England), No. 402/XLII (Feb 1989), pp 248-249) were tortured and killed at an execution site near a ravine close to the camp.NOB u Dalmaciji, 6, 116 Chetnik propaganda claimed that the Partisan resistance consisted of Jews.{{sfn|Tomasevich|1975|p=192}} Some Jews who hid in the countryside were killed and robbed by Chetniks.{{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}} 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}}

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.Jonjić Tomislav, Hrvatska između sila osovine Afterwards, Ustaše founded the Croatian Orthodox Church and Serbs were recruited to the Croatian Home Guard units.Božić, Tvrtko, Ivan Košutić: Rađanje, život i umiranje jedne države- 49 mjeseci NDH, Časopis za suvremenu povijest 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 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.{{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.Fikreta Jelić-Butić: Četnici u Hrvatskoj 1941–1945, Globus, Zagreb 1986Kotur Goran, NDH četnicima davala oružje i mirovine, Slobodna Dalmacija from 15 August 2009 In 1944 the Chetniks recognized the sovereignty of the Independent State of Croatia and became a legalized movement in it.{{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}} 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.

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.[https://books.google.com/books?id=PvjLRzgyKKkC&dq=serbs+constituent+nation+croatia&pg=PA477 Yugoslavia Through Documents: From Its Creation to Its Dissolution] 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." 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".{{citation needed|date=June 2024}}

{{See also|Breakup of Yugoslavia|Croatian War of Independence|Yugoslav Wars}}

File:Map of Republika Srpska Krajina.png, 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, the largest being Serb Democratic Party (SDS). Soon afterwards, extremist leaders of the Serb movements in Lika, Northern Dalmatia, Kordun, and Podunavlje called for armed rebellion against the Croatian government, and violence against Croats and refused to recognize legally elected Croatian authorities.{{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}} 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 further fueled by Serbian President Slobodan Milošević, who supported these groups. Milošević "endorsed a Serbian nationalist agenda" and "exploited a growing wave of Serbian nationalism to strengthen centralised rule in the SFRY".{{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.}} The republics of Croatia and Slovenia eventually sought to secede from Yugoslavia following disagreements between the republics regarding the structure of the federal government.{{cite web |last=Bassiouni |first=Cherif |date=28 December 1994 |title=Final Report of the Commission of Experts Established according 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}}

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.{{in lang|hr}} [http://www.legalis.hr/modules/news/article.php?storyid=860 Croatian Iuridic Portal] {{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 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, the Croatian Parliament ratified a new constitution in which Serbs were classified as a national minority.{{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[https://books.google.com/books?id=PvjLRzgyKKkC&dq=serbs+constituent+nation+croatia&pg=PA477 Yugoslavia Through Documents: From Its Creation to Its Dissolution] edited by Snežana Trifunovska, page 477[https://books.google.com/books?id=r59IwQw_Wh8C&dq=serbs+constituent+nation+croatia&pg=PA24 Integration and Stabilization: A Monetary View] by George Macesich, page 24[https://books.google.com/books?id=FZgdIrI5fOEC&dq=serbs+constituent+nation+croatia&pg=PA89 The Quality of Government] by Bo Rothstein, page 89[https://books.google.com/books?id=YZjFAAAAQBAJ&dq=serbs+constituent+nation+croatia&pg=PA67 Soft Borders] by Julie Mostov, page 67 Previously Serbs were considered autochthonous constituent of Croatia. In the first paragraph of Article 12, Croatian was specified as the official language and alphabet, and dual-language road signs were torn down even in Serb-majority areas.[https://books.google.com/books?id=lVKzAQAAQBAJ&dq=serbs+constituent+nation+croatia&pg=PA158 Living Together After Ethnic Killing: Exploring the Chaim Kaufman Argument] by Roy Licklider and Mia Bloom, page 158, says: Previously, a constituent nation in the Republic of Croatia, ..." Furthermore, a number of Serbs were removed from the bureaucracies and the police and replaced by ethnic Croats. Many Serbs in government lost their jobs, and HDZ made themselves target of Serbian propaganda by having party members attempting to rehabilitate the WWII Croatian fascist movement Ustaše, or by saying that the numbers of people killed in Jasenovac, one of the largest extermination camp in Europe, were inflated.[https://books.google.com/books?id=7MXWUrRdcTYC&dq=serbs+constituent+nation+croatia&pg=PA20 Croatia] 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." The proclamation of the new constitution was considered by Serbian leaders as evidence of Croat hostility towards Serbs. Thus, SDS, which rejected the new constitution, began building its national governmental entity to preserve rights that Serbs saw as being stripped away and to enhance the sovereignty of the Croatian Serbs.{{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}} 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.{{harvnb|Sadkovich|2010}} Under the influence of propaganda and with the support from Serbia as well as in response to actions by President Tudjman's administration,{{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 | International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia}} 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),{{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}}{{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=Human Rights Watch|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}}{{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}} 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.{{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}} Among them, the Dalj massacre,{{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}} the Lovas killings,{{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}}{{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.}} the Baćin massacre, the Voćin massacre,{{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}} 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.{{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}}

Meanwhile, Serbs living in Croatian towns, especially those near the front lines, were subjected to various forms of discrimination and harassment.{{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}} 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.{{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}} 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 Lora, Pakračka Poljana, and Marino Selo.{{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}} 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 the 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{{cite news|ref={{harvid|BBC News|5 August 2005}}|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4747379.stm|work=BBC News|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}} and hundreds of mainly elderly Serb civilians were killed in the aftermath.{{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}} Throughout 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.{{cite book |last1=Bartrop |first1=Paul R. |last2=Jacobs |first2=Steven Leonard |title=Modern Genocide: The Definitive Resource and Document Collection [4 volumes]: 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}}

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,{{harvnb|BBC News|2015}}{{harvnb|ICJ|2015|p=25}} 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.{{harvnb|ICJ|2015|pp=4, 141, 142}} 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.{{harvnb|ICJ|2015|p=131}} 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.{{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}} 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.{{harvnb|ICJ|2015|pp=4, 132, 133}} 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.{{harvnb|HRW|1996|p=19}} 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.{{harvnb|HRW|1996}} 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.{{harvnb|ICTY|2012}} The ICTY stated that the 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.{{harvnb|ICTY|2012|pp=30–34}} 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.{{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 }}

At the ICTY, Milan Babić was indicted, pleaded guilty and was convicted for "persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds, a crime against humanity".{{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}}{{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}} 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".{{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}} 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.{{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=BBC News|date=12 June 2007}} On 12 June 2007, Martić was sentenced to 35 years in prison.{{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=International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia}} 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 the pre-war Serb population has returned to Croatia. Today, the majority of the pre-war Serb population from Croatia settled in Serbia and Republika Srpska.{{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=Amnesty International|date=4 August 2005 |access-date=21 August 2012}} 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.{{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=B92|date=20 June 2010}}{{cite web|title=Serbia: Europe's largest proctracted refugee situation |url=http://www.osce.org/serbia/24323?download=true|publisher=OSCE|year=2008}}{{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}}

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 the war, while the Croatian forces continued with abuses on a large scale for months afterwards, which included the destruction of Serb property.{{harvnb|ICTY|2012|pp=33}} Also, Serbs still face significant barriers to employment and to regain their property.{{harvnb|Amnesty|2017}} 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.{{harvnb|Seim|2008}}

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.

Tension and violence between Serbs and Croats has reduced since 2000 and has remained low to this day, however, significant problems remain.{{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=Amnesty International|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}} The main issue is thought to be due to high-level official and social discrimination against the Serbs.{{cite web |url=http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/regions/europe-and-central-asia/croatia |title=Amnesty International | 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}} 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.{{cite web| title = Croatia: Serbs| date = 19 June 2015 | url = https://minorityrights.org/minorities/serbs-2/ | publisher = Minority Rights Group International}} Some Croats, including politicians, continue to deny and minimise the magnitude of the genocide perpetrated against Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia.{{cite web|work=BCR Issue 73|publisher=IWPR|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}}

At the highest levels of the Croatian government, new laws are continuously introduced to combat this discrimination, demonstrating an effort on the part of the 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.{{cite web | url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/region/croatia/report-2008 | title=Croatia – Amnesty International Report 2008| year=2008 | publisher=Amnesty International | access-date=21 August 2012}} Also some cases of violence and harassment against Croatian Serbs continue to be reported.

The property laws allegedly favour 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 and stripped her of occupancy rights after leaving her house in 1991 in Zadar.[http://www.vsnm-ri.org/blecic.htm Negativna presuda evropskog suda u slučaju Kristine Blečić iz Zadra] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217062610/http://www.vsnm-ri.org/blecic.htm |date=17 December 2008}} In 2009, the UN Human Rights Committee found a wartime termination of occupancy rights of a Serbian family to violate ICCPR.{{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}} 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.{{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}} 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.{{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}} 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 scripts 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.{{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}}{{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}}{{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}}{{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}}

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.{{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}} 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.{{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}} 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.{{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}}

{{Main|Demographics of Croatia}}

According to the 2021 census, 123,892 ethnic Serbs were 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.

{{Multiple image

| align = right

| direction = vertical

| width = 250

| image1 = Serbs in Croatia 1991 (modern administrative division).jpg

| caption1 = Serbs in Croatia, 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}}

| image2 = Serbs in Croatia.jpg

| caption2 = Serbs in Croatia, 2011

| image3 = Serbian language in municipalities in Croatia.jpg

| footer = Municipalities in Croatia where Serbian language is in official use

}}

Counties with significant Serb minority (7.50% or more):{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

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

{{refbegin|colwidth=20em}}

• Vrbovsko (1,255 or 32.38%)
• Obrovac (1,082 or 31.34%)
• Vukovar (6,890 or 29.73%)
• Hrvatska Kostajnica (428 or 22.78%)
• Knin (2,492 or 21.42%)
• Glina (1,462 or 20.55%)
• Beli Manastir (1,605 or 20.13%)
• Skradin (605 or 18.07%)
• Ogulin (1,841 or 15.03%)
• Benkovac (1,315 or 13.58%)
• Pakrac (801 or 11.30%)
• Lipik (540 or 10.53%)

{{refend}}

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

{{refbegin|colwidth=20em}}

• Ervenik (765 or 96.96%)
• Negoslavci (952 or 96.85%)
• Borovo (3,224 or 90.69%)
• Markušica (1,600 or 90.24%)
• Trpinja (3,659 or 87.81%)
• Biskupija (964 or 81.90%)
• Donji Lapac (1,082 or 79.21%)
• Šodolovci (950 or 78.06%)
• Civljane (126 or 73.68%)
• Dvor 2,015 or 67.26%)
• Jagodnjak (943 or 62.87%)
• Vrginmost (1,282 or 62.63%)
• Krnjak (773 or 58.03%)
• Erdut (2,908 or 53.68%)
• Kistanje (1,375 or 51.89%)
• Vrhovine (311 or 47.63%)
• Gračac (1,360 or 43.37%)
• Udbina (569 or 42.65%)
• Plaški (656 or 39.76%)
• Vojnić (1,385 or 38.45%)
• Donji Kukuruzari (337 or 31.20%)
• Topusko (556 or 25.02%)
• Plitvička Jezera (838 or 22.97%)
• Darda (1,090 or 20.08%)
• Majur (150 or 19.74%)
• Saborsko (88 or 18.88%)
• Stari Jankovci (612 or 18.71%)
• Sunja (700 or 16.97%)
• Kneževi Vinogradi (554 or 16.50%)
• Hrvatska Dubica (240 or 16.42%)
• Popovac (235 or 16.25%)
• Okučani (371 or 15.97%)
• Lovinac (142 or 15.06%)
• Rasinja (392 or 14.90%)
• Viljevo (227 or 13.96%)
• Levanjska Varoš (95 or 12.39%)
• Podgorač (296 or 12.06%)
• Stara Gradiška (104 or 11.42%)
• Sokolovac (312 or 11.19%)
• Dežanovac (217 or 10.97%)
• Sirač (188 or 10.47%)
• Lišane Ostrovičke (60 or 10.12%)

{{refend}}

{{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,{{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}} Ojkanje singing, and Čuvari Hristovog groba.

Many Serbs contributed to the Croatian culture, such as trader Hristofor Stanković who founded the first permanent theatre building in Gornji Grad, Zagreb.{{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}}

{{see also|Serbian Orthodox Church}}

File:Serbian Orthodox Cathedral, Zagreb.JPG 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 the Croatian War of Independence, while some were rebuilt with EU funding, the Croatian government, and Serbian diaspora donations.{{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}}

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 Eparchy of Marča was founded at Marča, in the Croatian frontier.{{sfn|Miller|1997|p=13}} These were part of the Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate of Peć, 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 Eastern Orthodox Christians with the Catholic Church, and, many, including some Eastern Orthodox bishops, did unify with Rome.{{sfn|Miller|1997|p=13}}

File:Rezidencija.dalj.jpg 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 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 Eastern 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 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.{{Croatian Census 2021 | E |access-date=14 April 2023}}

{{main|Serbian language in Croatia}}

The Serbian language is officially used in 23 cities and municipalities in Croatia.{{cite web |url=http://www.pravosudje.hr/europska-povelja-o-regionalnim-ili-manjinskim-jezi |language=hr |publisher=Ministry of Justice (Croatia) |title=Europska povelja o regionalnim ili manjinskim jezicima|date=12 April 2011 |access-date=8 February 2012}}

{{multiple image

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

| width1 = 180

| image1 = Dalj_Street_sign.JPG

| width2 = 180

| image2 = 20130609 Zagreb 041.jpg

}}

In April 2015 the United Nations Human Rights Committee urged Croatia to ensure the right of minorities to use their language and alphabet.{{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}} 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.{{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}}

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).{{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}}

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

All elected special representatives since 1995 Parliamentary elections.

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.{{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}} 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.{{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}}

Some ethnic Serb politicians 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.

During the Second World War, the Ustashe regime systematically engaged in the extermination, expulsion and forced conversion of Serbs in Croatia.{{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–}}{{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–}} 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'.{{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)}}

File:Nikola Tesla, with his equipment Wellcome M0014782 - restoration1.jpg in his laboratory]]

File:Vojin Bakić radi na skulpturi Bika, 1956.JPG 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.{{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}} 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.{{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}} 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.{{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}}

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

{{portal|Serbia|Croatia}}

• Croatia-Serbia relations
• Croats of Serbia
• Serbs of Zagreb
• Serbs of Vukovar
• Serb National Council, elected body acting as a form of self-government and institution of cultural autonomy
• Flag of Serbs of Croatia
• Joint Council of Municipalities
• Independent Democratic Serb Party
• Democratic Alliance of Serbs
• Republic of Serbian Krajina
• Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia
• Operation Storm
• Prosvjeta, Croatian Serb Cultural Society
• Serbian Orthodox Secondary School in Zagreb
• Novosti (Croatia)
• Radio Borovo

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• {{cite web|ref={{harvid|ICTY|2012}}|publisher=International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia|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=Human Rights Watch|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=Amnesty International | date=1 January 2017}}

• {{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}}

{{commons category|Serbs of Croatia}}

• {{cite web|title=Prosvjeta|publisher=SKD "Prosvjeta"|url=http://prosvjeta.net/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131130094950/http://prosvjeta.net/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=30 November 2013}}
• [http://www.ffzg.unizg.hr/pov/zavod/triplex2/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ROKSANDIC_srbi_u_hrvatskoj.pdf D. Roksandić, Srbi u Hrvatskoj – od 15. stoljeća do današnjih dana, Vjesnik, Zagreb 1991.]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20121013203451/http://www.rastko.org.rs/isk/images/chest_ador.html Tradition chest adornment worn in Kninska Krajina]
• [http://www.dzs.hr/default_e.htm Croatian census 2001] (see "Censuses" at Crostat Database)

{{Ethnic groups in Croatia}}

{{Serbian diaspora}}

{{Serbian minority institutions and organizations in Croatia}}

{{Genocide of Serbs}}

{{Portal bar|Croatia|Serbia}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Serbs of Croatia}}

Category:Ethnic groups in Croatia

Croatia

Category:Serbian Orthodox Church in Croatia