Serbs of Croatia
Serbs of Croatia
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Serbs of Croatia

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Serbs of Croatia

The Serbs of Croatia (Serbo-Croatian: Срби у Хрватској / Srbi u Hrvatskoj) or Croatian Serbs (Serbo-Croatian: хрватски Срби / hrvatski Srbi) constitute the largest national minority in Croatia. The community is predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christian by religion, as opposed to the Croats who are Catholic.

In some regions of modern-day Croatia, mainly in southern Dalmatia, ethnic Serbs possibly have been present from the Early Middle Ages. Serbs from modern-day Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina started actively migrating to Croatia at a time when the Habsburg monarchy was engaged in a series of wars against the Ottoman Empire. Several migration waves happened after 1538, when Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, granted them the right to settle on the territory of the Military Frontier. In exchange for land and exemption from taxation, they had to conduct military service and participate in the protection of the border. They populated the Dalmatian Hinterland, Lika, Kordun, Banija, Slavonia, and western Syrmia. From the beginning of the 20th century, the Croat-Serb Coalition—led by the Croat Frano Supilo and the Serb Svetozar Pribićević—governed the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia until the dissolution of Austria-Hungary. After the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918 (later renamed to Yugoslavia), a few thousand Serbs moved to Croatian territory. During World War II, Serbs were targeted for extermination as part of genocide by the Ustashas in the Nazi German puppet state Independent State of Croatia (NDH).

After the beginning of the breakup of Yugoslavia and Croatia's proclamation of independence, the Serbs living in Croatia rebelled against the Croatian government and proclaimed the Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK) on parts of Croatian territory, which led to the Croatian War of Independence (1991–95). Several RSK leaders have been later convicted of war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). After the Croatian Army's Operation Storm, the RSK ceased to exist, its territory was reincorporated into Croatia, and approximately 200,000 Serbs fled from the country. In the post-war period, Serbs were exposed to discriminatory measures and rhetoric, including barriers to employment, property rights, and use of the minority languages. Denial of the genocide in the NDH has also been a prominent issue at times. Following the 2020 parliamentary election, Boris Milošević, member of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) and President of the Serb National Council, was elected one of the four Deputy Prime Ministers. Shortly afterwards, the Croatian authorities and representatives of the Serbs marked the events of the 1991–95 war together. The Operation Storm refugees were the largest refugee population in Europe before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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

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.

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.

In the 10th-century De Administrando Imperio (DAI), the lands of Konavle, Zahumlje and Pagania (which included parts of southern Dalmatia now in Croatia) is described as inhabited by Serbs who immigrated there from an area near Thessaloniki previously arrived there from White Serbia. However, some scholars like Francis Dvornik, Tibor Živković, and Neven Budak doubt such a claim and consider that a closer reading of the DAI suggests that the Constantine VII's consideration about the regional population ethnic identity is based on Serbian political rule during the expansion of Časlav in the 10th century and does not indicate ethnic origin. John Van Antwerp Fine Jr. and Noel Malcolm believe that what is today western and proper Bosnia and Herzegovina was part of Croatia, while the rest was divided between Croatia and Serbia. Some members of the Serbian royal family took refuge in Croatia amid dynastic rivalry and war with the First Bulgarian Empire in the 9th and 10th centuries.

Stefan Vojislav (r. 1018–1043) ruled a territory that included the coastal region from Ston in the north down to Skadar by 1040 after his rebellion against Byzantine rule. Mihailo Vojislavljević (1050–1081) built the St. Michael's Church in Ston, which has a fresco depicting him. Croatia entered union with Hungary in the beginning of the 12th century. Serbia also entered close relations with Hungary (Béla II married a Serbian princess, Helena). Beloš, a member of the Serbian royal family, became the "Ban of Croatia and Dalmatia" in 1142. By the early 13th century, the territory of Hum was under the jurisdiction of the Western i.e. Roman Church, while the Serbian Orthodox Church established the diocese of Hum in 1219, seated at Ston, that linked the Pelješac peninsula with Hum which lasted until 1321 when Serbian Orthodox bishop had to withdraw from Ston. Serbia continued to hold parts of southernmost Dalmatia into the 14th century. In 1333 King of Serbia Stefan Dušan sold the Pelješac peninsula and the 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.

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