Erdut
Erdut
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Erdut

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Erdut

Erdut ([ěrduːt]) is a village and a municipality in eastern Croatia some 37 km east of the major city of Osijek. Lying on the border with neighbouring Serbia, it was the site of the signing of the 1995 Erdut Agreement, which initiated the UNTAES transitional administration over the Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia.

The village of Erdut is the third largest in the municipality, after Dalj and Bijelo Brdo. The municipality is part of the Osijek-Baranja County in eastern Slavonia. The municipal center is in the largest village of Dalj.

The name Erdut comes from the local Hungarian name (Erdőd) meaning "forest road". In other languages, the village in German is known as Erdung and in Serbian as Ердут.

Due to the local minority population, the Erdut municipality prescribe the use of not only Croatian as the official language, but the Serbian language and Serbian Cyrillic alphabet as well. As of 2023, most of the legal requirements for the fulfillment of bilingual standards have been carried out. Cyrillic is used on official seals, buildings and street and traffic signs. Cyrillic is used on most but not all official documents. There public legal and administrative employees proficient in the script. Preserving traditional Serbian place names and assigning street names to Serbian historical figures is legally mandated and carried out.

The municipality has a total area of 158 km2 (61 sq mi) and is the largest member municipality of Joint Council of Municipalities. The Drava (5.6 km) and Danube (34.825 km) rivers flow through the municipality. The territory of the municipality is completely flat very fertile black soil. The elevation of the village of Erdut is 158 m. It is located at the end of the D213 road near border crossing with Serbia. The railway station is located in Novi Erdut (New Erdut) hamlet, about 1 km south of the village, on the Vukovar-Erdut-Bogojevo (Serbia) railway.

The settlement was first mentioned in 1335 under the Hungarian name Erdöd and then as a city in 1472. It was successively ruled by Ottoman Empire, Austrian Empire, Austria-Hungary, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Independent State of Croatia and Yugoslavia.

When Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, eastern Slavonia was soon overrun by the Yugoslav People's Army and Serb paramilitaries, led by the notorious warlord, Željko Ražnatović known by the name Arkan. The battle for Erdut quickly ended that summer as the entire Croatian population was expelled or killed along with other minorities including Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Ruthenians and Ukrainians in an act of ethnic cleansing. Their homes were soon occupied by other Serbs. Many buildings and homes were destroyed, including the Roman Catholic Church.

Arkan soon set up a training camp for his Serb Volunteer Guard in Erdut, which became headquarters until the end of the war, when Croatian forces returned according to a peaceful Basic Agreement on the Region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium.

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