In this article the traditional and modern elements of the identity of Serbs in Croatia are analysed. The author identifies the following key elements or markers of this identity: Christian Orthodox faith, use of Cyrillic alphabet, social and political preferences and values, concern for the status of their ethnic community, loyalty to specific organisations that represent their community, and memories of the Second World War, i.e. loyalty to Partisans. This article presents results of in-depth interviewing of a large number of ethnic Serbs from different regions of Croatia. The author concludes that following the disintegration of Yugoslavia, Serb identity in Croatia has been through an ambivalent process. On one hand, there is a process of re-traditionalisation and 'reviving of identity', which had been neglected in the times of Yugoslavia. On the other hand, due to the war of the 1990s, Serb ethnic community in Croatia has been significantly reduced, and there are new fears - especially of the trend of assimilation. Many Serbs have left Croatia and will not return. Thus, it is possible that the Serb community is facing disappearance. Adapted from the source document.
The author brings forth a range of information on forced migration of the Serb population from the Croatian part of the Independent State of Croatia in 1941 (NDH). Almost one third of the population were Serbs in the NDH. One of the methods of solving ?the Serbia issue? in the NDH was migrating the Serbs into Serbia. The other methods were forced conversions of the Serbian population, namely physical killings. The adopted legal provisions made the terror policy over Serbian population legitimate. A conference was held on June 4th in the German legation in Zagreb. At the meeting it was agreed that Slovenians from Styria were to be moved to NDH, and Serbs from the NDH to Serbia. Deportation was to be carried out in three waves. The first wave was to last from June 7th to July 5th and 5000 Slovenian intellectuals from Lower Styria were to be deported directly to Serbia, except for catholic priests who were to be deported to the NDH. Orthodox priests from the NDH were to be deported to Serbia together with their families. In the second wave, lasting from June 10th to August 30th, 25,000 Slovenians from Slovenia were to be deported to the NDH and NDH was to deport just as many Serbs. In the last wave (from September 15th to October 31st), 65,000 Slovenian peasants from the Gorenjska region (Upper Carniola region) were to be deported to the NDH, and NDH was to migrate just as many Serbs to Serbia, as well as 30,000 Serbs whose citizenship was not acknowledged by the NDH. The government of the NDH founded an office for this purpose under the name State Directorate for Renewal. The migration of the Serbs from NDH began in June of 1941. Volunteers from the Salonika Front were then moved from their properties in Slavonia and Srem. Their total number was about 28,000. Then the Orthodox priests were migrated. According to the lists made by the NDH authorities, 327 of them were migrated from the NDH. 104 priests from the Croatian part of NDH were moved away in an organized manner. One part of them managed to escape before they were arrested. The migration of priests was carried out through transit camps in Caprag and Pozega. Massive deportations of the Serbian population through transit camps in Caprag, Bjelovar and Pozega began with the arresting of Serbs in Zagreb in the first half of July 1941, and then continued in other districts of northern Croatia and Bosnia. The total number of migrations in an organized manner from the Croatian part of the NDH up to the beginning of September 1941, according to the name list drawn up in 2012, amounted to 9875 Serbs, although that number was not final since there were greater disparities for certain districts. By the end of September 1941, the Ustashas migrated 14,733 Serbs out of the NDH in a legal way. Croatians from Dalmatia, Herzegovina and the Croatian Zagorje as well as displaced Slovenians primarily originally from Styria, moved into their houses. The authorities of NDH confiscated the property of the forced out Serbs. Other forms of the Ustasha terror, like massive killings, caused intensive illegal emigration of Serbs from NDH to Serbia, which, according to German data, had already increased to around 180,000 relocated Serbs by the end of July, although it seems this number exceeded 200,000 by the end of September. Organized migration was ceased in October 1941 after the German authorities in Serbia forbid further immigration of Serbs from the NDH mainly because of the uprising in western Serbia. Part of the banished Serbs from the Pozega concentration camp were returned home to the districts of Osijek, Garesnica, Krizevac, Virovitica and Ludbreg. However, from the documentation of the Commissariat for Refugees in Belgrade, it is evident that the research on the migration of Serbs from Croatia and the whole of NDH was not finished in 1941, so the number of 200,000 of forced migrants who have left is not final.
