Persecution of Serbs

Persecution of Serbs refers to the religious, political and ethnic persecution inflicted upon Serbs (Serbian Orthodox Christians). Persecution may refer to death, beating, torture, confiscation or destruction of property, or destruction or desecration of Serbian Orthodox Church Monasteries and Churches.

World War II


Serbs were persecuted by Croatian authorities during World War II by the Croatian Ustaša along with Jews and Roma in the Independent State of Croatia. The number of murdered Serbs is estimated in a wide range, from at least 300 000 to 800 000. At least 80 000 people, of which the majority were Serbs, died in the Jasenovac concentration camp between 1941 and1945.

Kosovo
Persecution of Serbs by Kosovo Albanian extremists occurred during and after the 1998-1999 Kosovo War.


 * Serbian-Albanian conflict
 * 2004 unrest in Kosovo
 * Systematic and organized Organ theft, more than 300 Serbs missing
 * Grdelica train bombing
 * Lužane bus bombing
 * Podujevo bus bombing
 * Panda Bar Massacre
 * Gnjilane Group, a group within the KLA that kidnapped, raped and murdered ethnic Serb civilians.
 * Lapušnik prison camp
 * Goraždevac murders

Catholicization
A large part of the Habsburg unit of Uskoks, who fought a guerilla war with the Ottoman Empire were ethnic Serbs (Serbian Orthodox Christian) who fled from Ottoman Turkish rule and settled in Bela Krajina and Zumberak.

Serbs in the Roman Catholic Croatian Military Frontier were out of the jurisdiction of the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć and in 1611, after demands from the community, the Pope establishes the Eparchy of Marča (Vratanija) with seat at the Serbian-built Marča Monastery and instates a Byzantine vicar as bishop sub-ordinate to the Roman Catholic bishop of Zagreb, working to bring Serbian Orthodox Christians into communion with Rome which caused struggle of power between the Catholics and the Serbs over the region. In 1695 Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Lika-Krbava and Zrinopolje is established by metropolitan Atanasije Ljubojevic and certified by Emperor Josef I in 1707. In 1735 the Serbian Orthodox protested in the Marča Monastery and becomes part of the Serbian Orthodox Church until 1753 when the Pope restores the Roman Catholic clergy. On June 17, 1777 the Eparchy of Križevci is permanently established by Pope Pius VI with see at Križevci, near Zagreb, thus forming the Croatian Greek Catholic Church which would after the World War I include other people; Rusyns and Ukrainians of Yugoslavia.

Catholic Croats of Turopolje and Gornja Stubica celebrate the Đurđevdan (Jurjevo), a Serbian tradition maintained by Uskoks descendants (adjacent to White Carniola, where Serbs formed communities in 1528).

Islamization


As Christians, the Serbs were regarded as a "protected people" under Ottoman law, but were however referred to as Giaour (Kaurin, Infidel). Many converted to Islam in viyalets where Islam was more powerful, notably in the Sandzak and Bosnia region, other converted in order to be more successful in the Ottoman Empire society and many were forced as part of Turkification or Islamisation and avoided persecution. The Janissaries (Janjičari) were infantry units that served directly under the Sultan in the households and bodyguarding the higher people within the Ottoman Turkish government, they were composed of Islamicized Christian boys taken from the conquered countries through the Devşirme (Blood tribute) system, trained and schooled to serve the Ottoman Empire. Serbs, together with Greeks and Bulgarians were favored by the Sultans.

Arnautaši
The term Arnauti or Arnautaši was coined by Serbian ethnographers for "Albanized Serbs", Serbs that converted to Islam and went through a process of Albanisation. In the 19th century, writer Branislav Nušić recorded that the Serb poturice (converts to Islam) of Orahovac begin talking Albanian and marrying Albanian women. Hadzi-Vasiljevic visited Orahovac in World War I, he could not distinguish Orthodox from Islamicized and Albanized Serbs. They spoke Serbian, wore the same costumes but claimed Serbian, Albanian or Turk ethnicity. The Albanian starosedeoci (native) were Slavophone; spoke Serbian. In the 1921 census the majority of Muslim Albanians were Serbian speaking (naš govor, Our language).