page_title: Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: Parts of Yugoslavia where Axis / fascist occupational forces and collaborationist regimes committed genocide against Yugoslav citizens during World War II.Српски / srpski: Delovi Jugoslavije gde su fašističke okupacione snage i kolaboracionistički režimi počinili genocid nad jugoslovenskim građanima tokom Drugog svetskog rata.
context_page_description: The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina are one of the three constitutive nations of the country, predominantly residing in the political-territorial entity of Republika Srpska.
  In the other entity, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbs form the majority in Drvar, Glamoč, Bosansko Grahovo and Bosanski Petrovac. They are frequently referred to as Bosnian Serbs in English, regardless of whether they are from Bosnia or Herzegovina.
  They are also known by regional names such as Krajišnici, Semberci, Bosanci, Birčani, Romanijci, Posavci, Hercegovci. Serbs have a long and continuous history of inhabiting the present-day territory of Bosnia & Herzegovina, and a long history of statehood in this territory.
  From the 15th to the 19th century, Orthodox Serbs in modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina were often persecuted under the Ottoman Empire. In the 20th century, persecution by Austria-Hungary, WWII genocide, political turmoil and poor economic conditions caused more to emigrate. In the 1990s, many Bosnian Serbs moved to Serbia proper and Montenegro.
  Having lived throughout much of Bosnia-Herzegovina prior to the Bosnian War, the majority now live in the Republika Srpska.
context_section_description: During World War II, Bosnian Serbs were put under the rule of the fascist Ustashe regime (supported by Bosnian Muslims) in the Independent State of Croatia. Under Ustashe rule Serbs along with Jews and Roma people, were subjected to systematic genocide where hundreds of thousands of civilian Serbs were murdered (significant disruption of the ethnic structure in favor of Bosnian Muslims). According to the US Holocaust Museum, 320,000–340,000 Serbs were murdered under Ustasha rule.  According to Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum and Research Center, "More than 500,000 Serbs were murdered in horribly sadistic ways, 250,000 were expelled, and another 200,000 were forced to convert" during WWII in the Independent State of Croatia (modern-day Croatia and Bosnia). Many historians and authors describe the Ustashe regime's mass killings of Serbs as meeting the definition of genocide, including Raphael Lemkin who is known for coining the word genocide and initiating the Genocide Convention. In an interview on 4 November 2015, Bakir Izetbegović, Bosniak Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, also described the persecutions of Serbs in Independent State of Croatia as genocide. Kruščica concentration camp was one of the concentration camps established by Ustashe, it was founded in April 1941 for Serb and Jewish women and children.
  Serbs suffered large genocide, and therefore drastic demographic shift during WWII. The official brutal policies of the Independent State of Croatia, involving expulsion, murder and forced conversion to Catholicism of Orthodox Serbs, contributed that Serbs never recover within Bosnia & Herzegovina. The Federal Bureau of Statistics in Belgrade composed a figure of 179,173 persons killed in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Second World War: 129,114 Serbs (72.1%); 29,539 Muslims (16.5%); 7,850 Croats (4.4%); others (7%). By the plans of Nazi Germany and the Independent State of Croatia 110,000 Serbs were relocated and transported to German-occupied Serbia. Just in the period of May to August 1941 over 100,000 Serbs were expelled to Serbia. In the heat of war Serbia had 200,000–400,000 Serbian refugees from Ustaša-held Bosnia and Herzegovina. By the end of war 137,000 Serbs have permanently left the territories of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
  The May 1941 Sanski Most revolt against the Ustashe was suppressed in two days, and the June 1941 uprising in eastern Herzegovina was suppressed after two weeks. However, the Serbs gradually organized into two anti-fascist rebellion movements, The Chetnik Movement, and the Partisan Movement, both being dominated by fighters of Serbian origin, at least in the initial stages of combat in 1941. In June 1941, Serbs in eastern Herzegovina rebelled against the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (Croatian: Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH), an Axis puppet state established during World War II on the territory of the defeated and occupied Kingdom of Yugoslavia. As the NDH imposed its authority, members of the fascist Ustashe ruling party began a campaign of persecution of Serbs throughout the country. In eastern Herzegovina, the Ustashe perpetrated a series of massacres and attacks against the majority Serb population commencing in the first week of June. Between 3 and 22 June 1941, spontaneous clashes occurred between NDH authorities and groups of Serbs in the region.
  The German invasion of the Soviet Union began on 22 June. Over the next two days, the sporadic revolts by Serbs against the NDH in eastern Herzegovina erupted into mass rebellion, triggered by Ustashe persecution, Serb solidarity with the Russian people, hatred and fear of the NDH authorities, and other factors. Serb rebels, under the leadership of both local Serbs and Montenegrins, attacked police, gendarmerie, Ustashe and Croatian Home Guard forces in the region. 
  Most of anti-fascist combat and battles were fought in mainly Serb-inhabited areas of Bosnia & Herzegovina., Like the Battle of Neretva, Battle of Sutjeska, Drvar Operation, Kozara Battle and so forth.
  Between 1945 and 1948, foll
caption: Genocide in Yugoslavia, mainly committed against Serbs in "Independent State of Croatia". Serbs constituted roughly 1/3 of the territory ISC held in 1941, today Serbs are 1/8 of the population of the roughly same area. It is estimated that out of 2 000 000 Serbs living in the "Independent State of Croatia", up to 700 000 were killed.
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