ETNIČKA STRUKTURA ISTOČNOG SRIJEMA (1921.) I RAZGRANIČENJE IZMEĐU HRVATSKE I SRBIJE (1945.-1947.)
THE ETHNIC COMPOSITION OF EASTERN SYRMIA (1921) AND THE DEMARCATION OF CROATIA AND SERBIA (1945-1947)

Summary/Abstract: Up until the establishment of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918 the whole of Syrmia belonged to Croatia (the “Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia”). In the newly established state, in accordance with its unitary organisation, all the historical political-territorial creations were soon disbanded and Syrmia became a part of then administrative units, i.e. districts, and subsequently of the Banovina. When the state was reorganised in 1939 and when the Banovina of Croatia was formed, a great part of Syrmia became a part of it. However, the final determination of Syrmia’s affiliation took place immediately upon the end of World War II after the borders of the republics were determined within the new, socialist Yugoslavia. The government of the time tried to present its approach to the demarcation of Croatia and Serbia as an approach based on justice and equal respect for Croatian and Serbian positions; an approach that among other things had to respect the ethnic composition of the “disputed” areas. This paper analyses the ethnic composition of settlements of eastern Syrmia, i.e. the part of eastern Syrmia belonging to Vojvodina and thereby to Serbia. The analysis was conducted on the basis of census data from 1921. This was a census conducted before the tendentious political changes of the ethnic composition of Syrmia which started soon after it had been conducted. On the basis of the acquired insight, it was determined to what extent the new government complied with the proclaimed principles while determining the affiliation of eastern Syrmia or its specific parts.

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