Country: Serbia
Group: Hungarians
Date Finalized: 4/26/2021
Team: Maya Shrikant (lead), Omer Carrillo, Mahad Alam, Johanna McComb
There is sufficient information detailing instances of the Serbian government seizing Hungarian land and forcing Hungarian ethnic inhabitants away.
Today, Hungarian peoples comprise over 4 percent of the Serbian population, with most of them residing in the region of Vojvodina (Minority Rights, 2021). Vojvodina was formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, but following World War I, became part of the Serbian Kingdom. During this time Serbs, Croats and Slovenes seized Hungarian property under the premise of land reform and forced many Hungarians away from this land. In 1974, Hungarian regained autonomy of Vojvodina. However in 1989, the autonomy was lost again (Minority Rights, 2021). During this period in the early 1990s, the Serbian Radical Party forced over 50,000 Hungarians to leave the Vojvodina as part of an ethnic cleansing initiative. The government attempted to move Serbians from Croatia into areas where Hungarians lived. Due to the violence in Vojvodina many Hungarians fled and the Serbian government prevented them from returning. In 1995 more Serbian refugees settled in Vojvodina furthering the ethnic imbalance, and forcing Hungarians out (Minorities at Risk Project, 2010). Though autonomy was somewhat restored in 2002, many Hungarians continue to face discrimination and lessened rights within this region (Minority Rights, 2021).
The data quality for this code is ranked a 2. Though sources are reliable and consistent in relaying instances of Hungarian displacement in Serbia, the number of sources available makes up only a small pool.
Sources
- MAR | Data | Chronology for Hungarians in Serbia. (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2021, from http://www.mar.umd.edu/chronology.asp?groupId=34504
- Minority Rights Group. “Hungarians.” Minority Rights Group. Accessed April 20, 2021. https://minorityrights.org/minorities/hungarians/.