Editing Vukovar (section)

===World War II===
Croats and Serbs tensions in the town escalated during the latter half of the 1930s.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=118}} An incident in 1937 involved a Serb student bringing a pistol to Vukovar High School and threatening to kill a Croat classmate.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=118}}  At the time of [[1938 Yugoslavian parliamentary election]], Vukovar's [[Ustaša]] used a slogans referencing an Ustaša paramilitary training camps in Hungary.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=118}} After the Croat-led coalition won the town election, a group of Croat high school students celebrated the victory by chanting pro-Croatian and anti-Yugoslav sentiments in the streets.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=118}} The local newspaper ''Srijemski Hrvat'', which was published in Vukovar from November 1939 to January 1941, showed a clear increase in Ustašist influence as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia approached its collapse.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=112}} Although it was officially aligned with the [[Croatian Peasant Party]] (HSS), its editor, Luka Puljiz, was a committed Ustaša and leader in the movement's local cell.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=112}} On 15 November 1939 ''Srijemski Hrvat'' discussed local Germans' support for the central government in Belgrade and invited them to back the Croatian Peasant Party-led regime in Zagreb instead.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=115}} While it mentioned Germans, Hungarians, Czechs, Ukrainians, and Slovaks as relevant national minorities, Jews, Serbs, and Roma were notably excluded.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=115}} On 5 November 1939 [[Nikola Andrić]] gave a speech asserting that Croatian ethnic songs were not only better than Serbian ones but also the best among all the world's cultures.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=124}}
[[File:Dudik Memorial Park - Спомен парк Дудик 01.jpg|thumb|left|[[Dudik Memorial Park]]]]

After 1941 [[Yugoslav coup d'état]] Luka Puljiz, editor of ''Srijemski Hrvat'', received advance instructions on the procedure of the town capture following the [[Invasion of Yugoslavia]].{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=122}} When the [[Independent State of Croatia]] was declared on 10 April 1941, following morning Puljiz group took control of Vukovar by seizing key locations such as the post office, police station, and town hall.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=111}} The Ustaša authorities across the NDH began issuing anti-Jewish and anti-Serb laws, effectively placing both groups outside the law.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=124}} On 10 April 1941, a decree barred Serbs and Jews from serving in the NDH army.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=126}} A subsequent decree on 17 April 1941, allowed for arrests based on "anti-Croat" activities without specifying exact crimes.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=126}} Further decrees on 18 April 1941, targeted Serbs and Jews, nullifying legal contracts involving Jews and preparing for the deportation of Serb agricultural colonists.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=126–127}} On 19 April 1941, the regime appointed commissioners to Jewish and Serb firms.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=126–127}} Additionally local Ustašas executed several individuals suspected of anti-Croat activities.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=126–127}} More decrees suspended judiciary staff and public employees, giving the state the power to dismiss Jews, Serbs, and Croats with Yugoslav affiliations.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=127–129}} ''Decree on the Prohibition of the Cyrillic Script'' was introduced on 25 April 1941.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=130}} Ustaša regime spread its ideology in Vukovar through various means, including the weekly newspaper ''Hrvatski Borac'' ("''Croat Fighter''"), which circulated from December 1941 to June 1942.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=135}} The paper was edited by Dr. Vilko Anderlić, a Catholic priest from a nearby village of [[Sotin]].{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=135}}

In the Vukovar area, Ustaša authorities did not immediately launch large-scale killings against Serb communities in the first mass killing phase from April to May 1941 which targeted area that lacked significant economic value.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=180–181}} Wealthier regions such as Vukovar saw a more restrained approach, as peace and order were crucial for the continuity of industry and agriculture.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=182}} Mass shootings in town began in late July 1941 after the first act of resistance in the Serb village of [[Bobota, Croatia|Bobota]].{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=182}} The following day, the Ustaša forces encircled the village, interrogated and terrorized the inhabitants, and arrested 45 people.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=183}} Thirty of them were sent to the [[Jadovno concentration camp]], while 15 were sentenced to death by a hastily convened traveling summary court and execution being carried at the Dudik site.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=183}} Over 500 people will be executed at the site during the war with the place being turned into the [[Dudik Memorial Park]] subsequently.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=183}} Repression led to further resistance and imprisonment of 500 residents of Bobota, [[Trpinja]] and [[Vera, Croatia|Vera]] in September 1941.{{sfn|Matijević|2024|pp=183}}

During [[World War II]] the city was bombed by the Allies. The first [[Yugoslav Partisans]] uprising in the district ({{lang|sh-Latn|kotar}}) of Vukovar happened on 26 August 1941, in the village of [[Bobota, Croatia|Bobota]] with subsequent continued dominant role of ethnic Serbs in the uprising who will constitute 75% of Yugoslav Partisans in the area as of late 1943.{{sfn|Filipović|2022|pp=293}} Today, [[Dudik Memorial Park]] commemorates 455 individuals who were executed by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia during the [[World War II in Yugoslavia]].<ref name="2009Identitet138">{{cite journal | language = sr |title = Skrnavljenje spomenika u režiji HDZ-a: o inicijativi za obnovu spomen kompleksa Dudik | first = Dragana | last = Zečević | publisher  = [[Serb Democratic Forum]] | journal = Identitet | number = 138 |date=September 2009 | location = [[Zagreb]] }}</ref> The monument at the Dudik Memorial Park, built from 1978 to 1980, is designed by [[Bogdan Bogdanović (architect)|Bogdan Bogdanović]], for which he won the [[International Piranesi Award]].<ref name="Sørensen Viejo-Rose Filippucci 2019 p. 194">{{cite book |last1=Sørensen |first1=M.L.S. |last2=Viejo-Rose |first2=D. |last3=Filippucci |first3=P. |title=Memorials in the Aftermath of Armed Conflict: From History to Heritage |publisher=Springer International Publishing |series=Palgrave Studies in Cultural Heritage and Conflict |year=2019 |isbn=978-3-030-18091-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ay7EDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA194 |access-date=3 June 2021 |page=194}}</ref> At least 1027 soldiers of the [[Bulgarian Armed Forces]] who fought on [[Syrmian Front]] died during the liberation of Vukovar and related fights and are today commemorated at the local [[Bulgarian Military Cemetery, Vukovar|Bulgarian Military Cemetery]].<ref name="Bulgarian Army">{{cite web |url=https://radio.hrt.hr/radio-osijek/vijesti/vukovar-odana-pocast-bugarskim-vojnicima-3752372 |title=Vukovar: Odana počast bugarskim vojnicima |publisher=[[Croatian Radiotelevision]] |access-date=26 April 2024 |language=hr |date=9 May 2021 |author=Marija Vukasović Petrinović }}</ref> An additional monument was erected in [[Borovo Naselje]] to commemorate the soldiers of the Yugoslav and the Soviet Red Army who lost their lives in the liberation of the region between 8 and 12 April 1944.<ref name="ZVO-Srbi.hr">{{cite web |url=https://srbi.hr/na-dan-pobede-setili-se-stradalih-u-drugom-svetskom-ratu/ |title=Na Dan Pobede setili se stradalih u Drugom svetskom ratu |publisher=[[Joint Council of Municipalities]] |access-date=26 April 2024 |language=sr |date=11 May 2020 |author=Dušan Velimirović }}</ref> The monument was built by workers from the Borovo factory.<ref name="ZVO-Srbi.hr"/> Vukovar's memorial ossuary contains the remains of 388 victims transferred from the Dudik memorial area, including 155 soldiers from the Fifth Vojvodina Strike Brigade and 62 Red Army soldiers.<ref name="ZVO-Srbi.hr"/> In 2008 an unexploded bomb was found in the city from this period.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vktel.com/v/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1363&Itemid=40 |title=Bombs from the II World War found in Vukovar |publisher=vktel.com |access-date=18 November 2010 |language=hr |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129153637/http://www.vktel.com/v/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1363&Itemid=40 |archive-date=29 November 2010 }}</ref>