Editing Vojvodina (section)

===World War II and immediate aftermath===
Between 1941 and 1944, during [[World War II]], [[Nazi Germany]] and its allies, [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]] and the [[Independent State of Croatia]], [[Occupation of Vojvodina, 1941-1944|occupied Vojvodina]] and divided it. Bačka and Baranja were annexed by Hungary and Syrmia was included in the Independent State of Croatia. A smaller Danube Banovina (including Banat, Šumadija, and Braničevo) was designated as part of the area governed by the [[Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia|Military Administration in Serbia]]. The administrative center of this smaller province was [[Smederevo]]. But, Banat was a separate autonomous region ruled by its ethnic German minority.

The occupying powers committed numerous crimes against the civilian population, especially against Serbs, Jews and Roma; the Jewish population of Vojvodina was almost completely killed or deported. In total, [[Axis Powers|Axis]] occupational authorities killed about 50,000 citizens of Vojvodina (mostly Serbs, Jews and Roma) while more than 280,000 people were interned, arrested, violated or tortured. Such crimes in varying regions of Vojvodina were carried out by Nazi Germans, Ustaše and Hungarian Axis forces.<ref>Popov, Dr Dušan, ''Vojvodina, Enciklopedija Novog Sada, sveska 5'', Novi Sad, 1996, pg. 196.<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref> Many historians and authors describe the [[Ustashe]] regime's mass killings as [[Persecution of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia|genocide of the Serbs]], including [[Raphael Lemkin]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Crowe|first=David|title=Crimes of State Past and Present: Government-Sponsored Atrocities and International Legal Responses|year=2011|publisher=Routledge|pages=45–46}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=McCormick|first=Robert B.|title=Croatia Under Ante Pavelić: America, the Ustaše and Croatian Genocide|year=2014|location=London-New York|publisher=I.B. Tauris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c-t7BAAAQBAJ|isbn=9781780767123}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://public.mzos.hr/fgs.axd?id=10921| author=Ivo Goldstein| title=Uspon i pad NDH| publisher=[[Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb]]| access-date=20 February 2011| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717114852/http://public.mzos.hr/fgs.axd?id=10921| archive-date=17 July 2011| author-link=Ivo Goldstein}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TtWycwryensC&pg=PA430 |title=Century of genocide: critical essays and eyewitness accounts|isbn=0-203-89043-4|page=430|date=1997|author=Samuel Totten, William S. Parsons|publisher=Taylor & Francis |access-date=28 September 2010}}</ref> In 1942, in the [[Novi Sad Raid]], a military operation carried out by the [[Royal Hungarian Army|Királyi Honvédség]], the armed forces of [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]], during [[World War II]], after [[Hungarian occupation of Yugoslav territories|occupation and annexation]] of former [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Yugoslav]] territories. It resulted in the deaths of 3,000–4,000 civilians in the southern [[Bačka]] (Bácska) region. Under the Hungarian authority, 19,573 people were killed in Bačka, of which the majority of victims were of Serb, Jewish and Romani origin.

[[File:Fruška gora - spomenik na Iriškom vencu, WWII memorial 04.jpg|thumb|The Freedom Monument on the [[Fruška Gora]], dedicated to the [[Resistance during World War II|anti-fascist resistance]] in [[Axis occupation of Vojvodina|occupied Vojvodina]]]]
When Axis occupation ended in 1944, the region was temporarily placed under a military administration (1944–45) run by the new communist authorities. During and after the military administration, several thousands of citizens were killed. Victims were mostly ethnic Germans, but Hungarian and Serb populations were also killed. Both the war-time Axis occupational authorities and the post-war communist authorities ran concentration/prison camps in the territory of Vojvodina (see [[List of concentration and internment camps]]). While war-time prisoners in these camps were mostly Jews, Serbs and communists, post-war camps were formed for ethnic Germans (historically known as [[Danube Swabians]]).{{Citation needed|date=January 2017}}

Most Vojvodina ethnic Germans (about 200,000) fled the region in 1944, together with the defeated German army.<ref>Dragomir Jankov, ''Vojvodina – propadanje jednog regiona'', Novi Sad, 2004, page 76.</ref> Most of those who remained in the region (about 150,000) were sent to some of the villages cordoned off as prisons. It is estimated that some 48,447 Germans died in the camps from disease, hunger, malnutrition, mistreatment, and cold.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://adevarul.ro/locale/focsani/cine-fost-baba-novac-credinciosul-general-mihai-viteazul-ucis-unguri-chinuri-groaznice-devorat-corbi-1_5587fbd3cfbe376e358b3190/index.html|title=Cine a fost Baba Novac, credinciosul general al lui Mihai Viteazul, ucis de unguri în chinuri groaznice şi devorat de corbi|date=22 June 2015 }}</ref> Some 8,049 Germans were killed by partisans during military administration in Vojvodina after October 1944.<ref>Stefanović, Nenad. ''Jedan svet na Dunavu'', Beograd, 2003, page 133.</ref><ref>Janjetović, Zoran. ''Between Hitler and Tito'', 2005.</ref>

It has also been estimated that post-war communist authorities killed some 15,000–20,000 Hungarians<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hungarytoday.hu/cikk/commemoration-held-70th-anniversary-vojvodina-hungarian-massacre-szeged-92948|title=Commemoration Held On 70th Anniversary Of Vojvodina Hungarian Massacre In Szeged|work=Hungary Today|date=26 January 2015}}</ref><ref>Jankov, Dragomir. ''Vojvodina – propadanje jednog regiona'', Novi Sad, 2004, page 78.<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref> and some 23,000–24,000 Serbs<ref name="mail-archive1">{{cite web|url=http://www.mail-archive.com/sim@antic.org/msg44296.html|title=[sim] Srbe podjednako ubijali okupator i i "oslobodioci"|date=14 January 2009|work=mail-archive.com}}</ref> during [[Communist purges in Serbia in 1944–45]]. According to [http://www2.masfak.ni.ac.rs/sitegenius/topic.php?id=1693 Dragoljub Živković], some 47,000 ethnic Serbs were murdered in Vojvodina between 1941 and 1948. About half were killed by occupational Axis forces and the other half by the post-war Communist authorities.<ref name="mail-archive1"/>

The region was politically restored in 1944 (incorporating Syrmia, Banat, Bačka and Baranja) and became an autonomous province of Serbia in 1945. Instead of the previous name (Danube Banovina), the region regained its historical name of Vojvodina, while its capital city remained Novi Sad. When the final borders of Vojvodina were defined, Baranja was assigned to Croatia, while the northern part of the Mačva region was assigned to Vojvodina.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}