Migrations of the German population on Croatian territory during World War II and the post-war period

Rad na temelju literature i arhivskog gradiva obrađuje migracije njemačkog stanovništva tijekom rata i u poraću. Pozornost je posebice usmjerena na preseljavanje tijekom rata zbog zaštite njemačkog stanovništva od partizanskih napada i to osobito na evakuaciju u jesen 1944., zatim na onemogućavanje povratka preseljenih/evakuiranih Nijemaca u Jugoslaviju/Hrvatsku poslije rata te na protjerivanje preostalih hrvatskih Nijemaca u neposrednom poraću.A population of around 170 000 Germans lived in the territory of the Independent State of Croatia, 150 000 on Croatian territory and around 20 000 in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since, in times of war, war-related events jeopardised the security of German settlements and population, resettlements/evacuations of settlers to safer areas were conducted in the territory of the Independent State of Croatia by the leadership of the German ethnic group. In the beginning these events took place within the area of the Independent State of Croatia, but later, in 1944 a great evacuation to the territory of the Third Reich took place. A small percentage of Germans from the territory of the Independent State of Croatia, i.e. almost all Germans from Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as about 2 500 Germans from Croatian towns and villages emigrated permanently to the territory of the Third Reich in 1942. After the war the Yugoslav government did not want to take back resettled/evacuated and fugitive Germans and planned to banish the rest of Yugoslav Germans. In the post-war period about 20 000 Germans, mainly children, women and older people, stayed in the Croatian territory; in the immediate post-war period most of them were detained in camps in Croatia and Vojvodina. Most of those who survived, emigrated; hence, we can say that the Yugoslav/Croatian territory was almost “purged” of the German national group by the middle of 1960s. The disappearance of the Croatian Germans signifi cantly changed the cultural, national and religious picture of Slavonia, Srijem and Baranja