| abstract
| - Ethnic cleansing in Croatia is a method which was used by Croats several times to change the balance in national composition of Croatia in twentieth century. It went hand in hand with genocide against the Serbs and foibe massacres of the Italians in WWII, but the method was used again in '91-'95 Croatian secession war. Croatia, as it is today, consisted of several regions with very different history. The northern part of this country belonged to Austro-Hungarian Empire and Hungary, while the Dalmatian coast had a fate similar to the other parts of Adriatic coast, and cities like Venice. Republic of Ragusa was one example of such a city state, and it was later included in Austro-Hungarian Empire after the conquest of Napoleon. Dalmatia had a distinct population, which consisted of Italians and Slavs. Italians were mostly concentrated in cities, like Zara, Fiume, Ragusa and other. Istria was always a part of Italy, up to 1945 when it was occupied by the Croatian Tito's communists. But even further to the south, around 400,000 Italians lived, which constitued around 40% of the population of Dalmatia. The remaining population was mainly Slavic, roughly half of which were Serbs, and the rest were Catholic Dalmatians, later turned into Croats. Serbs were also concentrated in Krayina region which extended further to the north, along the boundary with Turkish Empire. They lived there for centuries, and there were around a million of them in the present day Croatia in 1900. Out of 4 million people almost half were not Croats, even if one counts Dalmatian Catolics, indeed all Slavic Catolics, as Croats. After WWI, Italy lost part of the Dalmatian coast. It remained in Istria and some other towns, like Zara further to the south. The Serbian forces, who victoriously defeated the Austro Hungarian army at the Solun front marched all way to the Slovenia, and the country, dominated by the victorious Serbs, was created. In WWII, Italians regained control of most of the Dalmatian coast, despite some of it being incorporated in the notorious NDH. The NDH was involved in the genocide against the Serbs, and almost a million of them were killed in present day Croatia and Bosnia, which were both included in this nazi puppet state. Their plan was to get rid of the Serbs, by killing one third, expelling the other third and assimilating the rest. The first goal was achieved in WWII by the Ustasha genocide. However, in 1943, with the fall of Musollini's Italy, Germany regained control of the Dalmatian coast, while partisans engaged in the first wave of killings of Italians in the notorious foiba pits. The worst atrocities perpetuated by Croatian communists were done however in 1945, with German withdrawing. Tito's communists killed several thousand Italians and foiba's were filled with Italian bodies. They occupied Istria, cities of Trieste, Fiume, historical capital of Dalmatia Zara, which were always Italian, and expelled several hundred thousand of Italians in the first wave of ethnic cleansing. Some Germans, who lived in Slavonia, were also expelled, but their number was not so large as Germans were a small minority there. While Germans were nazis up to '45, Italians fought on the side of Allies since '43, like they did in the WWI. The final episode of ethnic cleansing happened in '95, where all of the Krajina Serbs were expelled, while thousands of mostly elderly and hapeless were mercilesly killed. Out of over 500,000 Serbs present in Croatia in '91, most of whome lost someone in the genocide in WWII. Out of them, only around 100,000 Serbs remained, mostly in cities where they were further discriminated against, just as the remaining Italians are forcibly assimilated and slowly expelled from Croatia after WWII. Thus, the 95% population of present day Croatia claims to be purely Croat. This is up from 82% in the 1991, 68% after WWII, and 35% (52% if one counts all Slavic Catolics) after WWI. The results of ethnical cleansing in Croatia are indeed impactful.Dalmatian language, a dialect of Italian is now extinct.
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