Having suffered all the blows coming from the new Croatian government, the Serbian people from the territories within the communist imposed boundaries of the former Yugoslav republic of Croatia have established the Republic of Serbian Krajina on December 19, 1991. The republic incorporates provinces in Dalmatian Zagora, Lika, Kordun, Banija, East and West Slavonija, West Srem, and Baranja, in which Serbs constitute the majority. The territory of the Serbian Krajina largely coincides with what used to be the "Military Frontier" (Vojna Krajina), along the borders of the Yugoslav republic of Croatia with its two eastern neighbors, the Yugoslav republics of Serbia and Bosnia-Hercegovina. The current population of Serbian Krajina is around 460,000 citizens, of which 93% are Serbs.

Serbs came to Krajina in three major waves.The first group, settling mostly in Dalmatia, came from Kosovo-Metohija between 1347 and 1355 at the invitation of Dowager Princess Jelena Subic. The princess built several Christian Orthodox monasteries, churches, and schools for them. Rather than accepting the rule of the advancing Ottoman Turks, the second wave of Serbs came to the northern part of Krajina (Lika, Kordun, Banija, Slavonija, Srem, and Baranja) between 1460 and 1490. They were invited to settle on feudal fiefs which, at the time, were completely abandoned by the Austrian and Hungarian lords and their Croat serfs who fled in fear of the Ottomans. The original land-patents given to the Serbs by the Austrian Emperor refer to these lands as desertum premium et secundum. These Serbs were given the status of free peasants in return for military service against used as the Ottomans. Their Vojna Krajina was under direct control of the Crown in Vienna, independent of the Austrian governors of Croatia, and therefore enjoyed full autonomy.

At the end of the seventeenth century, after Vienna was rescued from the Ottomans by the Polish king Sobiesky, Emperor Leopold I of Austria again asked Serbs to guard its border with the Ottomans, and in 1690 Serbs led by Patriarch Charnojevich of Pech settled north of the Danube and Sava rivers. As recorded in Privilegia, the Emperor granted these Serbs land and full spiritual, economic and political autonomy in exchange for their military service. Standing as a protective shield between Europe and the Ottomans for centuries and participating on the side of Austria, Hungary and other Christian states in every war waged against the Ottoman Empire, the Krajina Serbs developed into courageous, intelligent, just and loyal fighters and faithful defenders of Christianity. Their heroism was immortalized in Serbian Epic poetry that Goethe found so inspiring. Their ingenuity benefited the world through such men as the great Serbian-American inventors of the turn of the century, Michael Pupin and Nikola Tesla.

Krajina (and Bosnia) Serbs were separated from the Serbs of the two Serbian kingdoms, the Kingdom of Serbia and the Kingdom of Montenegro, until the end of the Balkan Wars in 1913 and the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I. They were reunited at the Paris peace conference through the influence of the American President Wilson in 1919, when the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was created. Serbs paid a high price: 56% of the adult male population perished in the two wars.

The new kingdom, renamed Yugoslavia in 1929, was dismantled by Hitler at the beginning of World War II. He created the Independent State of Croatia, ruled by the puppet fascist Ustashe regime, which incorporated Krajina and Bosnia Serbs. Being again separated from Serbia and Montenegro, these Serbs suffered under the Croatian Ustashe regime a horrible genocide - out of a population of about 1,800,000 Serbs, at least 500,000 defenseless civilians were killed in death camps and another 200,000 forcibly converted to Roman Catholicism. Hermann Neubacher, a high-ranking Austrian Nazi serving as special German envoy for Southeast Europe, wrote: "When the leaders of Ustashe boast to have slaughtered one million Orthodox Serbs, that in my opinion is self-glorifying exaggeration. On the basis of reports I had received, I estimate the number of defenseless Serbs who were slaughtered at three-quarters of a million." Not surprisingly, the Serbs from Krajina were among the first to take to the woods and form the core of the guerrilla forces that fought the Nazi Germans and their Croatian puppets in WW II. Called "bandits" by the Germans, these forces grew into a major army of about 800,000 fighters which, together with the allies, defeated those same Germans and freed Europe. At least 15% of all Serbs, mostly from Krajina, perished in WW II.

Towards the end of WW II, communists led by Tito proclaimed the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, consisting of six federal units, called "Republics." The borders of the Republics were secretly drawn by the Central Committee of the Yugoslav Communist Party, and the Serbian Krajina was incorporated into the newly-created Yugoslav Republic of Croatia. The communist leadership in post-war Yugoslavia, dominated by Croats and Slovenes, went out of their way to conceal the evidence of the genocide carried out by Croatian Ustashe. In the name of South Slavic brotherhood and unity, the Krajina Serbs forgave. However, while Tito's government was developing the rest of Croatia, it made sure that Serbian Krajina remained economically underdeveloped. In order to curb their economic, cultural, social and spiritual growth, many villages of Serbian Krajina were left without even electricity, running water, or any road access.

Following the death of Tito in 1980, the anti-Serbian policy in Croatia not only persisted, but actually grew stronger. It reached its climax in the early 90's, when the nationalist-chauvinist Croatian Democratic Union, led by the ex-communist general Franjo Tudjman and largely funded by Ustashe groups from abroad, came into power. Their so-called "democratic" regime proclaimed itself a legitimate successor of the WW II Ustashe's Independent State of Croatia, restored its symbols and its goal of forming a national state, and promptly organized ethnically pure Croatian paramilitary troops.The new Constitution of Croatia did not treat the Serbs as a constituent and legal element of the Croatian state, reducing them to a national minority deprived of political rights, and denying them the right to organize public and cultural institutions. Faced with growing repression and government-sponsored propaganda resulting in mass anti-Serbian hysteria, the Krajina Serbs democratically elected their own government and voted overwhelmingly for autonomy from Croatia in May of 1991. Croatian president Tudjman rejected Krajina autonomy for "geopolitical reasons," that is, for territorial reasons. Instead, the Croatian government intensified its attempts to occupy Serbian Krajina territories. What used to be individual cases of assaults on Serbs, now turned into raids of whole Serbian villages and towns, carried out by the Croatian police or paramilitary units. The Croatian government not only tolerated such illegal deeds, but supported them and even took part in their organization. Gradually, the Croatian government has provided all the necessary conditions for a real war against the Serbs in Croatia. This war is being waged openly and mercilessly since Croatia's self-proclaimed independence from Yugoslavia on June 25, 1991.

Today, after the fears of Krajina Serbs have become a reality, their decision to use arms to protect their land, villages, homes and families, their religion and their national identity against Croatian guns is just and legitimate. Although Krajina Serbs are again called "bandits" by the German and Croatian governments, their struggle is strictly defensive. In fact, the constitution of the Republic of Serbian Krajina explicitly recognizes the sovereign right of the Croatian people to choose its own destiny and establish its own state. However, espousing principles of fairness and reciprocity, it retains the same rights for the Krajina Serbs.

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