View source for Novi Sad raid

{{Short description|Second World War war crimes}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
| title = Novi Sad Raid
| partof = [[World War II in Yugoslavia]]
| image = Pokolj u Novom Sadu 1942.jpg
| caption = Corpses of killed civilians in the barracks in Novi Sad, Futoška Street, January 1942.
| location = Southern [[Bačka]], [[Hungarian occupation of Yugoslav territories]] ([[Serbia]])
| coord = 
| target = Predominantly [[Serbs|Serb]] and [[Jews|Jewish]] civilians
| date = 4–29 January 1942
| type = [[Mass murder]], [[summary executions]]
| fatalities = 3,000–4,000
| perps = [[Royal Hungarian Army]]
| motive = [[antisemitism]], [[Serbophobia]]
}}
The '''Novi Sad raid''' ({{lang-sr-Cyrl|Рација}}; also known as the '''Raid in southern Bačka''', the '''Novi Sad massacre''', the '''Újvidék massacre''', or simply '''The Raid''') was a massacre carried out by the [[Royal Hungarian Army]], the armed forces of [[Kingdom of Hungary]], during [[World War II]], after the [[Hungarian occupation of Yugoslav territories]] and annexation of the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]]. It resulted in the deaths of 3,000–4,000 civilians in the southern [[Bačka]] (Bácska) region.

The Hungarian army, under the orders of pro-German officers who violated independence of Hungarian military leadership (according to the precise instructions of the German command), committed the Novi Sad massacre; these Hungarian officers refused to follow the commands of the Hungarian military leadership since the beginnings of the military operations in Voivodine.<ref>"John Flournoy Montgomery: Hungary, The Unwilling Satellite.: The Breaking Up of Czechoslovakia.</ref> The Hungarian government ordered the punishment of the culprits and their prosecution, during which four officers were sentenced to death. The four Hungarian officers justified their open refusal of the orders of the Hungarian military leadership and their obedience to the German command by citing their ethnic German origins and their allegiance to Germany. Referring to this, they immediately sought asylum from Nazi Germany. Their requests were met with understanding and consideration from the German Nazi leadership. Before the executions, the Germans smuggled them to Germany, where they were immediately assigned as military officers in the SS, despite the Hungarian government's request for their extradition from Germany to carry out the sentence.<ref>Cseres Tibor: Vérbosszú Bácskában.Budapest, Magvető, 1991">[{{MEK|03300/03393/}} Cseres Tibor: Vérbosszú Bácskában.Budapest, Magvető, 1991] ([[Magyar Elektronikus Könyvtár|MEK]])</ref><ref> John Flournoy Montgomery: Hungary, The Unwilling Satellite. The Breaking Up of Czechoslovakia.</ref>

The Hungarian occupational authorities began raiding towns and villages in southern Bačka as early as 4 January 1942, ostensibly as a means of suppressing [[Yugoslav Partisans|Partisan]] resistance, though the historical record shows that the [[Government of Hungary|Hungarian Government]] was attempting to improve its geopolitical standing vis-à-vis [[Nazi Germany|Germany]]. The first town to be raided was [[Čurug]], followed by [[Gospođinci]], [[Titel]], [[Temerin]], [[Đurđevo]] and [[Žabalj]]. The victims were seemingly detained at random while conducting everyday activities. On 20 January, the city of [[Novi Sad]] ({{langx|hu|Újvidék}}) was surrounded and placed on curfew; its telephone lines were cut. Over the next several days, the occupational authorities went about arresting "suspicious" individuals. More than 1,000 of the city's residents were killed by the time the raid ended. The victims in both Novi Sad and the wider region were mostly [[Serbs]] and [[Jews]], though several [[Romani people|Romani]], [[Pannonian Rusyns|Rusyns]], [[Russians]] and [[Hungarians]] were killed as well. In Novi Sad, victims were forced to march across the frozen [[Danube]], only to perish when the ice sheet was shattered by shelling from the shore. Some were pushed into holes in the ice sheet, causing them to drown or succumb to [[hypothermia]], while others were shot in the street. 

The Hungarian government and news media condemned the raid, calling for an immediate investigation. In 1943, the Hungarians conducted a mass trial of those suspected of organizing the raid, handing down prison terms ranging from 10 to 15 years. The convicts escaped to Germany. After the war, several trials were held in [[People's Republic of Hungary|Hungary]] and [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], resulting in the conviction and execution of a number of key organizers. The final court proceedings relating to the raid took place in 2011, when [[Sándor Képíró]] was tried and acquitted of murdering over 30 civilians in Novi Sad.

The raid has been fictionalized in literature and film in both [[Serbia]] and [[Hungary]]. The killings continue to strain [[Hungary–Serbia relations|relations]] between the two countries. In June 2013, Hungarian [[President of Hungary|President]] [[János Áder]] formally apologized for the [[war crimes]] that the Hungarian military had committed against Serbian civilians during the war.

==Background==
[[File:Hungarian Occupied Yugoslavia 1941 44.png|thumb|right|300px|Map of the Hungarian occupied and annexed areas of Yugoslavia; [[Bačka]] (Bácska) is shown in green.|alt=map of the occupied territories and their subdivisions under Hungarian rule.]]
[[Nazi Germany|Germany]], [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]] and [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–46)|Hungary]] invaded [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] on 6 April 1941, in response to a [[Yugoslav coup d'état|coup d'état]] that deposed the country's [[regent]], [[Prince Paul of Yugoslavia|Paul]], and hastened the ascent of his underage cousin, [[Peter II of Yugoslavia|Peter]] to the throne.{{sfn|Roberts|1973|p=15}} The country was overrun in less than two weeks, occupied and partitioned among its neighbours.{{sfn|Pavlowitch|2007|p=49}} The area that constitutes the present-day province of [[Vojvodina]], in northern Serbia, was divided between Germany, Hungary and the [[Axis powers|Axis]] [[puppet state]] known as the [[Independent State of Croatia]] ({{langx|hr|Nezavisna Država Hrvatska}}; NDH), which was established shortly after the invasion.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|pp=63–64}} The Germans assumed direct control of the [[Banat]], which became an autonomous district of the [[Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia|German-occupied territory of Serbia]], primarily to satisfy the demands of the region's sizeable [[Germans of Yugoslavia|ethnic German]] (''[[Volksdeutsche]]'') population.{{sfn|Lemkin|2008|pp=251–252}} The Croatians occupied [[Syrmia]] and incorporated it into the NDH, stopping just short of [[Belgrade]].{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=272}} The Hungarians [[Hungarian occupation of Yugoslav territories|occupied]] [[Bačka]], which had been a part of Hungary until the [[Treaty of Trianon]] of 1920, when it was incorporated into the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). A large number of Hungarians and ethnic Germans had remained in the areas despite the cession.{{sfn|Lemkin|2008|pp=261–262}} Hungarian-occupied Bačka consisted of that part of the former [[Danube Banovina]] once bounded by the Hungarian–Yugoslav border to the north, the [[Danube]] to the south and west, and the [[Tisza]] to the east.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=62}} The total area of Hungarian-occupied Bačka was {{convert|8558|km2|mi2|abbr=on}}.{{sfn|Ungváry|2011|p=70}}

The Hungarian occupational authorities resolved to "rebalance" the ethnic makeup of Bačka while the invasion was still underway. Within days of the invasion, [[Serbs|Serb]] and [[Jews|Jewish]] homes were attacked and looted. On 14 April 1941, as many as 500 Serbs and Jews were killed, likely in accordance with previously assembled lists of people marked for death. Legislation was soon passed requiring that all non-Hungarians and non-Germans who had moved to the area after 1918 be deported.{{sfn|Mojzes|2011|p=87}}{{efn|Between 1918 and 1924, nearly 45,000 Hungarians had been deported to Hungary from the territories transferred to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and more than 10,000 South Slavic military settlers ({{langx|sh|Solunski dobrovoljci}}, lit. [[Salonika front|Salonika]] volunteers), mainly Serbs, were settled in the region.{{sfn|Ungváry|2011|p=75}}}} The Hungarian occupational authorities expelled between 25,000 and 60,000 Serbs from Bačka, both colonists from the [[interwar period]], as well as pre-[[World War I]] inhabitants.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=170}}{{sfn|Pavlowitch|2007|p=84}} They were first interned in [[concentration camp]]s before being deported to the German-occupied territory of Serbia.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=171}} The Hungarians originally intended to expel as many as 150,000, but this plan was opposed by the German command in Belgrade, and subsequently fell through.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=170}}{{sfn|Pavlowitch|2007|p=84}} More than 15,000 Hungarian colonists later settled the area, moving into the homes of the Serbs that were forced out.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=138}} 

A policy of "systematic [[magyarization]]" was implemented within the occupied territories.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=171}} "Less-desirable elements" of the population, such as Serbs, Croats and Jews, were discriminated against in matters of communication and education. [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] and [[German language|German]] were the only languages permitted in almost all secondary schools, and [[Serbo-Croatian]] books, newspapers and periodicals were virtually banned.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|pp=170–171}} Despite this, most Serbs and Croats that had lived in the Hungarian-occupied territories prior to 1918 retained their citizenship rights as Hungarians, and some lower-level non-Hungarian public employees retained their jobs.{{sfn|Pavlowitch|2007|p=84}} On 14 December 1941, Bačka, along with the other Hungarian-occupied areas of Yugoslavia, referred to by Hungary as the "Recovered Southern Territories" ({{langx|hu|Délvidék|links=no}}),{{sfn|Lemkin|2008|p=631}}{{sfn|Levene|2013|p=179}} were officially annexed and formally incorporated into Hungary.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=170}}

==Prelude==
===Initial resistance===
Small-scale armed resistance broke out in Bačka in the second half of 1941 and the Hungarian military reacted with heavy repressive measures.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|pp=172–173}} More than 300 prisoners were executed in September 1941 alone.{{sfn|Ungváry|2011|p=73}} Thousands of Serbs and Jews were detained in concentration camps that had been established in [[Ada, Serbia|Ada]], [[Bačka Topola]], [[Begeč]], [[Odžaci]], [[Bečej]], [[Subotica]] and [[Novi Sad]], as well as at [[Pécs]] and [[Baja, Hungary|Baja]], in Hungary-proper.{{sfn|Mojzes|2011|p=87}} The [[League of Communists of Yugoslavia|communist]]-led [[Yugoslav Partisans|Partisan]] resistance movement of [[Josip Broz Tito]] was never strong in Bačka because the region's flat terrain did not lend itself to [[guerilla warfare]], and because [[South Slavs]], from whom the Partisans drew most of their recruits, made up only one third of the regional population.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|pp=172–173}} By the end of 1941, the Partisans of Bačka had largely been destroyed, as had their regional committee.{{sfn|Banac|1988|p=107}} The [[Chetniks]], [[Serbian nationalism|Serbian nationalist]] irregulars seeking to reinstate the Yugoslav monarchy, offered sporadic resistance during the invasion, but were largely inactive for much of the occupation, maintaining some covert activity only.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|pp=172–173}}

Before the war, Bačka had been home to around 15,000 Jews.{{sfn|Byford|2011|p=114}} This constituted more than one-fifth of Yugoslavia's pre-war Jewish population. Moreover, more than 90 percent of the Jews living in the Hungarian-occupied territories of Yugoslavia hailed from the region.{{sfn|Tomasevich|2001|p=583}} The Hungarian government had passed [[antisemitism|anti-Semitic]] laws in 1939, and following the outbreak of the war, these were applied in the occupied and annexed territories.{{sfn|Mojzes|2011|p=87}} After the violence of the initial occupation, no further massacres of Jews occurred in Bačka for the remainder of 1941,{{sfn|Mojzes|2011|p=87}} though the Jewish community was subjected to a string of discriminatory measures, such as the confiscation of property, arbitrary detention and forced labour.{{sfn|Byford|2011|p=114}}

===Escalation===
By early 1942, the Hungarian military estimated that there were no more than 110 Partisans operating in all of Vojvodina, though in reality, the true figure was closer to 40.{{sfn|Ungváry|2011|pp=77–78}} On 4 January 1942, several dozen Partisans from the Šajkaška Partisan detachment were found hiding at a farm near [[Žabalj]]. They were engaged by the Hungary military, and in the ensuing clash, 10 Hungarian soldiers and seven Partisans were killed.{{sfn|Sajti|2003|pp=347–349}} The remaining Partisans were arrested and deported to German-occupied Serbia. The Hungarian General Staff seized on the incident, using it as a pretext for launching attacks throughout the region that were intended to deter non-Hungarians from joining the resistance.{{sfn|Ungváry|2011|pp=77–78}}

On 5 January, [[Ferenc Szombathelyi]], the [[Chief of General Staff (Hungary)|Chief of the Hungarian General Staff]], ordered punitive raids against the Partisans of Bačka. The order coincided with German [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany)|Foreign Minister]] [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]]'s visit to Budapest on 6 January. Several days later, ''[[Generalfeldmarschall]]'' ([[Field marshal]]) [[Wilhelm Keitel]], the chief of the [[Oberkommando der Wehrmacht|Supreme Command of the Armed Forces]], arrived in Budapest requesting that the entire [[Royal Hungarian Army]] be moved to the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]]. Hungarian [[Prime Minister of Hungary|Prime Minister]] [[László Bárdossy]] declined, and in order to justify this decision, sought to demonstrate that Hungarian troops were desperately needed in the occupied territories. The Hungarian General Staff requested that the occupational authorities provide proof of an imminent, large-scale Partisan revolt in Bačka to show the Germans.{{sfn|Ungváry|2011|pp=77–78}} Hungary's leaders may also have been motivated to pursue a harsh response to demonstrate that they were strong enough to deal with Serb resistance and Jewish "subversion", and thus convince Germany that Hungary was competent enough to control the Banat, which had been part of the country before World War I.{{sfn|Patai|1996|p=550}} According to the Holocaust scholar Mark Levene, the raid "may well have been intended as a dread signal from Budapest that Hungarian rule over non-Hungarians in the Balkans&nbsp;... would be every bit as brutal as that of&nbsp;... other occupying powers, or, for that matter, as it had previously been in Hungarian-occupied Serbia during the Great War."{{sfn|Levene|2013|p=179}} Accordingly, further guerrilla attacks were orchestrated by the occupational authorities in order to magnify the size of the Partisan resistance. Bandages were distributed to gendarmes, and they were instructed to wear them on their heads and hands to simulate the effects of being wounded. These events were staged primarily for public consumption.{{sfn|Yahil|1991|p=503}}

==Timeline==
===Killings commence===
More than 8,000 Hungarian soldiers, gendarmes and border guards participated in the raid.{{sfn|Ungváry|2011|pp=77–78}} It began in the town of [[Čurug]] on 6 January, with suspected Partisans, including women and children, being removed to barns, storage buildings, and municipal buildings. Although some suspects were released, between 500 and 1,000 people were killed and their bodies stripped of all valuables. The raid moved onto other local settlements such as [[Gospođinci]] and [[Titel]] the same day and continued the day after. Over the next three days, additional killings took place in the towns of [[Temerin]] and [[Žabalj]].{{sfn|Mojzes|2011|p=88}} Civilians were rounded up at random and taken from their homes and businesses during their workday and while they were engaged in regular activities, even weddings.{{sfn|Golubović|1992|pp=43–44, 147, 194}}

===Novi Sad massacre===
On 20 January, Novi Sad was completely surrounded and placed on curfew. Its telephone and telegraph lines were cut.{{sfnm|1a1=Yahil|1y=1991|1p=503|2a1=Cornelius|2y=2011|2p=189|3a1=Ungváry|3y=2011|3pp=77–78}} The city was divided into multiple areas of responsibility, with a different officer tasked with organizing the round-ups in each.{{sfn|Zuroff|2009|p=209}} Placards sprang up on buildings, warning citizens against going outdoors, except to buy food. [[Ferenc Feketehalmy-Czeydner]] summoned the local authorities and announced that the Royal Hungary Army would "take charge and clean things up" over the next three days. The raid began the following day. Between 6,000 and 7,000 people that were considered "suspicious" were arrested and taken to have their papers examined.{{sfn|Cornelius|2011|p=189}} Others were detained on account that they had no papers.{{sfn|Ungváry|2011|pp=77–78}} Most were released, but at least 40 were taken to the banks of the Danube and shot.{{sfn|Cornelius|2011|p=189}} 

"The massacre was conducted systematically," the historian [[Leni Yahil]] writes, "street by street."{{sfn|Yahil|1991|p=503}} Many of the soldiers were visibly intoxicated.{{sfn|Yahil|1991|p=503}}{{sfn|Cornelius|2011|p=189}} Survivor accounts, delivered after the war, attest to the brutality of the killings. A woman recalled how, on 23 April, a soldier entered her apartment, demanding to know her family's religious affiliation. The woman told him that she and her family were [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christians]]. Infuriated, the soldier called her a "stinking Serb" and killed her five sons.{{sfn|Klajn|2007|p=132}} Thousands of men, women and children were imprisoned and interrogated at the Sokolski Dom, one of the city's main cultural centres. Many died during their interrogation.{{sfn|Zuroff|2009|p=209}} 

Temperatures reached {{convert|-29|C|abbr=on}}.{{sfn|Yahil|1991|p=503}} Victims were brought to an area known as the [[Štrand]], along the Danube, and shot with machine guns. Their killers then broke up the frozen river's ice sheets with artillery fire and tossed the bodies into the water. According to another account, the victims were forced to tread the ice sheets, which were then shattered by shelling from the shore, causing them to fall into the freezing water and drown.{{sfn|Cymet|2010|p=355}} The killings only ceased after four days, when the city's Lord Lieutenant, [[László Deák]], bypassed the curfew and alerted the authorities in Budapest.{{sfn|Yahil|1991|p=503}}{{sfn|Cornelius|2011|p=189}} He returned with orders that the massacre was to come to an immediate halt. Feketehalmy-Czeydner ordered that all executions be stopped by 9:00&nbsp;p.m. Deák's mother was among the victims.{{sfn|Cornelius|2011|p=189}} "The randomness and senselessness of the operation were evident especially by the fact that it hit not one single functionary of the Yugoslav Communist Party," the historian [[Krisztián Ungváry]] writes.{{sfn|Ungváry|2011|pp=77–78}}

==Aftermath==
In [[Stari Bečej]], the occupational authorities staged another "rebellion" and followed it up with further mass arrests. Around 200 people were detained and taken to the banks of the Tisza, where they were shot and their bodies thrown into the river. When the ice thawed, the corpses of those killed in the raid floated down the Danube and the Tisza.{{sfn|Mojzes|2011|pp=88–89}} The Hungarian news media denounced the raid as unparalleled in the country's military history. The Hungarian government also condemned the killings, vowing that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.{{sfn|Patai|1996|p=550}}

===Casualties===
[[File:Racija1942 01.png|right|thumb|250px|Map of places affected by the raid]]
In a contemporary correspondence, Hungary's [[Ministry of Interior (Hungary)|Minister of the Interior]], [[Ferenc Keresztes-Fischer]], wrote that 3,755 people lost their lives in the raid.{{sfn|Patai|1996|p=550}} The historian [[Rudolph Rummel]] places the number of deaths resulting from the raid at 3,200.{{sfn|Rummel|1998|p=176}} The Holocaust scholar [[Leni Yahil]] writes that 4,116 individuals were killed – 2,842 Serbs, 1,250 Jews, 13 Russians and 11 Hungarians.{{sfn|Yahil|1991|p=503}} The historian Zvonimir Golubović places the total number of civilians killed in the raid at 3,809.{{sfn|Golubović|1992|pp=43–44, 147, 194}} This figure is accepted by the Holocaust scholar [[Yehuda Bauer]].{{sfn|Bauer|1996|p=149}} The following table, composed by Golubović, lists the victims according to their gender, ethnicity and the place that they were killed:{{sfn|Golubović|1992|pp=43–44, 147, 194}} 

{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right;"
|-
!Place!!Total!![[Men]]!![[Women]]!![[Children]]!![[Elderly]]!![[Serbs]]!![[Jews]]!![[Romani people|Romani]]!![[Pannonian Rusyns|Rusyns]]!![[Hungarians]]!![[Russians]]
|-
||[[Bečej]]||215||111||72||13||19||102||110||-||-||-||-
|-
|[[Vilovo, Serbia|Vilovo]]||64||44||6||8||6||64||-||-||-||-||-
|-
|[[Gardinovci]]||37||32||3||-||2||37||-||-||-||-||-
|-
|[[Gospođinci]]||85||47||19||15||4||73||10||-||2||-||-
|-
|[[Đurđevo]]||223||107||60||41||15||173||22||-||27||-||-
|-
|[[Žabalj]]||666||355||141||101||69||614||28||23||-||1||-
|-
|[[Lok (Titel)|Lok]]||47||46||-||-||1||46||-||-||-||1||-
|-
||[[Mošorin]]||205||94||41||44||26||170||-||34||-||1||-
|-
|[[Novi Sad]]||1,246||489||415||165||177||375||809||-||2||18||15
|-
|[[Srbobran]]||3||3||-||-||-||2||2||-||-||-||-
|-
|[[Temerin]]||48||14||15||7||12||6||42||-||-||-||-
|-
|[[Titel]]||51||45||-||1||5||49||1||-||-||-||-
|-
|[[Čurug]]||893||554||153||82||104||842||44||7||-||-||-
|-
||[[Šajkaš]]||26||24||2||-||-||25||1||-||-||-||-
|-
!|All places||3,809||1,965||927||477||440||2,578||1,068||64||31||21||15
|}

===Legal proceedings===
In 1943, [[Regent of Hungary]] [[Miklós Horthy]] ordered an investigation into the massacres and charges were brought against some of those that had conducted them.{{sfn|Mazower|2008|p=329}} Those charged fled to [[Nazi Germany]] and returned only after German forces [[Government of National Unity (Hungary)|occupied Hungary in 1944]].{{sfn|Golubović|1992|p=187}} Horthy used the investigation as a method of distinguishing his regime from that of Nazi Germany.<ref>Szinai, M. & L. Szücs (eds; 1965), ''The Confidential Papers of Admiral Horthy (1919-1944)'', Corvina Press, Budapest, pp. 269-672<!--ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref>

Some Serbian historians, such as Golubović and Aleksandar Veljić, have claimed that Horthy himself was aware of the raids and approved them being carried out.{{sfn|Golubović|1992|pp=43–44, 147, 194}}<ref>Veljić, Aleksandar. ''Mikloš Horti - Nekažnjeni zločinac'', Belgrade, 2009.<!-- ISSN/ISBN, page(s) needed --></ref> Horthy was a witness at the [[Nuremberg Trials]] after [[World War II]] but, despite strong demands from [[Yugoslavia]], the Americans and the Soviets favored dropping any charges.<ref>[[Thomas L. Sakmyster]], ''Miha Tavcar Hungary, the Great Powers, and the Danubian Crisis, 1936-1939''; {{ISBN|0820304697}}<!-- publishing info; page(s) needed --></ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Sakmyster|first=Thomas L.|author-link=Thomas L. Sakmyster|title=Miklós Horthy |publisher=University of Georgia Press|date=1980|isbn=978-3-902494-14-6}}</ref>

[[File:Petrovaradin i žrtve racije.JPG|right|thumb|250px|The monument to the victims of the raid in [[Novi Sad]]]]
[[File:Wiki.Vojvodina IV Spomen-kompleks Crna Ćuprija 349.jpg|right|thumb|250px|[[Crna Ćuprija]] monument to the victims of the raid in [[Žabalj]]]]

After questions were raised in the Hungarian parliament the prime minister [[László Bárdossy]] sent a commission of inquiry to investigate. That investigation supported the story that the army had been battling partisans. A further investigation by Bárdossy's successor [[Miklós Kállay]] came to similar conclusions.{{sfn|Yahil|1991|p=503}}

In 1943, Hungary organized a trial of several officers who were among those responsible for the raids leading to prison terms ranging from 10 to 15 years.{{sfn|Yahil|1991|p=504}} Four of those charged escaped to Germany before their sentencing.{{sfn|Golubović|1992|p=187}} After the war, some of the individuals responsible for the raids, including Feketehalmy-Czeydner, were tried again by the new communist government of Hungary (which sentenced them to death or to life in prison) and again in Yugoslavia, where they were sentenced to death again, and executed. Horthy who was, according to Yugoslav/Serbian historians, among those responsible for the raids, was never indicted or tried.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}} In September 2006, [[Efraim Zuroff]] of the [[Wiesenthal Center]] made public copies of a 1944 court verdict finding [[Sándor Képíró]] and 14 other Hungarian military and police officers of taking part in 1942 raid in Novi Sad. In 1948, the government of Hungary retried him ''in absentia'' and sentenced him to 14 years. This verdict was based upon the testimony of János Nagy, a former Hungarian soldier of Képíró's platoon. However, the testimony was given after [[State Protection Authority|the communist secret service]] tortured Nagy. Képíró, however, stated that as a police officer, his participation was limited merely to arresting civilians, and he did not take part in the executions or any other illegal activity.<ref name="iht">Wood, Nicholas"[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/28/world/europe/28iht-hungary.2970014.html Nazi hunters identify convicted war criminal]", ''[[International Herald Tribune]]'', 28 September 2006.</ref> War crimes charges were subsequently brought against Képíró in a federal court in Budapest, for murders of civilians committed under his command during the January 1942 raids. His trial on those charges commenced in May 2011.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/97-year-old-hungarian-sandor-kepiro-on-trial-for-nazi-war-crimes/|title="97-year-old Hungarian Sandor Kepiro on trial for Nazi war crimes"}}</ref> Képíró was acquitted on all counts in July 2011. He died of natural causes two months later.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=BBC News|title=Hungary Nazi war crimes suspect Sandor Kepiro dead|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-14775515|date=3 September 2011|access-date=30 April 2017}}</ref>

===Retribution and formal apologies===
Mass killings targeting Jews, such as those that occurred during the raid, were relatively uncommon in Hungary-proper and the occupied areas until October 1944, when the Germans [[Operation Margarethe|assumed direct control of the country and the regions it had occupied]], deporting hundreds of thousands of Jews to death camps.{{sfn|Bloxham|Moses|2011|p=109}}{{sfn|Byford|2013|pp=520–521}}

In June 2013, [[President of Hungary|Hungarian President]] [[János Áder]] apologised in [[Belgrade]] for the war crimes committed against civilian Serbs and Jewish people during the [[Hungarian occupation of Yugoslav territories]]. Some days earlier members of the Serbian Parliament adopted a declaration, which condemned the massacres and application of the principle of collective guilt against Hungarians in [[Vojvodina]] at the end of the Second World War.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.politics.hu/20130627/hungarian-president-in-belgrade-visit-apologizes-for-crimes-against-innocent-serbs-in-world-war-ii|title=Hungarian president in Belgrade visit apologizes for crimes against innocent Serbs in World War II|publisher=Politics.hu|access-date=2 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131008120404/http://www.politics.hu/20130627/hungarian-president-in-belgrade-visit-apologizes-for-crimes-against-innocent-serbs-in-world-war-ii/|archive-date=8 October 2013}}</ref>

==Legacy==
Of the massacres perpetrated by the Hungarian occupational authorities in Yugoslavia, the raid in southern Bačka remains the most infamous.{{sfn|Byford|2011|p=520}} The killings have been referred to as the Novi Sad massacre,{{sfn|Patai|1996|p=590}} the Újvidék massacre,{{sfn|Patai|1996|p=590}}{{sfn|Thomas|Szabo|2012|p=14}} or simply The Raid ({{langx|sh|Racija}}).{{sfn|Mojzes|2011|p=121}}{{sfn|Cornelius|2011|p=191}} 

In its aftermath, the historian Deborah S. Cornelius writes, "relations between Hungary and Serbia have never been the same." Decades hence, the raid continues to feature prominently in the Hungarian popular imagination, more so than most events from the war.{{sfn|Cornelius|2011|p=191}} It was depicted in Hungarian director [[András Kovács (film director)|András Kovács]]' 1966 film ''[[Hideg Napok|Cold Days]]'' ({{langx|hu|Hideg napok}}).{{sfn|Burns|1996|p=73}}{{sfn|Iordanova|2003|pp=76–79}} It features prominently in Yugoslav writer [[Danilo Kiš]]'s 1962 novel ''[[Psalm 44 (novel)|Psalm 44]]'' ({{langx|sh|Psalm 44}}) and his 1972 novel ''Hourglass'' ({{langx|sh|Peščanik}}).{{sfn|Thompson|2013|pp=3, 44–45}} The massacre held special significance for Kiš as his father was nearly killed during it.{{sfn|Mazower|2008|pp=329–330}}{{sfn|Thompson|2013|p=3}} 

The Yugoslav writer [[Aleksandar Tišma]], who narrowly escaped being rounded up and killed in the massacre, explored the topic in his 1972 novel ''The Book About Blam'' ({{langx|sh|Knjiga o Blamu}}).{{sfn|Neubauer|2006|p=231}}{{sfn|Thompson|2013|loc=p. 80, note 25}} It is also described in [[Tibor Cseres]]' 1991 book ''Blood Feud in Bačka'' ({{langx|hu|Vérbosszú Bácskában}}).{{sfn|Neubauer|2006|p=231}} 

In 1971, a commemorative statue by the sculptor [[Jovan Soldatović]] was erected in Novi Sad, on the spot where the bodies of victims were tossed into the Danube.<ref name="RTV">{{cite news|publisher=Radio Televizija Vojvodine|title=Napukao spomenik žrtvama Novosadske racije|url=http://www.rtv.rs/sr_lat/vojvodina/novi-sad/napukao-spomenik-zrtvama-novosadske-racije_382750.html|date=3 April 2013|access-date=27 April 2017}}</ref> The inscription at the base of the statue reads:{{sfn|Cymet|2010|p=355}}{{sfn|Mojzes|2011|p=52}}

{| style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; width: 60em;"
|-
| <poem>
''Sećanje je spomenik tvrđi od kamena. 
Ako smo ljudi oprostiti moramo, zaboraviti ne smemo.''
</poem>
| <poem>
Memory is a monument harder than stone. 
If we are human, we must forgive, but not forget
</poem>
|}  

Similar statues, also created by Soldatović, exist in Žabalj and Čurug.<ref name="RTV"/> Commemorative ceremonies are held annually in Novi Sad and the other massacre sites.{{sfn|Byford|2013|p=525}}

In 2022, the [[Serbian Orthodox Church]] [[Canonization|canonized]] the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christian]] victims of the raid along with the victims of other Axis crimes committed in Bačka between 1941 and 1942 as the "Holy Martyrs of Bačka".<ref>{{Cite web |title=New saints canonized by Serbian Church with hierarchs from 6 Local Churches |url=https://orthochristian.com/148535.html |date= 3 October 2022 |access-date=2023-03-25 |website=OrthoChristian.Com}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Hungarian irredentism]]

==Endnotes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|3}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin|40em}}
* {{cite book
  | last = Banac
  | first = Ivo
  | author-link = Ivo Banac
  | year = 1988
  | title = The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics
  | publisher = Cornell University Press
  | location = Ithaca, New York
  | isbn = 978-0-8014-9493-2
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KfqbujXqQBkC
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Bauer
  | first = Yehuda
  | author-link = Yehuda Bauer
  | year = 1996
  | title = Jews for Sale? Nazi-Jewish Negotiations, 1933–1945
  | publisher = Yale University Press
  | location = New Haven, Connecticut
  | isbn = 978-0-3000-6852-8
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=r-Xw_mwUrawC
  }}
* {{cite book
  | author1-last = Bloxham
  | author1-first = Donald
  | author-link1 = Donald Bloxham
  | author2-last = Moses
  | author2-first = A. Dirk
  | author-link2 = A. Dirk Moses
  | editor1-last = Bloxham
  | editor1-first = Donald 
  | editor2-last = Gerwarth
  | editor2-first = Robert 
  | editor-link2 = Robert Gerwarth
  | year = 2011
  | title = Political Violence in Twentieth-Century Europe 
  | chapter = Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing
  | publisher = Cambridge University Press
  | location = Cambridge, England
  | isbn = 978-1-13950-129-3
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8qaeWCWDUnEC
  | pages = 87–139
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Burns
  | first = Bryan
  | year = 1996
  | title = World Cinema: Hungary
  | publisher = Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
  | location = Teaneck, New Jersey
  | isbn = 978-0-83863-722-7
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=AvjoDrhajOcC
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Byford
  | first = Jovan
  | editor1-last = Ramet
  | editor1-first = Sabrina P.
  | editor2-last = Listhaug
  | editor2-first = Ola
  | year = 2011
  | title = Serbia and the Serbs in World War Two
  | chapter = The Collaborationist Administration and the Treatment of the Jews in German-Occupied Serbia
  | publisher = Palgrave Macmillan
  | location = London, England
  | isbn = 978-0-230-27830-1
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gkiEDAAAQBAJ
  | pages = 109–127
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Byford
  | first = Jovan
  | editor1-last = Himka
  | editor1-first = John-Paul
  | editor2-last = Michlic
  | editor2-first = Joanna Beata
  | year = 2013
  | title = Bringing the Dark Past to Light: The Reception of the Holocaust in Postcommunist Europe
  | publisher = Nebraska University Press
  | location = Lincoln, Nebraska
  | isbn = 978-0-8032-4647-8
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Ya7RMPN9-ZsC
  | pages = 516–548
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Cornelius
  | first = Deborah S.
  | year = 2011
  | title = Hungary in World War II: Caught in the Cauldron
  | publisher = Fordham University Press
  | location = New York, New York
  | isbn = 978-0-82323-773-9
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3f3QCwAAQBAJ
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Cymet
  | first = David
  | year = 2010
  | title = History vs. Apologetics: The Holocaust, the Third Reich and the Catholic Church
  | publisher = Lexington Books
  | location = Lanham, Maryland
  | isbn = 978-0-73913-293-7
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Pp7DZigCaDcC
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Golubović
  | first = Zvonimir
  | year = 1992
  | title = Racija u Južnoj Bačkoj 1942. godine
  |trans-title=The Raid in Southern Bačka in 1942
  | language = sh
  | publisher = Istorijski muzej Vojvodine 
  | location = Novi Sad, Yugoslavia
  | isbn = 978-8-68207-701-5
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Iordanova
  | first = Dina
  | year = 2003
  | title = Cinema of the Other Europe: The Industry and Artistry of East Central European Film
  | publisher = Wallflower Press
  | location = London, England
  | isbn = 978-1-90336-461-1
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vzeUhTveLVcC
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Klajn
  | first = Lajčo
  | year = 2007
  | title = The Past in Present Times: The Yugoslav Saga
  | publisher = University Press of America
  | location = Lanham, Maryland
  | isbn = 978-0-7618-3647-6
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hq3XLZ9Nw68C
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Lemkin
  | first = Raphael
  | author-link = Raphael Lemkin
  | year = 2008
  | title = Axis Rule in Occupied Europe
  | publisher = The Lawbook Exchange
  | location = Clark, New Jersey
  | isbn = 978-1-58477-901-8
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=y0in2wOY-W0C
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Levene
  | first = Mark
  | year = 2013
  | title = Annihilation: The European Rimlands, 1939–1953
  | series = The Crisis of Genocide
  | volume = 2
  | publisher = Oxford University Press
  | location = Oxford, England
  | isbn = 978-0-19-150555-3
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_INoAgAAQBAJ
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Mazower
  | first = Mark
  | author-link = Mark Mazower
  | year = 2008
  | title = Hitler's Empire: Nazi Rule in Occupied Europe
  | publisher = Allen Lane
  | location = London, England
  | isbn = 978-0-7139-9681-4
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last= Mojzes
  | first = Paul
  | year = 2011
  | title = Balkan Genocides: Holocaust and Ethnic Cleansing in the 20th Century
  | publisher = Rowman & Littlefield
  | location = Lanham, Maryland
  | isbn = 978-1-4422-0665-6
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KwW2O7v7CUcC
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Neubauer
  | first = John
  | editor1-last = Cornis-Pope
  | editor1-first = Marcel
  | editor2-last = Neubauer
  | editor2-first = John
  | year = 2006
  | title = Junctures and Disjunctures in the 19th and 20th centuries
  | chapter = Upstream and Downstream the Danube 
  | series = History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe
  | volume = 2 
  | publisher = John Benjamins Publishing
  | location = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  | isbn = 978-9-02729-340-4
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jYk6AAAAQBAJ
  | pages = 224–231
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Patai
  | first = Raphael
  | author-link = Raphael Patai
  | year = 1996
  | title = The Jews of Hungary: History, Culture, Psychology
  | publisher = Wayne State University Press
  | location = Detroit, Michigan
  | isbn = 978-0-81432-561-2
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LLuPS1yVDf8C
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Pavlowitch
  | first = Stevan K.
  | author-link = Stevan K. Pavlowitch
  | year = 2007
  | title = Hitler's New Disorder: The Second World War in Yugoslavia
  | publisher = Columbia University Press
  | location = New York, New York
  | isbn = 978-1-85065-895-5
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Ramet
  | first = Sabrina P.
  | author-link = Sabrina P. Ramet
  | year = 2006
  | title = The Three Yugoslavias: State-Building and Legitimation, 1918–2005
  | publisher = Indiana University Press
  | location = Bloomington, Indiana
  | isbn = 978-0-253-34656-8
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FTw3lEqi2-oC
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Roberts
  | first = Walter R.
  | author-link = Walter Roberts (writer)
  | year = 1973
  | title = Tito, Mihailović and the Allies 1941–1945
  | publisher = Duke University Press
  | location = Durham, North Carolina
  | isbn = 978-0-8223-0773-0
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=43CbLU8FgFsC
  }}
* {{cite book|first=Rudolph J. |last=Rummel|title=Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LFDWp7O9_dIC|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|isbn=978-3-8258-4010-5 |year=1998 }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Sajti
  | first = Enikő A.
  | year = 2003
  | title = Hungarians in the Voivodina, 1918–1947
  | publisher = Social Science Monographs
  | location = Boulder, Colorado
  | isbn = 978-0-88033-522-5
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last1 = Thomas
  | first1 = Nigel
  | last2 = Szabo
  | first2 = Laszlo
  | year = 2012
  | title = The Royal Hungarian Army in World War II
  | publisher = Osprey Publishing
  | location = Oxford, England
  | isbn = 978-1-84603-795-5
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=L021CwAAQBAJ
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Thompson
  | first = Mark
  | author-link = Mark Thompson (historian)
  | year = 2013
  | title = Birth Certificate: The Story of Danilo Kiš
  | publisher = Cornell University Press
  | location = Ithaca, New York
  | isbn = 978-0-8014-4888-1
  | url = https://archive.org/details/birthcertificate00thom
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Tomasevich
  | first = Jozo
  | author-link = Jozo Tomasevich
  | year = 2001
  | title = War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Collaboration
  | publisher = Stanford University Press
  | location = Stanford, California
  | isbn = 978-0-8047-3615-2
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fqUSGevFe5MC
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last1 = Ungváry
  | first1 = Krisztián
  | author-link = Krisztián Ungváry
  | editor1-last = Ramet
  | editor1-first = Sabrina P.
  | editor2-last = Listhaug
  | editor2-first = Ola
  | year = 2011
  | title = Serbia and the Serbs in World War Two
  | chapter = Vojvodina under Hungarian Rule
  | publisher = Palgrave Macmillan
  | location = London, England
  | isbn = 978-0-230-27830-1
  | pages = 70–89
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Yahil
  | first = Leni
  | author-link = Leni Yahil
  | year = 1991
  | title = The Holocaust: The Fate of European Jewry, 1932–1945
  | publisher = Oxford University Press
  | location = Oxford, England
  | isbn = 978-0-19504-523-9
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=e_aRvKpLUf0C
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Zuroff
  | first = Efraim
  | author-link = Efraim Zuroff
  | year = 2009
  | title = Operation Last Chance: One Man's Quest to Bring Nazi Criminals to Justice
  | publisher = Palgrave Macmillan 
  | location = New York, New York
  | isbn = 978-0-23010-138-8
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tT6dG3g5ZFAC
  }}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
<!-- publishers' names and ISSNs/ISBNs needed -->
*Zvonimir Golubović, Racija 1942, Enciklopedija Novog Sada, knjiga 23, Novi Sad, 2004.
*Aleksandar Veljić, Racija - Zaboravljen genocid, Beograd, 2007.
*Aleksandar Veljić, Istina o Novosadskoj raciji, Sremska Kamenica, 2010.
*Aleksandar Veljić, Mikloš Horti - Nekažnjeni zločinac, Beograd, 2009.
*Jovan Pejin, Velikomađarski kapric, Zrenjanin, 2007.
*Dimitrije Boarov, Politička istorija Vojvodine, Novi Sad, 2001.
*Đorđe M. Srbulović, Kratka istorija Novog Sada, Novi Sad, 2011.
*Peter Rokai - Zoltan Đere - Tibor Pal - Aleksandar Kasaš, Istorija Mađara, Beograd, 2002.
*Enike A. Šajti, Mađari u Vojvodini 1918-1947, Novi Sad, 2010.

==External links==
*[http://www.naslovi.net/2009-01-22/b92/godisnjica-novosadske-racije/1007653 ''Godišnjica Novosadske racije''] (''Commemoration dedicated to the raid victims'') in Serbian); accessed 9 November 2015. 
*[http://www.vaseljenska.com/vesti-dana/spisak-ubijenih-u-novosadskoj-raciji-1942-godine-1-deo Partial list of victims of the raid in Novi Sad, in the area that was under command of Sandor Kepiro (in Serbian)]; accessed 9 November 2015.
*{{Commons category-inline}}

{{Massacres of Jews}}

[[Category:1942 in Serbia]]
[[Category:1942 in Yugoslavia]]
[[Category:Axis war crimes in Yugoslavia]]
[[Category:History of Bačka]]
[[Category:History of Novi Sad]]
[[Category:Jewish Serbian history]]
[[Category:Massacres of Serbs]]
[[Category:Massacres in 1942]]
[[Category:Persecution of Serbs]]
[[Category:Serbia in World War II]]
[[Category:The Holocaust in Yugoslavia]]
[[Category:Hungarian war crimes]]
[[Category:War crimes in Serbia]]
[[Category:Rusyn history|1942-01-04]]