Axis occupation of Vojvodina

The modern-day Vojvodina region (then the northern part of Danube Banovina province of Yugoslavia) was divided into three occupation zones: Banat was part of the area governed by the Military Administration in Serbia and was de facto under control of its ethnic German minority; Bačka was attached to Horthy's Hungary; while Syrmia was attached to Independent State of Croatia.

During the four years of occupation, the Axis forces committed numerous war crimes against civilian population: about 50,000 people in Vojvodina were murdered and about 280,000 were arrested, violated or tortured.

The most notable war crime during the occupation was the mass murder of the civilians, mostly of Serb and Jewish ethnicity, performed by the Hungarian Axis troops in January 1942 raid in southern Bačka.

The Syrmian resistance movement grew into a popular uprising, and a large liberated territory (that included about 40 villages) was established in Syrmia.

The experiences of the resistance movement in Syrmia were transferred to Banat and Bačka in the summer of 1944; before the Soviet Red Army arrived in October 1944, Vojvodina already had its new institutions of people's administration.