Novi Sad raid

Novi Sad Raid
Part of World War II in Yugoslavia
Corpses of killed civilians in the barracks in Novi Sad, Futoška Street, January 1942.
Location	Southern Bačka, Hungarian occupation of Yugoslav territories (Serbia)
Date	4–29 January 1942
Target	Predominantly Serb and Jewish civilians
Attack type	Mass murder, summary executions
Deaths	3,000–4,000
Perpetrators	Royal Hungarian Army

The Novi Sad raid (Serbian Cyrillic: 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 Királyi Honvédség, the armed forces of Hungary, during World War II, after the Hungarian occupation and annexation of former Yugoslav territories. 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.^[1] 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.^[2][3]

The Hungarian occupational authorities began raiding towns and villages in southern Bačka as early as 4 January 1942, ostensibly as a means of suppressing Partisan resistance, though the historical record shows that the Hungarian Government was attempting to improve its geopolitical standing vis-à-vis 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 (Hungarian: 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, 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 Hungary and 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 relations between the two countries. In June 2013, Hungarian President János Áder formally apologized for the war crimes that the Hungarian military had committed against Serbian civilians during the war.