page_title: Anti-Serb sentiment
section_title: World War I
hierarchical_section_title: Anti-Serb sentiment / History / World War I
caption_attribution_description: English: Excerpt from an Austro-Hungarian order that banned numerous social-democratic and Serb cultural societies in the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina. As published in "Sarajevski List", 3 May 1913, #92. Translation: IV. About societies and the rights of assembly § 14. 1. These societies are dissolved: All gymnastic, choral, musical and vocational societies of Social Democrats along with their associated. All Serbian public organizations. All Serbian Sokol societies together with the societies "Dušan Silni", "Obilić" and "Srpska sokolska župa". All societies of "Pobratimstvo" and "Trezvenost" along with the associated. "Society of Serbian-Orthodox priesthood of Bosnia and Herzegovina". "Society of St. Sava" in Reljevo. Typographical Society in Sarajevo. "Serbian Teachers' Union for Bosnia and Herzegovina". "Serbian Amateurs' Theatre" in Sarajevo. "Serbian Musical Society Jugović" in Sarajevo". "Serbian Dance" in Sarajevo. "Serbian Club" in Sarajevo. 2. Further, stipulations are annulled for these societies: "Prosvjeta" and all its societies. "Union for charitable cooperation of Serbian women in Bosnia and Herzegovina" with all its local societies. All "Serbian workers' societies" in the country. "Privreda" with all the related committees. All Serbian choral and entertainment societies and reading rooms. All social organizations for employees of Bosnia-Herzegovina train stations together with all their local societies.
context_page_description: Anti-Serb sentiment or Serbophobia is a generally negative view of Serbs as an ethnic group. Historically it has been a basis for the persecution of ethnic Serbs.
  A distinctive form of anti-Serb sentiment is anti-Serbian sentiment, which can be defined as a generally negative view of Serbia as a nation state for Serbs. Another form of anti-Serb sentiment is a generally-negative view of Republika Srpska, the Serb-majority entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
  The best known historical proponent of anti-Serb sentiment was the 19th- and 20th-century Croatian Party of Rights. The most extreme elements of this party became the Ustasha in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, a Croatian fascist organization that came to power during World War II and instituted racial laws that specifically targeted Serbs, Jews, Roma and dissidents. This culminated in the genocide of Serbs and members of other minority groups that lived in the Independent State of Croatia.
context_section_description: After the Balkan Wars in 1912–1913, anti-Serb sentiment increased in the Austro-Hungarian administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Oskar Potiorek, governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina, closed many Serb societies and significantly contributed to the anti-Serb mood before the outbreak of World War I.
  The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg in 1914 led to the Anti-Serb pogrom in Sarajevo, where angry Croats and Muslims engaged in violence during the evening of 28 June and much of the day on 29 June. This led to a deep division along ethnic lines unprecedented in the city's history. Ivo Andrić refers to this event as the "Sarajevo frenzy of hate." The crowds directed their anger principally at Serb shops, residences of prominent Serbs, the Serbian Orthodox Church, schools, banks, the Serb cultural society Prosvjeta, and the Srpska riječ newspaper offices. Two Serbs were killed that day. That night there were anti-Serb riots in other parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire including Zagreb and Dubrovnik.
   In the aftermath of the Sarajevo assassination anti-Serb sentiment ran high throughout the Habsburg Empire. Austria-Hungary imprisoned and extradited around 5,500 prominent Serbs, sentenced 460 to death, and established the predominantly Muslim special militia Schutzkorps which carried on the persecution of Serbs.
  The Sarajevo assassination became the casus belli for World War I. Taking advantage of an international wave of revulsion against this act of "Serbian nationalist terrorism," Austria-Hungary gave Serbia an ultimatum which led to World War I. Although the Serbs of Austria-Hungary were loyal citizens whose majority participated in its forces during the war, anti-Serb sentiment systematically spread and members of the ethnic group were persecuted all over the country. Austria-Hungary soon occupied the territory of the Kingdom of Serbia, including Kosovo, boosting already intense anti-Serbian sentiment among Albanians whose volunteer units were established to reduce the number of Serbs in Kosovo. A cultural example is the jingle "Alle Serben müssen sterben" ("All Serbs Must Die"), which was popular in Vienna in 1914. (It was also known as "Serbien muß sterbien").
  Orders issued on 3 and 13 October 1914 banned the use of Serbian Cyrillic in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, limiting it to use in religious instruction. A decree was passed on 3 January 1915, that banned Serbian Cyrillic completely from public use. An imperial order on 25 October 1915, banned the use of Serbian Cyrillic in the Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina, except "within the scope of Serb Orthodox Church authorities".
caption: Excerpt from a 1913 Austro-Hungarian order, that banned numerous social-democratic and ethnic Serb cultural societies in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
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