under some form of permanent German control. This was believed necessary to ensure German dominion over the Danubian basin of South-Eastern Europe, an economically vital area in consideration of Germany's wartime goals for the eastern territories that it expected to conquer in the Soviet Union. German plans did call for re-making the strategically located city of Belgrade as a "fortress-city of the Reich" (Reichsfestung Belgrad) to ensure control over the Iron Gate, populated only by Germans. The city's possible renaming to Prinz-Eugen-Stadt was also discussed. War crimes against Serbs, Jews and Roma The region was ruled by the German army. The Germans instituted anti-Jewish measures immediately after the German invasion and occupation of Yugoslavia. The Jewish population of the city of Zrenjanin was rounded up and sent to the Sajmište concentration camp near Belgrade where they were executed. In September 1941, there was a mass hanging of Serb and Jewish civilians. Jews were also forced into labor battalions to do forced work for the German occupation authorities. In August 1942, German officials announced that the area was judenrein, i.e. "clean of Jews". Between 1941 and 1944, at a Stratište locality near Jabuka village in Banat, more than 10,000 Serbs, Jews and Roma were killed by German forces. SS Division Prinz Eugen After the Nazi occupation of Yugoslavia had been established, the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen was formed from Yugoslav Germans (Volksdeutsche). The backbone of the division was made up of ethnic Germans from Banat itself, many of whom had been former officers and NCOs in either the Royal Yugoslav Army or even the Habsburg army. The core of the Division was made up of the SS controlled Protection Force or Selbstschutz consisting of Volksdeutsche from the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia. "After the initial rush of Volksdeutsche to join, voluntary enlistments tapered off, and the new unit did not reach division size. Therefore, in August 1941, the SS discarded the voluntary approach, and after a favourable judgement from the SS court in Belgrade, imposed a mandatory military obligation on all Volksdeutsche in Serbia-Banat, the first of its kind for non-Reich Germans." Consequently, over 21,500 ethnic Germans from the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia were conscripted into the Waffen SS. The staff of the Prinz Eugen Division was based in the city of Pančevo in Banat. The division was formed between April and October,