Between 1941 – 44 , during World War II , Nazi Germany and its allies , Hungary and the Independent State of Croatia , divided and occupied Vojvodina . Bačka and Baranja were annexed by Horthy 's Hungary and Syrmia was included into the Independent State of Croatia . A smaller Danube Banovina ( including Banat , Šumadija , and Braničevo ) existed as part of the area governed by the Military Administration in Serbia . The administrative center of this smaller province was Smederevo . However , Banat itself was a separate autonomous region ruled by its German minority . The occupying powers committed numerous crimes against the civilian population , especially against Serbs , Jews and Roma ; the Jewish population of Vojvodina was almost completely killed or deported . In total , Axis ( German , Croatian and Hungarian ) occupational authorities killed about 50,000 citizens of Vojvodina ( mostly Serbs , Jews and Roma ) while more than 280,000 people were interned , arrested , violated or tortured . Many historians and authors describe the Ustashe regime 's mass killings have definied as Genocide of the Serbs , including Raphael Lemkin who is known for coining the word '' genocide '' and initiating the Genocide Convention
Genocide of the Serbs
Persecution of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia
Vojvodina