Abstract
Anti-Semitism in Serbia has persisted from the early 19th century to the present, evolving through religious, economic, and nationalist motives. Under Ottoman rule, Jews enjoyed relative tolerance, but the rise of Serbian independence brought discriminatory laws, economic restrictions, and violence, particularly in the 1840s–1860s under Prince Mihailo Obrenović. Anti-Jewish measures intensified in the interwar period and reached their peak during World War II, when the collaborationist regimes of Milan Nedić and Dimitrije Ljotić actively implemented Nazi policies, resulting in the near-total extermination of Serbia’s Jewish population, with Belgrade declared Judenfrei in 1942. Anti-Semitism was a core ideological feature of Serbian fascist movements such as Zbor. Post-war denial, revisionism during the Milošević era, and occasional contemporary incidents demonstrate the continuity of this prejudice despite Serbia’s small Jewish community today.
Anti-Semitism in Serbia has deep roots in the 19th century up to the 20th century, blending religious prejudices, economic rivalries, and political ideologies. It has manifested through legal discrimination, collaboration in the Holocaust, propaganda, and sporadic modern incidents. Serbian Chetnik leader Drazha Mihajlovic collaborated with the Nazis to hand over and execute Jews in occupied territories.
The extermination of Jews of Sumadia in 1804
Serbs almost exterminated the Jews of Sumadia in 1804. The Serbian Anti-Semitism was institutionalized when the Russian-educated prince, Aleksander Karadjordjevic succeeded to the throne in 1842. The Jews were deprived of the right of free residence and occupation in 1846, then prohibited from owning real estate in 1861. The Serbian constitution of 1869 which guaranteed universal suffrage to every.
Source: The Ottoman-Russian War of 1877-78. 2007. Ömer Turan.
“Serbian Jews suffered in the nineteenth century , things were worse in many other places . It is a sad comment on the human condition , but Serbian anti – Semitism in its traditional forms was ” par for the course”.
Source: The History of Serbia Av John K. Cox · 2002
1840s
In the 1840s and 1860s, the emerging Serbian state imposed legal restrictions on Jews, driven by competition from Serbian urban traders and craftsmen who saw them as economic rivals. These measures limited Jewish commercial activities, residence, and rights.
Restrictions fluctuated with rulers. In 1839, Jews faced bans on opening shops on Sundays and Serbian holidays. Further curbs appeared in the 1860s, including threats and anti-Jewish articles in newspapers.
Anti-Semitism in Serbia was present, and the Serbian Orthodox Church was not entirely free of encouraging it. Economic competition, such as in the Serbian opposition’s Srbobran newspaper, fueled hostility.
1860
In the 1860s, Jews in Serbia were murdered by Serbian radicals, according to various English diplomatic documents and reports.
Source: “The Serbs play games with human life; murder is nothing in their eyes.” – J. E. Bluet, British consul in Belgrad in 1860. https://balkanacademia.com/2025/10/02/serbian-persecution-of-the-jews-of-serbia-1863-1865-diplomacy-violence-and-the-struggle-for-equality/
Mihailo and the Jews of Belgrade: 19th-Century Serbian Anti-Semitism
During four centuries of Ottoman rule over the Balkans, Jewish communities in Serbia generally enjoyed religious tolerance, internal autonomy, and equality before the law. Ottoman authorities allowed Jews to practice their faith, engage in commerce, and maintain communal institutions with relatively little interference — a level of pragmatism that contrasted sharply with the rising nationalist sentiments that emerged once Serbian autonomy and independence advanced in the 19th century.
The irony is striking: the Muslim Ottoman Empire proved more tolerant toward its Jewish subjects than the newly Christian-nationalist Serbian state that replaced it in much of the territory. As Serbia consolidated power under the Obrenović dynasty, economic competition and religious nationalism quickly translated into discriminatory policies.
Prince Mihailo Obrenović and the Incidents of the 1860s
Under Prince Mihailo Obrenović (reigned 1839–1842 and 1860–1868), anti-Jewish measures intensified. Serbian urban traders and craftsmen, seeking to eliminate competition, pressured the authorities to restrict Jewish economic activity. Legal bans limited where Jews could live, trade, and operate businesses, particularly in Belgrade.
Tensions peaked around 1865, when anti-Jewish violence erupted. Contemporary diplomatic reports, including those from the British consul Longworth, documented accusations of Serbian anti-Semitism. The core incidents included attacks and at least two murders linked to anti-Jewish agitation in areas such as Plasnitsa.
These events were not isolated outbursts but reflected a broader pattern. The Serbian press and emerging national institutions increasingly portrayed Jews as economic rivals and outsiders incompatible with the vision of a homogeneous Serbian state.
The Serbian Clergy and Anti-Semitism
The role of the Serbian Orthodox clergy in fostering or tolerating anti-Semitism was part of a clerical influence. Serbian religious rhetoric that emphasized Christian solidarity and viewed Jews through traditional theological lenses of deicide or otherness provided ideological fuel for secular nationalists. Sermons and clerical writings occasionally reinforced the idea that Jewish presence threatened Serbian Christian society, especially as the Church aligned itself with the national awakening.
This clerical-nationalist synergy contributed to what historians describe as an emerging “Serbian anti-Semitism” rooted in both economic protectionism and religious consciousness.
The shift from Ottoman-era tolerance to discrimination under independent Serbia highlights how 19th-century Balkan nationalism often came at the expense of minority rights. Jews, who had fared relatively well under Muslim rule, found themselves increasingly marginalized in the Christian nation-building project — a pattern that would recur tragically in the 20th century.
Sources:
Le droit romano-byzantin dans le sud-est européen. Evangélos Karabélias, Stathēs Damianakos. 2000
Le Messager européen. Volume 5–6. 1991. P.O.L.
1878
In 1878 the Israelite Alliance presented a Memorandum against Serbia to the Congress of Berlin.
Source: Le royaume serbe croate slovène son organisation, sa vie politique et ses institutions . Volume 1. Albert Mousset. 1926
1882
“Anti- Semitic themes with a partly racist bias. Even in Serbia, where there were no Jews in the villages and few Jews in the towns, there was an upsurge of anti-Semitism. In 1882, the Liberal newspaper Srpska nezavisnost [Serbian Independence] called for the formation of an anti-Semitic association”.
Source: The Balkans in Transition Essays on the Development of Balkan Life and Politics Since the Eighteenth Century. 1974. p.327
Interwar Period and World War II
Anti-Semitism gained traction in the late 1930s in Yugoslavia. The kingdom introduced anti-Jewish measures, including numerus clausus quotas and professional bans.
Durng World War 2, Milan Nedić implemented anti-Semitic policies. Belgrade became the first European city declared Judenfrei (“free of Jews”), with Serbia declared so by August 1942. Nedić’s regime assisted in registering, arresting, and deporting Jews and Roma. His propaganda promoted anti-Semitism, linking Jews to communism, Masonry, and foreign enemies, using terms like “Communist-Jewish rabble.”
Nedić’s forces and those of Dimitrije Ljotić (Zbor movement) collaborated with the Wehrmacht. Jews faced forced labor, internment in camps like Banjica and Sajmište (Semlin), and mass executions. German forces, aided by local collaborators, killed most Serbian Jewish men by late 1941; women and children perished in gas vans or camps. Approximately 90% of Serbia’s pre-war Jewish population of around 16,000–34,000 (depending on territorial definitions) was murdered.
Post-war, some Serbian historians and the Milošević regime downplayed Nedić and Ljotić’s roles, portraying collaboration as saving Serbian lives or emphasizing “joint Serbo-Jewish martyrdom.” In 1994, Patriarch Pavle held a memorial service for Nedić, justifying his actions.
The role of the Serbian Orthodox Chuch
The Serbian Orthodox Church has faced criticism for links to groups with anti-Semitic themes and historical denial.
Dimitrije Ljotić’s Yugoslav National Movement (Zbor)
Anti-Semitism formed an obsessive and central ideological theme in Serbian fascist and quasi-fascist movements during the 1930s and World War II. The most prominent example was Dimitrije Ljotić’s Yugoslav National Movement (Zbor), founded in 1935. Zbor promoted a corporatist, authoritarian, and strongly centralized state model dominated by Serbian interests.
It blended extreme anti-communism, ultra-nationalism, and aggressive Orthodox Christian traditionalism. Ljotić and his followers portrayed Jews as a fundamental threat — part of an international conspiracy linked to both capitalism and Bolshevism — and made anti-Semitic propaganda a core element of their publications and political activity.
Zbor’s ideology called for the moral and spiritual regeneration of the nation under Orthodox values, while aggressively rejecting liberalism, democracy, and Jewish influence. Ljotić’s writings and speeches frequently blamed Jews for Yugoslavia’s problems and for instigating the coming world conflict. During the German occupation, Ljotić’s followers actively collaborated with Nazi forces and the puppet regime of Milan Nedić. They participated in anti-Jewish measures, propaganda, and operations that contributed to the near-total destruction of Serbia’s Jewish population by 1942.
This brand of Serbian fascism was distinctly corporatist in its economic vision, centralist in its rejection of federalism, and militantly Orthodox in its cultural outlook. Anti-Semitism served not merely as a secondary prejudice but as a unifying explanatory framework for the movement’s worldview.
The passage also notes that the communist-led Partisans themselves committed massacres, including in Montenegro, where their behavior toward certain groups was at times brutal. While the Partisans were the main anti-fascist force and included Jewish fighters in their ranks (thousands of Jews joined the resistance), local Partisan units in some regions carried out summary executions and reprisals against real or suspected collaborators, civilians, and ideological opponents.
Milošević Era (1990s)
During Slobodan Milošević’s rule, state propaganda occasionally invoked conspiracy theories about Jewish influence, aligning with nationalist narratives. A “Society” promoting such views lacked support from Serbia’s Jewish community, which protested strongly. Anti-Semitism appeared in opposition circles too. Jews were sometimes functionalized in discourses to garner sympathy or counter accusations, amid the Yugoslav wars.
Sources
Byford, Jovan. Denial and Repression of Antisemitism: Post-Communist Remembrance of the Serbian Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2008.
Cohen, Philip J. Serbia’s Secret War: Propaganda and the Deceit of History. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1996.
Koljanin, Milan. “Anti-Semitic Propaganda and Legislation in Serbia 1939–1942: Content, Scale, Aims and Role of the German Factor.” Istorija 20. Veka 37, no. 2 (2019): 85–104.
Lebl, Aleksandar. Do Kraja Sećanja: Jevreji u Srbiji. Belgrade: Čigoja štampa, 2001.
Ramet, Sabrina P. The Three Yugoslavias: State-Building and Legitimation, 1918–2005. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006.
Ristović, Milan. “Yugoslavia.” In The Holocaust in the Balkans, edited by Giorgos Antoniou and Stratos Dordanas. Athens: Alexandria Publications, 2020. (Covers Zbor, Ljotić, and anti-Semitic policies.)
Stojanović, Aleksandar. “Anti-Semitic Propaganda and Legislation in Serbia 1939-1942.” Istorija 20. Veka (2019).
Terraforming. “Antisemitism in Serbia – Then and Now.” https://terraforming.org/en/antisemitism-in-serbia-then-and-now/.
Ljotić, Dimitrije. Sabrana dela [Collected Works]. Various editions. (Contains original anti-Semitic writings and propaganda.)
Histoire de la Yougoslavie de 1945 à nos jours. Paris: Various academic editions (as referenced in the provided passage).
Other sources
Byford, Jovan. “‘Serbs Never Hated the Jews’: The Denial of Antisemitism in Post-Communist Serbia.” Patterns of Prejudice 40, no. 2 (2006): 159–175.
Byford, Jovan. Denial and Repression of Antisemitism: Post-Communist Remembrance of the Serbian Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2008.
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia. Anti-Semitism in Serbia. Belgrade, 2006. https://www.helsinki.org.rs/doc/HCHRS_ANTI-SEMITISM%20IN%20SERBIA.pdf.
Institute for the Research of Genocide, Canada. “History of Anti-Semitism in Serbia.” October 26, 2001. https://instituteforgenocide.ca/history-of-anti-semitism-in-serbia/.
Koljanin, Milan. “Anti-Semitic Propaganda and Legislation in Serbia 1939–1942: Content, Scale, Aims and Role of the German Factor.” Istorija 20. Veka 37, no. 2 (2019): 85–104. http://inisdr.bg.ac.rs/1226/1/2019_2_04_iva_85-104.pdf.
Lebl, Aleksandar. Do Kraja Sećanja: Jevreji u Srbiji. Belgrade: Čigoja štampa, 2001.
Sekelj, Laslo. Antisemitism and Jewish Identity in Serbia After the 1991 Collapse of the Yugoslav State. Analysis of Current Trends in Antisemitism, no. 12. Jerusalem: Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1997.
Stojanović, Aleksandar. “Anti-Semitic Propaganda and Legislation in Serbia 1939-1942.” Istorija 20. Veka (2019). https://doaj.org/article/ce26cb0d67004e218f6f07a5f674dd94.
Terraforming. “Antisemitism in Serbia – Then and Now.” https://terraforming.org/en/antisemitism-in-serbia-then-and-now/.
United States Department of State. 2020 Report on International Religious Freedom: Serbia. https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/serbia/. (Documents contemporary incidents and online anti-Semitism.)
For 19th-century legal and economic anti-Semitism: See entries in History of the Jews in Serbia (drawing on primary sources) and scholarly works on Serbian-Jewish relations before 1889 emancipation.
