Dalj massacre

Dalj massacre
Dalj Dalj on the map of Croatia
Location	Dalj, Croatia
Date	1 August 1991
Target	Croatian police and Croatian National Guard prisoners of war, Croat civilians
Attack type	Mass murder, ethnic cleansing
Deaths	56–57
Perpetrators	SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia Territorial Defence Forces, supported by the Yugoslav People's Army and the Serb Volunteer Guard paramilitaries

The Dalj massacre was the killing of 56 or 57 Croats in Dalj, Croatia on 1 August 1991, during the Croatian War of Independence. In addition to civilian victims, the figure includes 20 Croatian policemen, 15 Croatian National Guard (Zbor narodne garde – ZNG) troops and four civil defencemen who had been defending the police station and water supply building in the village. While some of the policemen and the ZNG troops died in combat, those who surrendered were killed after they became prisoners of war. They tried to fight off an attack by the Croatian Serb SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia (SAO SBWS) Territorial Defence Forces, supported by the Yugoslav People's Army (Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija – JNA) and the Serb Volunteer Guard paramilitaries. The SAO SBWS was declared an autonomous territory in eastern Croatia following the Battle of Borovo Selo just to the south of Dalj.

After the attack, the non-Serb civilian population in the village and the surrounding area was persecuted. They were forced to flee their homes, as they would have been imprisoned, physically abused or killed if they did not. After the war, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) charged high-ranking SAO SBWS and Serbian officials, including Slobodan Milošević and Goran Hadžić, with war crimes committed in Dalj. The killings were extensively covered by German media leading to forming of a public opinion in support of Croatia. By the end of 1991, Germany adopted support for diplomatic recognition of Croatia as its policy and duty.