The Serb District of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (for a period of time it was also called Sirmium-Baranja District) was part of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK) that was established in late 1991, after the aggression of the Yugoslav People's Army and rebel Croatian ethnic Serbs on Republic of Croatia. In 1995 Croatia retook all western parts of RSK by military force and reestablished its authority over these areas. In November 1995 Croatian government and local Serbs signed the Erdut Agreement. Its basic tenet was the establishment of the transitional United Nations administration in the District and its gradual and peaceful reintegration into the Republic of Croatia. These goals were successfully achieved by early 1998. The article tries to present the process of peaceful reintegration from the perspective of the local Serbs. This paper is mainly based on Vukovarske novine newspaper, published by Serb Information centre in Vukovar. The second part of this article deals with the integration of public services and companies in the District into the Croatian services and companies. Transitional UN administration also established Transitional Police Forces which included both Serb and Croat policemen and they were later incorporated in the Croatian police. There was also a problem of Serbs who were accused by Croatian authorities of committing war crimes. Croatian parliament enacted a law granting amnesty to all Serbs from the District who took part in war against Croatia and the number of Serbs accused of war crimes was gradually reduced to those who could be charged on the basis on reliable evidence. All this was important to assure the success of the peaceful reintegration. Throughout the period of peaceful reintegration under Croatian rule there was a possibility of massive exodus of Serb population from the Danube region to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia). Such exodus occurred during the Croatian military operation "Storm" in August 1995, when Croatia took control over western parts of the self-proclaimed RSK. In late 1995 Serbs also moved out of parts of Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, after the signing of Dayton peace accords which returned these areas to the Bosniak-Croat Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Motivation for such exodus was a widespread opinion among Serbs that it is impossible to accept non-Serb rule. Serb representatives in District put up efforts to assure local Serb population that they should not abandon their homes and move to Yugoslavia, and they were largely successful because massive exodus was avoided, although local Serbs often displayed their animosity and lack of trust toward the Croatian state. Finally this part of the article also presents the problem of the Serb refugees who left their homes in other parts of Croatia and moved to the Danube region. Some of them later moved to Yugoslavia, and before that they sold their property to Croatia. Other returned to their homes in other parts of Croatia. At the same time Croatian refugees who were forced to flee from their homes in the Danube region during 1991 and later during the Serb rule were finally able to return to their homes, although most of them returned only after the UN transitional administration mandate was finished.

Rad je uglavnom utemeljen na člancima koji su u srpskim Vukovarskim novinama, glasilu Informativnog centra Vukovar, objavljeni u razdoblju nakon hrvatske operacije "Oluja" i kasnije, tijekom mirne reintegracije Hrvatskog Podunavlja u sastav Republike Hrvatske. Dijelovi istočne Slavonije, Baranje i zapadnog Srijem su od kraja 1991. bili u sastavu Republike Srpske Krajine (RSK). Nakon potpisivanja Erdutskog sporazuma u studenom 1995. započeo je postupan proces povratka tog područja pod hrvatsku vlast u sklopu novog mandata Ujedinjenih naroda (UNTAES). U drugom dijelu rada prikazani su neki od glavnih problema do kojih je dolazilo tijekom mirne reintegracije i kako su na njih gledali mjesni Srbi.