Molin, Banat
Molin was a village in Banat, Serbia. It was founded in 1832 by German settlers during Austrian rule and stood in what is now Nova Crnja municipality, Central Banat District, Vojvodina. The village disappeared because groundwater rose; today the site is Molin Forest, used as a hunting ground.
In Serbian, Molin is Молин; in German, Mollydorf; in Hungarian, Mollyfalva. It lay at 45°38′37″N 20°32′21″E, near Aleksandrovo, Banatsko Karađorđevo, Torda, Bašaid, Banatska Topola, Toba, and Nova Crnja. Administratively today it belongs to Nova Crnja.
History: It was founded in 1832 by German settlers under the Habsburgs. The first census in 1836 recorded 558 residents. It was part of Torontal County, within the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1848-1849 it was part of autonomous Vojvodina, and from 1849-1860 it was in the Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar, a separate Austrian land. After 1860 it returned to Torontal County, including Hatzfeld district.
In 1910 the village had a German ethnic majority. In 1918, after World War I, Molin became part of the Kingdom of Serbia and then part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). It belonged to Veliki Bečkerek county (1918-1922), then Belgrade oblast (1922-1929), then Danube Banovina (1929-1941).
During Axis occupation (1941-1944) it was in the German-administered Banat region with special status within the puppet state of Serbia. In 1944, as the war ended, some local Germans left with the defeated army; others stayed and were sent to prison camps, including one in Molin. The camps closed in 1948, and many Germans left Yugoslavia afterward.
From 1944/1945 Molin was part of Vojvodina, an autonomous province within socialist Serbia. After the war, settlers from nearby areas moved in. The 1953 census showed a Serb majority.
In 1956 a catastrophic flood devastated the village, and it was resettled and abandoned by about 1961. Most residents moved to Nova Crnja and Vojvoda Stepa. Today the place is Molin Forest, a hunting ground.
Coordinates: 45°38′37″N 20°32′21″E.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 09:45 (CET).