List of mass executions and massacres in Yugoslavia during World War II

The following is a list of massacres and mass executions that occurred in Yugoslavia during World War II. Areas once part of Yugoslavia that are now parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Serbia, Slovenia, North Macedonia, and Montenegro; see the lists of massacres in those countries for more details.

Perpetrators The majority of massacres were committed by Yugoslav factions during the civil war, while a number were committed by invading Axis forces.

Ustaše

After the invasion of Yugoslavia, puppet-state Independent State of Croatia (NDH) was created by Axis powers in the areas of most of modern-day Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Ustaše sought to create an ethnically clean state by eradicating Serbs, Jews and Romani through genocidal policies. According to Ustaše officials, the creation of an ethnically pure Greater Croatian state would ensure the safety of the Croats from the Serbs. From the data calculated by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during the creation of the state the population of Serbs was approximately 1,925,000. The Ustaše's largest genocidal massacres were carried out in Bosanska Krajina and in places in Croatia where Serbs constituted a large proportion of the population including Banija, Kordun, Lika, and northern Dalmatia. Between 300 000– 350 000 Serbs were killed in massacres and in concentration camps like Jasenovac and Jadovno. Some 100,000 Serbs, Jews, and anti-fascist Croat were killed at Jasenovac alone.

Chetniks

The Chetniks wanted to forge an ethnically pure Greater Serbia claiming it was to ensure the survival of Serbs in Axis/Ustaše-controlled areas by violently "cleansing" these areas of Croats and Muslims.Kaplan, Jan, and Krystyna Nosarzewska, Prague: The Turbulent Century, Koenemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Koeln, (1997), pg. 241; Several historians view Chetnik actions against Muslim and Croats as constituting genocide. Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the Chetniks in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina range from 50,000 to 68,000, while more than 5,000 victims are registered in the region of Sandžak. About 300 villages and small towns were destroyed, along with a large number of mosques and Catholic churches. Chetnik massacres of the Bosniak population took place in eastern Bosnia which, according to historian Marko Attila Hoare, had been "relatively untouched" by the Ustaše until the spring of 1942. Bosnian historian Enver Redžić has a different opinion and claims that eastern Bosnia was not in relative peace at all during the period 1941–1942. He writes that in the summer of 1941, killings of Serbs had already started and acquired broader proportions in eastern Bosnia and that anti-Serb propaganda by Ustaše, by that time, had success among local Muslim and Croats.: "In the summer of 1941 the genocide against the Serbs in eastern Bosnia acquired broader proportions in the areas of Birce, Vlasenica, Zvornik, ... There are grounds to claim that Ustasha anti-Serbian propaganda had success among Muslim and Croat populations of this area..." Bosniak Muslims, particularly in Eastern Bosnia, comprised a large contingent of Ustashe units in the region and played a large role in the genocide of ethnic Serbs in the area that began in 1941. Bosniaks, later in the war, also joined the Waffen SS units that were notorious for their cruelty to the Serbian population. The Serbian population in the Podrina region (Eastern Bosnia) declined significantly as a result of these massacres and ethnic cleansing. Hoare argues that the latter-referenced massacres were not acts of revenge, but "an expression of the genocidal policy and ideology of the Chetnik movement."

Yugoslav Partisans Yugoslav Partisans committed various massacres, notably as part of the so-called "leftist errors" against ideological opponents and suspected collaborators. At the end of the war, the Partisans "purged" in Serbia (1944–45), and massacred tens of thousands of suspected collaborators during the Bleiburg repatriations at the end and immediate aftermath of the war. Ethnic minorities, such as Italians (namely Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians), were persecuted during the Foibe massacres in Julian March, Kvarner and Dalmatia, while ethnic Germans were also massacred during the Flight and expulsion of Germans in Yugoslavia.

Axis occupying forces German, Italian, Hungarian and Bulgarian occupying forces engaged in atrocities against the Yugoslavian population, in the form of mass-killings of civilians and hostages in retaliation for Partisan attacks and resistance. Infamous examples include the Kragujevac massacre, committed by German forces, as did the Albanian Waffen-SS units, which murdered more than 400 Orthodox Christian civilians at Andrijevica, the Novi Sad raid, committed by Hungarian forces and crimes committed by Italian forces, such as in Podhum.

List Name Date Location Deaths Perpetrator(s) DescriptionAlibunar and Selište massacreApril 1941Alibunar and Selište254Massacre of Royal Yugoslav Army POWs and civilians by the 2nd SS Panzer Division in Alibunar and the nearby settlement of Selište.Sušica massacreApril 1941Sušica, North Macedonia7 Kingdom of BulgariaSeven Turkish civilians were executed. The victims' houses were burned down and some women were raped.Donji Mosti massacre10 April 1941Donji Mosti11Croat civilians killed by the cavalry regiment "Car Dušan Silni" of the Royal Yugoslav Army in response to a Croat fifth column insurrection in Bjelovar.Derventa massacre11–13 April 1941Derventa17Croat civilians killed by retreating Royal Yugoslav Army soldiers.Bačka massacre14 April 1941Bačka region500Massacre of Serbs and Jews across various areas of Bačka by Hungarian forces.Slavonska Požega executions19–23 April 1941Slavonska Požega38Executions of Serbs by Ustaše.Celje executions1941–1945Celje374Mass-executions of Slovene hostages by German forces throughout occupation of Celje.Kacenštajn executions1941–1945Kacenštajn Castle, Begunje na Gorenjskem849Mass-executions of Slovene hostages by the Gestapo throughout World War II.Dotrščina executions1941–1945Dotrščina, Zagreb7,000Mass-executions of Serbs, Jews, Roma and Croat Anti-fascist hostages (including 2,000 members of the KPJ and the SKOJ) during the Ustaše occupation of Zagreb. About 90% ( 6,300) of those executed were Croat civilians and Anti-fascists, due to the fact that most of Zagreb's Serbian, Jewish and Roma populations had either been killed or deported to Jasenovac or Auschwitz by 1942.Mijajlova Jama massacres1941–1945Mijajlova Jama, near Ravna Reka1,000+Chetniks, led by Mihailo Čačić, executed more than 1,000 people in killings throughout the occupation in the Mijajlova Jama (Mijail's pit). The victims included captured Partisans, local civilians accused of collaborating with Partisans, captured Allied pilots (Americans) and civilian prisoners of various nationalities (Russians, Greeks, Poles, Czechs, Italians) who had escaped from nearby German labour camps.Pančevo executions21–22 April 1941Pančevo, Vojvodina36Execution of Serbs by Wehrmacht and Volksdeutsche.Gudovac massacre28 April 1941Gudovac near Bjelovar, Croatia proper184–196Massacre of Serbs by Ustaše.Kosinj massacre30 April 1941Kosinj, Lika 600Massacre of Serbs by Ustaše.Dubrovnik executionsMay–December 1941Dubrovnik58Execution of captives, primarily Serbs, by subordinates under Ivo Rojnica including 13 who were killed on 1 July 1941.Sanski Most executions9 May 1941 Sanski Most27Shooting of Serbs by Germans following a revolt.Blagaj massacre 9 May 1941Blagaj, Croatia proper 400Massacre of Serbs from Veljun and surroundings by Ustaše.Glina massacre11–13 May 1941Glina260–417Massacre of Serbs by Ustaše.Otočac massacreMay 1941Otočac331Massacre of Serbs by Ustaše.Nevesinje massacrelate May–June 1941Nevesinje, Herzegovina173Massacre of Serbs by Ustaše.Doljani massacreJune 1941 – 1942Doljani, Donji Lapac1,186Massacre of Serbs by Ustaše.Gacko massacre3 June 1941Korita133–180Massacre of Serbs by Ustaše; corpses thrown into the Koritska Jama pit.Knin massacre15 June 1941Knin 60Massacre of Serbs by Ustaše.Rašića Gaj massacres22 June–20 July 1941Rašića Gaj, Vlasenica70–200Massacre of Serbs by Ustaše Muslim militia.PRILOZI I SJEĆANJA. Ferid Šljivić, Stojan Babić, Vukosava Kujović: O DJELOVANJU SKOJEVSKE ORGANIZACIJE U BRIGADI Popovo Polje massacre23 June 1941Popovo Polje, Ljubinje, Herzegovina140-164Massacre of Serbs by Ustaše in the villages of Popovo Polje in the district of Ljubinje.Metković massacre25 June 1941Metković280Massacre of Serbs by Ustaše.Dračevo massacre25 June 1941Dračevo70Massacre of Serbs by Ustaše.Avtovac massacre28 June 1941Avtovac47Massacre of Muslims by Chetniks.Bileća massacreJune 1941Bileća, Herzegovina 600Serb rebelsMassacre of Muslims by Serb rebels.Kostajnica massacre29 June - July 1941Hrvatska Kostajnica280Massacre of Serbs by Ustaše.Ličko Petrovo Selo and Melinovac massacreJune - August 1941Ličko Petrovo Selo and Melinovac890Massacre of Serbs by Ustaše.Pecka massacreJuly 1941Pecka250Massacre of Serbs by Ustaše.Perna massacreJuly 1941 – 1942 Perna427Massacre of Serbs by Ustaše.Rakovica massacreJuly 1941 – 1942 Rakovica2,019Massacre of Serbs by Ustaše.Vojnić massacreJuly 1941 – 1942 Vojnić3,849Massacre of Serbs by Ustaše.Čelebić massacre (1941)July 1941Čelebić104Massacre of Serbs by Ustaše.Garavice massacreJuly – September 1941Garavice, near Bihac10,000-12,000Massacre of Serbs, Jews and Roma by Ustaše."Leftist error"