The following is a list of massacres that have occurred in North Macedonia and its predecessors:
Late Ottoman period
NameDateLocationDeathsPerpetratorVictimsNotesMassacre of the Albanian Beys9 or 26 August 1830Bitola, Ottoman Empire500Ottoman forcesAlbanian beysAlbanian beys massacred by Ottoman forces.Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising2 August – October 1903Ottoman Empire (Throughout modern-day Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece and North Macedonia)Over 4,500 Ottoman forcesBulgarians and AromaniansMacedonian Bulgarians and Aromanian civilians massacred by Ottoman forces."However, contrary to the impression of researchers who believe that the Internal organization espoused a "Macedonian national consciousness," the local revolutionaries declared their conviction that the "majority" of the Christian population of Macedonia is "Bulgarian." They clearly rejected possible allegations of what they call "national separatism" vis-a-vis the Bulgarians, and even consider it "immoral." Though they declared an equal attitude towards all the "Macedonian populations." Tschavdar Marinov, We the Macedonians, The Paths of Macedonian Supra-Nationalism (1878–1912), in "We, the People: Politics of National Peculiarity in Southeastern Europe" with Mishkova Diana as ed., Central European University Press, 2009, , pp. 107-137.Autonomy for Macedonia and the vilayet of Adrianople (southern Thrace) became the key demand for a generation of Slavic activists. In October 1893, a group of them founded the Bulgarian Macedono-Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Committee in Salonica...It engaged in creating a network of secretive committees and armed guerrillas in the two regions as well as in Bulgaria, where an ever-growing and politically influential Macedonian and Thracian diaspora resided. Heavily influenced by the ideas of early socialism and anarchism, the IMARO activists saw the future autonomous Macedonia as a multinational polity, and did not pursue the self-determination of Macedonian Slavs as a separate ethnicity. Therefore, Macedonian (and also Adrianopolitan) was an umbrella term covering Bulgarians, Turks, Greeks, Vlachs (Aromanians), Albanians, Serbs, Jews, and so on. While this message was taken aboard by many Vlachs as well as some Patriarchist Slavs, it failed to impress other groups for whom the IMARO remained the Bulgarian Committee. Historical Dictionary of Republic of Macedonia, Historical Dictionaries of Europe, Dimitar Bechev, Scarecrow Press, 2009, , Introduction.Kokošinje murders1904Kokošinje53IMROSerbsIMRO komitadjis killed 53 Serbs.Јанићије Поповић, Пламен, Приштина 1930, 25.С. Симић, Српска револуционарна организација, комитско четовање у Старој Србији и Македонији 1903-1912, Београд 1998, 123-129.Николов, Борис Й. Вътрешна македоно-одринска революционна организация. Войводи и ръководители (1893—1934). Биографично-библиографски справочник, София, 2001, pp. 158-159.
Balkan Wars and World War I
NameDateLocationDeathsPerpetratorVictimsNotesTakeover of Skopje1912Kumanovo and Skopje3,000Serbian forcesAlbaniansAlbanians were killed by Serbs.Slaughter in Bitola1913Hospitals in BitolaSerbian forcesTurkish patientsWhen Serbian forces entered Bitola, they killed Turkish patients to make room for injured Serbs.Tikveš uprising1913Tikvešija1,200Serbian forcesBulgariansSerbian forces killed Bulgarian civilians and burned hundreds of homes.Ohrid–Debar uprising1913Ohrid and Debarup to 1,000Serbian forcesAlbanians, Turks and BulgariansSerbian forces killed hundreds of Turks, Bulgarians and Albanians and burned hundreds of homes.Bitola massacre1915Kičevo and Kruševo555Bulgarian forces aided by the IMROAlbaniansBulgarian forces killed hundreds of Albanian civilians and burned hundreds of homes.Justin McCarthy, Death and Exile: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ottoman Muslims, 1821-1922. March 1, 1996. p.183Štip massacre1915Ljuboten, Štip region118–120Bulgarian forces aided by the IMROSerbian soldiersReport of the International Commission (1919). Album des crimes bulgares : annexes aux documents relatifs aux violations des conventions de la Haye et du droit international en général, commises de 1915-1918 par les bulgares en Serbie occupée. Paris: Yugoslavia.Willmott, H. P. (2003). World War I. New York: Dorling Kindersley.
Interwar period NameDateLocationDeathsPerpetratorVictimsNotesMassacre in Kadrifakovo16 January 1923Kadrifakovo20–30IMRO Serb colonistsSerb colonists were killed by an IMRO detachment led by Ivan Barlyo.Massacre in Garvan3 March 1923Garvan, Konče Municipality28–29 or 53Yugoslav troopsBulgarian villagersAll male inhabitants of Garvan were killed on the orders of Dobrica Matković.
World War II
NameDateLocationDeathsPerpetratorVictimsNotesVataša massacre16 June 1943Near Vataša12Bulgarian forcesMale youthsAnti-partisan offensive launched by the Bulgarian occupation authorities against the communist resistance and its helpers.19 September 1944Beličica, Mavrovo and Rostuše Municipality38Balli KombëtarMacedonian villagers and PartisansAround 300 Ballists indiscriminately massacre the local population and partisan fighters.Šutovo massacreAutumn of 1944Present day Kičevo Municipality, North Macedonia16Macedonian PartisansAlbanian menMassacre of Albanians after the capture of the village by Partisan forcesRadolišta massacre28 October 1944Present-day Struga Municipality, North Macedonia84 WehrmachtAlbaniansMassacre of Albanians by the armed forces of Nazi Germany.Zajas massacreAutumn 1944Zajas, present-day North Macedonia320Macedonian Partisans and OZNAAlbaniansAlbanian inhabitants of Zajas massacred by Macedonian Partisans and the OZNA after capturing the city from the Balli Kombëtar.Blace massacre1 November 1944Blace, present-day North Macedonia120Macedonian Partisans from the XVI Macedonian Partisan BrigadeAlbaniansAlbanians civilians killed by Macedonian partisans under the pretext of collaboration with the occupier.Sopot massacre3-4 November 1944Sopot, present-day North Macedonia68Macedonian Partisans from the XVII Macedonian Partisan Brigade and ChetniksAlbaniansOn 3 and 4 November 1944, the village was the scene of a massacre, in which a total of 68 Albanians were killed by the XVII Macedonian Partisan Brigade and members of the Chetnik movement.Bloody Christmas (1945)January 1945Throughout the Socialist Republic of Macedonia1,200Yugoslav Macedonian communistsBulgariansMacedonian Bulgarian children, women, and men found in mass graves.Bechev, Dimitar (2009) Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia. Scarecrow Press. p.287.
Modern period
NameDateLocationDeathsPerpetratorVictimsNotesVejce massacre28 April 2001Tetovo region, on the Šar Mountains, Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia)8NLAMacedonian policemen and soldiersMacedonian policemen and soldiers massacred by Albanian militants. Karpalak massacre8 August 2001Motorway Skopje - Tetovo, near the village of Grupčin, Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia)10NLAMacedonian soldiersMacedonian Army reservists killed by Albanian militants.Ljubotenski Bačila massacre10 August 2001Locality Ljubotenski Bačila on the Skopska Crna Gora mountains, between the villages of Ljuboten and Ljubanci, Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia)8NLAMacedonian soldiersMacedonian Army reservists killed by Albanian militants.Ljuboten massacre12 August 2001Ljuboten, Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia)10Macedonian policeAlbanian civiliansMassacre of Albanian civilians two days after an ambush of Macedonian soldiers by the NLA.Smilkovci Lake massacre12 April 2012Butel Municipality, Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia)5AlbaniansMacedonian civiliansFive Macedonian men aged between 18 and 21 years old found killed near Skopje. Subsequent investigations found that they were killed by Albanians.
See also