massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

of Croat civilians was committed by local rebels on 27 July 1941 in village Trubar in

Drvar Drvar (, ) is a town and municipality located in Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The 2013 census registered the municipality as having a population of 7,036. It is situated in western Bos ...

municipality

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...

(modern-day

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...

). It was one of a number of massacres in the southwestern

Bosnian Krajina Bosanska Krajina ( sr-cyrl, Босанска Крајина, ) is a geographical region, a subregion of Bosnia, in western Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is enclosed by a number of rivers, namely the Sava (north), Glina (northwest), Vrbanja and Vrbas ...

during the

Drvar uprising The Drvar uprising ( sr, Устанак у Дрвару) was the World War II uprising of the Serb population of Bosnian Krajina (modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina). Italy supported it, both politically and in arms, in its struggle against the fas ...

and Eastern Lika.

Background

On 27 July 1941, a

Yugoslav Partisan The Yugoslav Partisans, Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...

-led uprising began in the area of

and

Bosansko Grahovo Bosansko Grahovo ( sr-cyr, Босанско Грахово) is a town and municipality located in Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in western Bosnia and Herzegovina along ...

. It was a coordinated effort from both sides of the Una River in the territory of southeastern Lika and southwestern Bosanska. It succeeded in transferring key NDH territory under rebel control.

Incident

Parishioners of the Catholic parish in

went on a pilgrimage near

Knin Knin (, sr, link=no, Книн, it, link=no, Tenin) is a city in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, located in the Dalmatian hinterland near the source of the river Krka, an important traffic junction on the rail and road routes between Zagr ...

on 26 July 1941. The massacre occurred in village of Trubar, 18 km from Drvar, where local rebels (either Chetnik or

) stopped a train at Vaganj station, separating and killing the pilgrims who were returning from Knin on 27 July. Murdered pilgrims, among whom was a German Roman Catholic priest, Waldemar Maximilian Nestor, were thrown into the pit of Golubnjača. Shortly afterwards massacres occurred in surrounding villages. Some sources cite over 300 fatalities, yet many of the bodies that were thrown into deep caves, have yet to be fully exhumed. One of the witnesses of the massacre was a Partisan, Stevo Babić, who wrote that a group of rebels had executed train passengers at Golubnjača. According to Croatian scholar Blanka Matković, the

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод� ...

were responsible for the massacre.

Exhumation

The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced in November 2015 that exhumations of bodies from the pit of Golubnjača were carried out and that these are the bodies of pilgrims killed in July 1941. Bodies were buried in priests' tomb in

Banja Luka Banja Luka ( sr-Cyrl, Бања Лука, ) or Banjaluka ( sr-Cyrl, Бањалука, ) is the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the largest city of Republika Srpska. Banja Luka is also the ''de facto'' capital of this entity. I ...

. Franjo Komarica, Bishop of Banja Luka, requested from the Office an investigation of the crime.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trubar massacre Drvar 1941 in Bosnia and Herzegovina Mass murder in 1941 July 1941 events Massacres in 1944 Yugoslav Partisan war crimes in World War II Chetnik war crimes in World War II Massacres of Croats

Background

Incident

Exhumation

See also

References