A
mass murder
Mass murder is the violent crime of murder, killing a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. A mass murder typically occurs in a single location where one or more ...
of Serbian men by
Bulgarian occupational authorities occurred in the southern Serbian town of
Surdulica
Surdulica ( sr-cyr, Сурдулица) is a town and municipality located in the Pčinja District of southern Serbia. As of 2022, the population of the town is 9,242, while the municipality has 16,991 inhabitants.
History Massacre during World W ...
between 1915 and 1916, during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. Members of the Serbian intelligentsia in the region, mostly functionaries, teachers, priests and former soldiers, were detained by Bulgarian forces—ostensibly so that they could be deported to the Bulgarian capital,
Sofia
Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
—before being taken to
Surdulica
Surdulica ( sr-cyr, Сурдулица) is a town and municipality located in the Pčinja District of southern Serbia. As of 2022, the population of the town is 9,242, while the municipality has 16,991 inhabitants.
History Massacre during World W ...
and killed. An estimated 2,000–3,000 Serbian men were executed by the Bulgarians in the town. Witnesses to the massacre were interviewed by American writer William Drayton in December 1918 and January 1919.
Background
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July, marking the beginning of
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. Serbia was invaded by a combined German and Austro-Hungarian force on 7 October 1915. On 14 October, the
Kingdom of Bulgaria
The Tsardom of Bulgaria (), also known as the Third Bulgarian Tsardom (), usually known in English as the Kingdom of Bulgaria, or simply Bulgaria, was a constitutional monarchy in Southeastern Europe, which was established on , when the Bulgaria ...
declared war on Serbia and invaded the country from the east. The
Serbian Army
The Serbian Army () is the land-based and the largest component of the Serbian Armed Forces. Its organization, composition, weapons and equipment are adapted to the assigned missions and tasks of the Serbian Armed Forces, primarily for operatio ...
was forced to
retreat through Albania. Serbia was divided between the Austro-Hungarians, Germans and Bulgarians. The Bulgarian occupation zone was located in the area between the cities of
Skopje
Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...
and
Niš
Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names of European cities in different languages (M–P)#N, names in other languages), less often spelled in English as Nish, is the list of cities in Serbia, third largest city in Serbia and the administrative cente ...
, which had been a target of
Bulgarian nationalism
Bulgarian irredentism is a term to identify the territory associated with a historical national state and a modern Bulgarian irredentist nationalist movement in the 19th and 20th centuries, which would include most of Macedonia, Thrace and Moesi ...
.
As Bulgarians emphasize, before 1878, that area was part of the
Bulgarian Morava and under the jurisdiction of the
Bulgarian Exarchate
The Bulgarian Exarchate (; ) was the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical See in 1945 and the Bulgarian Patriarchate was restored in 1953.
The Exarchate (a de facto autocephaly) ...
and had certain
Bulgarophile
Bulgarophiles (; Serbian and , ''bugarofili'' or ''bugaraši''; ; ) is a pejorative term used for Slavic people
The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout th ...
intelligentsia, but afterwards it was ceded to Serbia and pro-Serbian sentiments became prevailing ubiquitously. A policy of
Bulgarianisation targeting ethnic
Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...
was implemented there. As result in September 1916, the Serbian high command sent
Kosta Pećanac
Konstantin "Kosta" Milovanović Pećanac ( sr-cyrl, Константин "Коста" Миловановић Пећанац; 1879–1944) was a Serbian and Yugoslav Chetnik commander ('' vojvoda'') during the Balkan Wars, World War I and World ...
in the
Toplica District
The Toplica District ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Топлички округ, Toplički okrug, ) is an administrative district in southern Serbia, named after the river Toplica. As of the 2022 census, the district has a population of 77,341 inhabitants, ma ...
to organize a guerrilla uprising.
There, Pećanac contacted several groups and joined forces with local leaders. As a consequence, one of the first measures undertaken by the Bulgarian military authorities was the mass-deportation of non-Bulgarian adult males. On 16 December 1916, the Bulgarian military governor of the occupied Serbian territories ordered that "all men between 18 and 50 who have served in the Serbian Army, all officers, former teachers, priests, journalists, former deputies, military functionaries, and all suspected persons, should be arrested and interned". Arrests of Serbian men followed.
In January–February 1917 the Bulgarians began conscripting local Serbs for military service and a rumor was spread that the Allies had reached Skopje, so the Serbs should rise in revolt. The decision for this rebellion was taken and on 21 February, and the
Toplica rebellion
The Toplica Uprising () was a mass uprising by Serbian rebels against the Bulgarian occupation forces that took place in Bulgarian-occupied Serbia during the First World War. The rebels were motivated by grievances against the Bulgarian author ...
broke out. Its leaders gathered several hundreds of rebels who conquered Prokuplje and Kuršumlija. Pećanac also attempted to attract Albanians on his side, but without success. On 12 March, the Bulgarian counterattack started under the command of
Alexander Protogerov
Aleksandar Protogerov (; 28 February 1867 – 7 July 1928) was a Bulgarian Army general, politician and revolutionary. He was among the leaders of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee and the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organizat ...
involving
comitadji
Komitadji, Comitadji, or Komita (plural: Komitadjis, Comitadjis, or Komitas) ( Bulgarian, Macedonian and , , , , pl. , , ) was a collective name for members of various rebel bands ( chetas) operating in the Balkans during the final period of the ...
s' forces of the
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO; ; ), was a secret revolutionary society founded in the Ottoman territories in Europe, that operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Founded in 1893 in Salonica, it initi ...
.
After several days of fighting, the Bulgarians entered
Prokuplje
Prokuplje ( sr-Cyrl, Прокупље, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Toplica District in southern Serbia. As of 2022 census, the municipality has a population of 38,054 inhabitants.
Prokuplje is one of the Roman sites of Serb ...
on 14 March and Austro-Hungarians the
Kuršumlija
Kuršumlija ( sr-Cyrl, Куршумлија, ) is a town and municipality located in the Toplica District of the Southern Serbia (Geographical Region), southern Serbia. It is situated near the rivers Toplica (South Morava), Toplica, Kosanica (ri ...
. As of 25 March, the order there was fully restored. In the battles, several thousand people were killed, including civilians. In April 1917, the Serbian guerrillas attacked a railway station and on 15 May, Pecanac entered the old Bulgarian border and invaded the town
Bosilegrad
Bosilegrad ( sr-cyr, Босилеград; ) is a town and municipality located in the Pčinja District of southern Serbia. The municipality comprises an area of . According to the 2022 census, the town has a population of 2,348, while the municip ...
, which was inhabited by Bulgarians, and burned it down. Then he withdrew to
Kosovo
Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...
, controlled then by the Austro-Hungarians.
Massacre
By these circumstances many Serbian men in the occupied territories were detained by Bulgarian patrolmen, ostensibly to be taken to the Bulgarian capital,
Sofia
Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
. Instead, they were taken to the town of
Surdulica
Surdulica ( sr-cyr, Сурдулица) is a town and municipality located in the Pčinja District of southern Serbia. As of 2022, the population of the town is 9,242, while the municipality has 16,991 inhabitants.
History Massacre during World W ...
and killed, as historian
Andrej Mitrović
Andrej Mitrović ( sr-cyr, Андреј Митровић; 17 April 1937 – 25 August 2013) was a Serbian historian, professor and author. A specialist of the contemporary history of Serbia and Yugoslavia, he served as the head of the Contemporar ...
described it, "using the most brutal methods". At one time Bulgarian soldiers disobeyed the orders and the victims were handed over to the
komitaji
Komitadji, Comitadji, or Komita (plural: Komitadjis, Comitadjis, or Komitas) ( Bulgarian, Macedonian and , , , , pl. , , ) was a collective name for members of various rebel bands ( chetas) operating in the Balkans during the final period of the ...
s of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation, who already had conducted such killings in the same area. Colonel von Lustig, an Austro-Hungarian liaison attached to the
German 11th Army, reported:
A commission consisting of Colonel Kalkadzhiev, Major Ilkov, Second Lieutenant Yurukov and Sergeant Vitanov, from the 42nd Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Division "Sofia", and Second Lieutenant Simonov and Sergeant Erchikov of the 5th Place Regiment, filtered the deported prisoners in Surdolica and decided on the executions. An estimated 2,000–3,000 Serbian men were executed by the Bulgarians in Surdulica. Mass executions also occurred in a place near Surdolica called "Duboka Dolina" and the bodies of the victims were buried in mass graves. At the same time the Bulgarian military authorities killed also many civilians in Vranje, Zajecar, Kacanik, and other places in that area.
[War and Society in East Central Europe: East central European society in World War I, Béla K. Király, Gunther Erich, Brooklyn College Press, 1985, , p. 258.] The Bulgarian head of the
Vranje
Vranje ( sr-Cyrl, Врање, ) is a city in Southern Serbia and the administrative center of the Pčinja District. According to the 2022 census, the city itself has a population of 55,214 while the city administrative area has 74,381 inhabitan ...
district described the executed men as "killers, thieves and butchers" whose "
rimes
Rimes is a surname. It is an English surname of unexplained origin, as well as a Huguenot surname which possibly originated as a habitational surname from the city of Reims. Variant spellings include Rhymes. Statistics compiled by Patrick Hanks o ...
were so great that at least ten years would be needed to mend their evil".
Gallery
File:Surdulica massacre victims5.jpg, Corpses exhumed in Duboka Dolina
File:Remains of Vranje Massacre Victims.jpg, Remains of seven civilians shot in Vranje
File:Surdulica massacre victim1.jpg, Skeleton from Duboka Dolina
File:Surdulica massacre victims3.jpg, Surdulica massacre victims
Aftermath
According to Colonel von Lustig, the relatives of those executed in Surdulica had also suffered following the massacre. An American writer named William A. Drayton visited today's North Macedonia region and southern Serbia between December 1918 and January 1919 as part of a Serbian commission investigating Bulgarian
war crime
A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...
s in these regions. Drayton noted in his diary that he interviewed fifteen eyewitnesses who charged that Bulgarian forces deported Serbs to Surdulica and executed a portion of them there in accordance with pre-determined lists of names. The rest, according to the witnesses, actually were deported to Sofia. As a result of the massacre, Surdulica received the nickname "slaughterhouse of Serbs".
See also
*
Štip massacre
The Štip massacre was the mass murder of Royal Serbian Army, Serbian soldiers by paramilitary forces of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) in the village of :mk:Љуботен (Штипско), Ljuboten, Štip on 15 October ...
*
Serbianisation
Serbianisation or Serbianization, also known as Serbification, and Serbisation or Serbization ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", srbizacija, србизација or sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=none, separator=" / ", posrbljavanje, посрбљавање; ...
References
Sources
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1915 in Serbia
1916 in Serbia
Bulgarian occupation of Serbia during World War I
Massacres in Serbia
Massacres in 1915
Massacres in 1916
Massacres of Serbs
World War I massacres
1915 murders in Europe
1916 murders in Europe
Violence against men in Europe
World War I crimes by the Kingdom of Bulgaria
Massacres committed by Bulgaria
Persecution of intellectuals