Kulen Vakuf massacre

The Kulen Vakuf massacre was committed during World War II by Communist-led Yugoslav Partisans and groups of non-communist Serb rebels (including Chetniks), killing 1,000 to 3,000 Ustaše prisoners as well as Muslim, and a smaller number of Croat (around 100 killed), civilians in early September 1941 in Kulen Vakuf, part of the Independent State of Croatia (present-day Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina). The local Ustaše had previously massacred Serbs in Kulen Vakuf and surrounding villages.

Kulen Vakuf massacre
Aerial view of Kulen Vakuf
Kulen Vakuf in 2019
Kulen Vakuf is located in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Kulen Vakuf
Kulen Vakuf
Kulen Vakuf (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
LocationKulen Vakuf in Bosnia and Herzegovina (contemporary Independent State of Croatia)
Coordinates44°34′N 16°05′E
Date6-8 September 1941
TargetMuslim and Croat civilians and Ustaše POWs
Deathsbetween 1,000 and 3,000 Muslim civilians and soldiers, including 100 Croats
VictimsMuslim and Croat civilians and captured soldiers from the Ustaše or Home Guard units
PerpetratorsCommunist-led partisan forces and non-communist Serb Chetnik rebels
MotiveRetaliation
AccusedGojko Polovina

Background

Ethnic Serbs were targeted by the genocidal policies of the Ustaše-led Independent State of Croatia, a puppet state of Nazi Germany which was established after the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia. The massacre of Serbs by the local Ustaše, such as those in July and early August 1941 in villages around Kulen Vakuf, led to reprisals.[1] The retaliation was brief and quickly repressed, unlike Ustaše war crimes (which were organized at the top of the Croatian government in Zagreb, which systematically and persistently pushed the local Ustaše to commit massacres.[2] The description of the events as conflicts between local Chetniks and Ustaše, motivated by ethnic intolerance, has been called an oversimplification.[3]

Ustaše massacre of Serbs

The Kulen Vakuf massacre was retaliation for earlier, equally-massive Ustaše massacres of local Serbs.[4] There are more than 280 locations where Serbs in Bosnia were tortured and killed during the summer of 1941.[5]

Serbs were massacred in the villages of Oraško Brdo, Prkosi, Veliki Stenjani, Rajnovac, Kalati, Bušević, Kestenovac, Bosanski Srbci and Malo Seoce, all near Kulen Vakuf.[6] During an early massacre near Kulen Vakuf, the Ustaše killed 862 Serbs in one day and 950 Serbs were killed in the village; Miroslav Matijević, a Croat who owned a local restaurant,[7] organized and participated in the massacre of Serbs on a hill near the church in Kulen Vakuf.[8] The Ustaše set fire to an Orthodox church in the village after they had killed many Serbs in it. [9] Vukosav Kulenvakufski, the Serb priest of a church in the village, was murdered by the Ustaše in June 1941 after they killed his family (including his two daughters-in-law and two grandsons) in front of him.[10][11]

In early August 1941, all Serb civilians from the village of Kalati were massacred or imprisoned in Kulen Vakuf, leaving the village depopulated until Kulen Vakuf and its imprisoned civilians were liberated on 6 September 1941.[12] By 30 August 1941, the Ustaše had killed nearly 200 Serb women and children in Kalati.[7] The Kulen Vakuf massacre also involved the liquidation of the Muslim community.[13] Some Muslim victims were Ustaše members who had massacred Serbs; others were killed because they were thought to be ethnically linked to the Ustaše.[14]

Earlier retaliatory massacres

The Kulen Vakuf massacre was preceded by one in Krnjeuša, when rebels killed up to 240 Croat civilians on 9 August 1941.[15][16] When rebels decided to attack the Ustaše stronghold of Boričevac, they knew that the village was predominantly inhabited by Croats. Rebel commanders were relieved that Boričevac's Croat civilians escaped rebels, furious at the massacre of the Serbian population of Lika, by fleeing to Kulen Vakuf;[17] A rebel leader warned them by letter about the expected attack.[18] After they captured Boričevac, the rebels discovered two mass graves of Serbian civilians nearby;[19] some rebels recognized family members among the dead.[19] Although they were ordered not to raze the village, the rebels set fire to its houses.[19] Serb rebels later massacred 179 Croat civilians, primarily the aged, infirm, women and children in Boričevac.[20]

Capture

The rebel forces were under the command of headquarters in Drvar.[21] Communist forces consisted of the Freedom (Serbo-Croatian: Sloboda, Слобода) Battalion, commanded by Stevan Pilipović-Maćuka and Đoko Jovanić; one detachment of communist forces from Lika was commanded by Stojan Matić, and Gojko Polovina was their political leader.[22] Other communist detachments were commanded by Nikola Karanović and Pero Đilas, who later joined the Chetniks against the partisans. The communist forces were headquartered in Doljanski Bubanj.[23] The rebel forces included non-communists who were known as Chetniks. Their commanders included Mane Rokvić, who later joined the Chetniks and became a well-known military officer.

Đoko Jovanić

The Croatian garrison in Kulen Vakuf, commanded by Vladimir Veber, consisted of one battalion of Ustaše and Home Guard forces and Muslim members of local militias from the villages of Ćukovo, Orašac and Klis.[22] Veber, notorious in the region for his massacres of Serbs between June and September 1941,[24] was trapped in Kulen Vakuf after he tried to reach Srb from Bihać to fight the rebels in the Srb and Drvar uprisings, was ambushed in Boričevac and lost 20 of his men.[25] Since the Ustaše had substantial forces in Bosanski Petrovac, the rebels cut it off from Kulen Vakuf and attacked the villages of Ćukovi and Orašac. The Ustaše eventually retreated to Kulen Vakuf.[26]

The decision to attack Kulen Vakuf was made by communist leaders including Marko Orešković, Gojko Polovina and Stevan Pilipović, who estimated that the rebel forces encircling the village were strong enough to capture it.[27] According to the communist plan to capture the village, the Freedom Battalion would attack from the villages of Vrtoče and Prkosi and the detachment from Lika would cross the Una River.[28]

When Veber realized that Kulen Vakuf was surrounded by superior rebel forces, he decided to break through the rebel lines along the road to Prkos and Bihać with refugees from Croat villages shielding his forces.[29] Veber intended to retreat, regardless of civilian casualties.[30]

The Ustaše attacked the Freedom Battalion late on the night of 5 September 1941.[22] When Veber ordered the evacuation of civilians from the town, the Croatian civilians left in an organized manner.[31] The Muslims were reluctant to leave, expecting the surrender of its garrison although Muslim traders insisted on evacuation.[31] During the night, the Ustaše tried to break through rebel lines and met strong resistance when they reached the village of Prkosi.[32]

The captured civilians were brought back to Kulen Vakuf, with the intention of transporting them to Bihać against the orders of Stojan Matić.[33] Matić was informed about the Ustaše attack on Drenovača (toward Lapac), handed over the imprisoned civilians to town guards, and headed toward Lapac with his forces.[34]

Massacre

The first massacres were committed when drunken rebels targeted imprisoned Ustaše.[35] When rebels entering Kulen Vakuf later organized the exhumation of mass graves in the village, they discovered that the Ustaše had killed 1,000 Serbs several days earlier (in addition to the 1,000 killed earlier that year in surrounding villages).[36] This enraged the rebels, who blamed the local Croat and Muslim populations, and killed 1,000 to 3,000 (including women and children),[37] Some communist officers did what they could to protect imprisoned civilians, but only managed to save a small number.[38][39] according to contemporary Croatian sources.[40][41]

The communist forces issued a report on 9 September 1941 emphasizing that the order received on 7 September had been carried out and Kulen Vakuf liberated; the communist detachment from Lika transported prisoners to Martin Brod.[42] The Lika detachment, commanded by Pero Đilas, brutally molested imprisoned adults during transport.[35]

Aftermath and legacy

Kulen Vakuf was set ablaze by refugees and drunken rebels.[43] Although Veber avoided capture by escaping from the rebel encirclement,[44] he and his forces were killed by the communist Čapajev Battalion on 3 October 1941.[45]

When they learned about what happened during and after the capture of Kulen Vakuf, the Communist leadership requested a detailed report about the massacre (including a list of participating detachments).[46] The massacre was a pretext for a planned internal struggle against Gojko Polovina, who (with Stojan Matić) ordered the attack on the village.[35] According to Polovina, the main cause of the internal conflict was the intention of Vladimir Bakarić to put partisan detachments from Lika (Croatia's largest and most competent rebel units) under the command of the Communist Party of Croatia; Polovina had refused to do so since the uprising began.[35] To avoid implications that the partisans were war criminals, communist authorities were silent about the Kulen Vakuf massacre because some of its commanders survived the war and advanced in the communist hierarchy; General Đoko Jovanić received the Order of the People's Hero. Vukosav of Kulen Vakuf was canonized by the Serbian Orthodox Church on 28 May 2003.[47]

References
  1. (Bulajić 1988, p. 620):"Organizovani ratni zločini kao što su bili oni u julu i početkom avgusta 1941. u srpskim selima u okolini K. Vakufa izazivaju stihiju divlje osvete kao što je bila ona početkom septembra u K. Vakufu...
  2. (Bulajić 1988, p. 620):"....ali je stihijno divljanje osvete kratkotrajno i može se suzbiti.
  3. (Bulajić 1988, p. 621)
  4. (Redžić 2005, p. 18):" ... the site of an Ustasha massacre of Serbs and then of an equally massive retaliation by insurgents against Muslims."
  5. Odbor SANU za sakupljanje građe o genocidu protiv srpskog naroda i drugih naroda Jugoslavije u XX veku (1995). Genocid nad Srbima u II svetskom ratu. Према овом списку, мјеста — стратишта гдје су Срби у Босанској крајини у љето 1941. злостављани и убијани било је више од 280.
  6. (Antonić 2001, p. 109)
  7. (Damjanović 1972, p. 200)
  8. (Antonić 2001, p. 108)
  9. (Dakina 1994, p. 301):" КУЛЕН ВАКУФ. Пошто су у њој поклале више Срба, усташе су цркву запалиле."
  10. (Đurić 1989, p. 138):"Родољуб С. Самарџић, свештеник из Кулен Вакуфа, заклан после жене и деце, јуна 1941. године."
  11. Karanović, Sergije. "Крст Светог Вукосава Куленвакуфског". www.spc.rs. Serbian Orthodox Church. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  12. (Bulajić 1988, p. 620)
  13. (Levene 2013, p. 285)
  14. (Bergholz 2018, p. 22): "Neki od tih novih žrtava bili su ustaše, počinioci onih prvih zločina, dok su mnogi drugi ubijeni zato što se smatralo da su s njima etnički povezani."
  15. Matkovich, Blanka (2017). Croatia and Slovenia at the End and After the Second World War (1944-1945). BrownWalker Press. ISBN 9781627346917.
  16. Dizdar, Zdravko „Četnički zločini u Bosni i Hercegovini 1941-1945", Zagreb 2002.
  17. (Morača 1972, p. 410)
  18. Ratna sećanja iz NOB, 1941-1942: zbornik sećanja. Vojnoizdavački zavod. 1981. p. 614.
  19. (Morača 1972, p. 278)
  20. "Anti-Fascist Uprising Commemorated in Croatia :: Balkan Insight". 20 December 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-12-20. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  21. Ustanak naroda Jugolavije, 1941: zbornik. Pišu učesnici. Vojno delo. 1964. p. 399. Ta situacija nameće akcije šireg značaja, pa se koncem avgusta 1941. u Drvaru održava vojno savjetovanje ...
  22. (Damjanović 1972, p. 196)
  23. (Majstorović & Medić 1961, p. 30):"Četa je bila u sastavu II bataljona kojega je komandant bio Stevo Pilipović- -Maćuka, a politički komesar Đoko Jovanić. Bataljon je imao svoj štab u Doljanskom Bubnju ..."
  24. (Damjanović 1972, p. 236)
  25. (Bokan 1972, p. 213): "из Бихаћа у Срб и код Борићевца су га устаници сачекали. Изгубио је око 20 људи и с остатком је дошао у Кулен — Вакуф. "
  26. Vojnoistorijski institut (1952). Zbornik Dokumenta. p. 125.
  27. (Morača 1972, p. 403):"По повратку с војног савјетовања из Дрвара, на путу за Мартин-Брод, Марко Орешковић, Гојко Половина, Маћука и ја размотрили смо ситуацију у овом крају. Сагласили смо се о нападу на Кулен-Вакуф. Напад је извршен и усташе су ликвидиране."
  28. (Damjanović 1972, p. 236):"Prema rasporedu za napad na Kulen Vakuf, borci Bataljona »Sloboda«, koji su uništili neprijateljski logor u Vrtočama, dobili su zadatak da napadaju od Vrtoča i Prkosa.
  29. Ratna sećanja iz NOB, 1941-1942: zbornik sećanja. Vojnoizdavački zavod. 1981. p. 615. Ustaše su odlučile da se probiju cestom, koja, uz veoma okomitu brinu, vodi u pravcu Prkosa i dalje, za Bihać. Ispred sebe su kao zaštitnicu postavili izbegli narod iz hrvatskih sela.
  30. Vojnoistorijski institut (1951). Zbornik dokumenata i podataka o narodnooslobodilačkom ratu naroda Jugoslavija. Vojnoistorijski institut. p. 125. Veber je htio izvući vojsku, bez obzira na civilne žrtve.
  31. Vojnoistorijski institut (1951). Zbornik dokumenata i podataka o narodnooslobodilačkom ratu naroda Jugoslavija. Vojnoistorijski institut. p. 125.
  32. Ustanak naroda Jugolavije, 1941: zbornik. Pišu učesnici. Vojno delo. 1964. p. 176.
  33. Ustanak naroda Jugolavije, 1941: zbornik. Pišu učesnici. Vojno delo. 1964. p. 176. Narod je vraćen u mesto i, po naređenju Stojana Matića, trebalo ga je uputiti za Bihać. Međutim
  34. Vojnoistorijski institut (1952). Zbornik Dokumenta. p. 133.
  35. (Николић 2009, p. 111)
  36. Odbor SANU za sakupljanje građe o genocidu protiv srpskog naroda i drugih naroda Jugoslavije u XX veku (1995). Genocid nad Srbima u II svetskom ratu. Muzej žrtava genocida i Srpska književna zadruga. По упаду у Кулен-Вакуф, устаници су сазнали да су усташе непосредно пред бјежање, дан-два раније, у Кулен Вакуфу убиле или заклале око хиљаду Срба, а толико и у околним селима. Тада је у Кулен Вакуфу организовано откопавање побијених Срба,
  37. (Hamović 1994, p. 79):"Након продора у град, устанини су отворили масовне гробнице побијених Срба и за те злочине оптужили све Муслимане. ... распамећене страсти, масовну хистерију...."
  38. (Hamović 1994, p. 79)
  39. (Burg & Shoup 1999, p. 38):"The town of Kulen- Vakuf was the scene of a massacre of over 1,000 Muslims by the Serbs in September 1941 after Ustashe excesses the previous summer against the Serbs in eastern Herzegovina."
  40. (Redžić 2005, p. 125)
  41. Hrvatski obzor. Eticon. 1999. p. 203. Koliko je danas poznato, tada je u Kulen- Vakufu ubijeno od 1 000 do 3000 ljudi.
  42. Zbornik dokumenata i podataka o narodno-oslobodilačkom ratu jugoslovenskih naroda: knj. 1-35. Borbe u Bosni i Hercegovini 1941-1945. Vojno-istoriski institut Jugoslovenske armije. 1951. p. 253. ИЗВЈЕШТЛЈ ШТАБА II АРТИЗ АНСКИХ ОДРЕДА У БРДУ ОРАШКОМ ДРВАРСКЕ БРИГАДЕ ОД 9 СЕПТЕМБРА 1941 ГОД. ... Поводом ваше наредбе од 7-IX-1941 год. достављамо следеће: Наши одреди ослободили су и заузели Кулен Вакуф, ... јер другови из Лике су отерали робље за Мартин Брод. У наше руке пало Марко Пилиповић је и оружја доста, што су однели другови из Лике,
  43. Vojnoistorijski institut (1952). Zbornik Dokumenta. p. 125. Zapaljen je K. Vakuf od izbjeglica, jednog dijela boraca ogorčenih zbog (ustaške) pljačke i pijanih ljudi, žena itd.
  44. (Majstorović & Medić 1961, p. 56)
  45. (Damjanović 1972, p. 236):"Komandant ustaškog garnizona, zloglasni bojnik Vladimir Veber, kojeg su kasnije, 3. oktobra ubili borci jurišnog odreda »Čapajev«, odlučio je bio da se iz blokade probije preko Prkosa, Lipe i Ripča u Bihać. "
  46. Serbia), Vojnoistorijski institut (Belgrade (1951). Zbornik Dokumenta. p. 302. У вези са догађајима око Кулен Вакуфа захтијевамо од вас да поднесете исцрпан извјештај који су све одреди учествовали у борбама, пљачци, паљевинама ... Тражимо препис наредбе ... наређења је у рукопису.
  47. Karanović, Sergije. "Крст Светог Вукосава Куленвакуфског". www.spc.rs (in Serbian). Serbian Orthodox Church. Retrieved 23 November 2020.

Sources

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