Simo Dubajić (September 1, 1923 – July 8, 2009) was 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 ...

soldier. A Serb from Croatia, he gained prominence by being involved in inter-ethnic conflicts between Croats and Serbs on two occasions, once during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and again during the

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yugosl ...

Biography

Dubajić was born in the village of

Kistanje Kistanje ( hr, Kistanje, hr, sr-Cyrl, Кистање) is a village and municipality in Šibenik-Knin County, Croatia. Geography Kistanje is located in the microregion of Bukovica, in Zagora. Kistanje is from county seat Šibenik, from Knin a ...

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 ...

. When

broke out, he joined the partisan resistance movement, and advanced in ranks to the rank of major. At the end of the war, Dubajić was the commander of a mechanized squad of the 4th Army of Yugoslavia (the Croatian branch of the

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

, led by Lieutenant General

Petar Drapšin Petar Drapšin ( sr-Cyrl, Петар Драпшин; 15 November 1914 – 2 November 1945) was a Yugoslav Partisan commander. Early life and education Drapšin was born to a family of poor peasant farmers in the village of Turija near Srbobran ...

). In the spring of 1945, they were stationed in the region of

Kočevje Kočevje (; german: Gottschee; ''Göttscheab'' or ''Gətscheab'' in the local Gottscheerish dialect; it, Cocevie) is a city in the Municipality of Kočevje in southern Slovenia. It is the seat of the municipality. Geography The town is loc ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, where they were reportedly involved in the

Bleiburg repatriations The Bleiburg repatriations ( see terminology) occurred in May 1945, after the end of World War II in Europe, during which Yugoslavia had been occupied by the Axis powers, when tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians associated with the Axis ...

. After the war Dubajić retired as a ''potpukovnik'' (

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

) of the

Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska a ...

. In the 1950s he studied arts in Zagreb and acted in the movie ''Družina Sinjeg galeba''. He also assisted numerous film directors. In the 1990s with the

breakup of Yugoslavia The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

, Dubajić became one of the leaders of Serb armed militias in the Dalmatian hinterland (in the so-called

Log Revolution The Log Revolution ( sh, Balvan revolucija / ) was an insurrection which started on August 17, 1990, in areas of the Republic of Croatia (1990–1991), Republic of Croatia which were populated significantly by Serbs of Croatia, ethnic Serbs. A f ...

), and circumstantial evidence points to a group led by him having perpetrated a November 1990 murder of a police officer. He was active in the creation of the

Republic of Serbian Krajina The Republic of Serbian Krajina or Serb Republic of Krajina ( sh, Република Српска Крајина, italics=no / or РСК / ''RSK'', ), known as the Serbian Krajina ( / ) or simply Krajina, was a self-proclaimed Serb proto-state, ...

during the

before moving to

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

in 1991. Dubajić was allegedly courted by

Vuk Drašković Vuk Drašković ( sr-cyrl, Вук Драшковић, ; born 29 November 1946) is a Serbian writer and politician. He is the leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement, and served as the war-time Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugos ...

to lead his

Serbian Guard The Serbian Guard ( sr, Српска гарда / ''Srpska garda'') was a Serbian paramilitary active in the Croatian War with close ties to the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO). Eighty percent of the guard's members were members of the SPO. Th ...

which was active in

Slavonia Slavonia (; hr, Slavonija) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria, one of the four historical regions of Croatia. Taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with five Croatian counties: Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Baranja ...

. In 2006, Dubajić published a book entitled ''Život, grijeh i kajanje: Od Kistanja do Kočevskog roga'' where he talked about the World War II

Kočevski Rog massacre The Kočevski Rog massacre was a series of massacres near Kočevski Rog in late May 1945 in which thousands of members of the Nazi Germany–allied Slovene Home Guard were executed, without formal charges or trial, by special units of the Yugoslav ...

. In March 2009, Dubajić was indicted by the Zagreb County State Attorney's Office of war crimes.Istraga protiv Sime Dubajića zbog ubojstava na Kočevskome rogu

Slobodna Dalmacija ''Slobodna Dalmacija'' () is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Split. The first issue of ''Slobodna Dalmacija'' was published on 17 June 1943 by Tito's Partisans in an abandoned stone barn on Mosor, a mountain near Split, while the city ...

At least 13,000 people are alleged to have been killed at the site by soldiers under Dubajić's command from May 26 to June 5, 1945. Dubajić died in

, on July 8, 2009, after a long illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dubajic, Simo 1923 births 2009 deaths People from Kistanje Serbs of Croatia Yugoslav Partisans members Serbian people of World War II Yugoslav people of World War II Officers of the Yugoslav People's Army