The Voćin massacre was the killing of 350 Serb civilians in

Voćin Voćin is a village and municipality in western Slavonia, Croatia, located southwest of Slatina and east of Daruvar. The population of the municipality is 1,911, with 956 people living in Voćin itself (census 2021). Geography Voćin, a pilgrima ...

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 ...

, by the

Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...

Croatian

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

organization on 14 January 1942, 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 ...

. The

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 ...

was carried out as retaliation for partisans' action in

Papuk Papuk is the largest mountain in the Slavonia region in eastern Croatia, near the city of Požega. It extends between Bilogora to the northwest, Krndija to the east, and Ravna gora and Psunj to the southwest. The highest peak is the eponymous ...

Background

On 12 January 1942, in a direct fight between the Partisans and the

, five Ustaše were killed, and two wounded, one of whom died later. The Partisans withdrew to Papuk, and Ustaše returned to Voćin and waited for reinforcements from

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

Belišće Belišće () is a town in Croatia, located in the region of Slavonia, Osijek-Baranja County, at the altitude of 93 m. The population of the town is 6,518 (2011), with 10,825 in the municipality. In 2011 census, the majority were Croats. This indus ...

and

Virovitica Virovitica () is a Croatian city near the Hungarian border. It is situated near the Drava river and belongs to the historic region of Slavonia. Virovitica has a population of 14,688, with 21,291 people in the municipality (census 2011). It is als ...

Massacre

On 13 January, some 300 Ustaše and Domobran soldiers began with plundering and burning Serbian houses. Civilians who tried to escape or provided resistance were killed and all others were arrested and taken to Voćin. On Serbian New Year, January 14, the biggest slaughter of the innocent population 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 ...

at that time started. Almost all the male inhabitants of the villages Jorgići, Zubovići, Dobrići, Kometnik and Sekulinci were killed. During the massacre, a total of 350 civilians were killed.

Acts of individual heroism

In addition to the victims, some managed to save many Serbs from Voćin and its surroundings. The Croat gendarme sergeant Luka Mustafić managed to save the lives of 10 Serbs during the massacre.

Aftermath

On the following day, Ustaše transported Serb

corpse A cadaver or corpse is a dead human body that is used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue to repair a defect in a living human being. Stu ...

s to a

mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of execution, although an exact ...

that was excavated east of Voćin, along the Voćinka river. The most significant consequence of this crime was strengthening of the partisan movement in the area of Voćin and

Podravska Slatina Slatina is a town in the Slavonia region of Croatia. It is located in the Virovitica-Podravina County, at the contact of the Drava valley and the foothills of Papuk mountain, in the central part of the region of Podravina, southeast of Virovitic ...

, exactly the opposite effect of what NDH's authorities tried to achieve. Although during 1941 and early 1942 there were not many local residents in favor of active resistance, due to increasing existential threat, a large number of Serbs from the surrounding villages joined the partisan units. A memorial to the victims of this massacre was erected in 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vocin Massacre Mass murder in 1942 Massacres in 1942 Massacres in the Independent State of Croatia Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia Independent State of Croatia Massacres in Yugoslavia Massacres of Serbs January 1942 events 1942 in Croatia Yugoslavia in World War II