Petrićevac is a part of the city of

Banja Luka Banja Luka ( sr-Cyrl, Бања Лука, ) or Banjaluka ( sr-Cyrl, Бањалука, ) is the List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the largest city in Republika Srpska. Banja Luka is the tr ...

Republika Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, ; also referred to as the Republic of Srpska or Serb Republic) is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities within Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other bein ...

, an entity of

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

. Today there are about 25,000 inhabitants in Petrićevac. The place is the location of a Roman Catholic church of Saint Anthony and a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

monastery in the 20th century. There was also a Serbian Orthodox Church built by Ilija Rankić.

History

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Orthodox church was destroyed in 1941 by the Ustaša fascist organization.

Miroslav Filipović Miroslav Filipović (5 June 1915 – 29 June 1946), also known as Tomislav Filipović and Tomislav Filipović-Majstorović, was a Croatian Franciscan friar and Ustaše military chaplain who participated in atrocities during World War II in ...

originated from the Catholic monastery before he went on to join the

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

during World War II, and commit numerous atrocities and

war crimes 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 hos ...

over the

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 ...

in the region between 1942 and 1945. Filipović was defrocked after a February 1942 massacre of Serb civilians in the nearby villages ( Drakulić and Motike). During the war in Bosnia in 1995, as the part of persecution and ethnic cleansing of the non-Serb population of the city of Banja Luka and the surrounding settlements, the Catholic Church and the monastery experienced the same fate as the 16 mosques of the city of Banja Luka which were destroyed by the Serbs already in 1993 (List of 16 destroyed mosques in Banja Luka [:bs:Spisak_džamija_u_Banjoj_Luci.">bs:Spisak_džamija_u_Banjoj_Luci">[:bs:Spisak_džamija_u_Banjoj_Luci. The Catholic Church and the monastery were destroyed in revenge by the Bosnian Serb Army, causing the death of one of the friars in the process. The reconstruction of the buildings started in 2003 after Pope John Paul II visited the site.

References

Geography of Banja Luka {{BanjaLuka-geo-stub