Mass shootings in Kragujevac during and after World War II (1941-1945). Testimonies and memorization

Abstract

From the beginning of World War II, mass and continuous shootings were carried out in Kragujevac, a city in central Serbia. First, German soldiers executed over 2,790 civilians in Šumarice on October 1941. Later, in November of the same year, the German authorities formed the Metino Brdo camp, where partisan fighters and civilians were tortured, killed, and deported until June of 1942. Then, the German soldiers murdered hundreds of civilians in retaliation near the Military Technical Institute in Kapislana, from the autumn of 1942 until the autumn of 1943. After the liberation of Serbia in the autumn of 1944, the Communist authorities started with executions of ideological and political enemies on Metino Brdo and Kapislana. In this article, we will attempt to perceive this issue from a new angle, by analyzing archival materials, testimonies and memories of survivors, recent relevant literature, and relying on other disciplines close to historiography.