Žrtve Drugog svetskog rata u Niškom okrugu

Abstract

According to the first administrative division after the Second World War, the district of Niš (okrug) consisted of six counties (srez): Aleksinački, Banjski, Moravski, Svrljiški, Niški i Zaplanjski. The first systematic investigation into the crimes committed during the occupation after the liberation was entrusted to the State Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Committed by the Occupiers and Their Abettors. This commission was established at the second session of the AVNOJ in Jajce. The paper statistically analyses the victims in the district of Niš according to the perpetrators, geographical origin and type of suffering. In addition to the victims, “bodily injuries” as well as “violations of personal freedom” are also analysed. In the first census in 1945, 2,644 victims were registered in the Niš district. The German occupying forces were identified as the main perpetrators of the crimes. As this census was only carried out superficially, the process was repeated at the beginning of 1946. The new census recorded 5,067 victims in the area in question. The German occupying forces were also recognised as the main perpetrators of the crimes in this census. The systematic census of war victims was initiated by the Federal Executive Council in 1964. Due to the passage of time and the ideological component, it is assumed that its scope was 56‒59% of the actual victims. In six municipalities that previously formed the Niš district, 5,801 war victims who lost their lives and 6,174 victims who survived the war were registered. Although both counts are useful to get a general picture of the victims of the Second World War, we believe that both victim counts have significant shortcomings, mainly due to their ideological component. Nevertheless, the results of both censuses are an indispensable source for the quantification of war crimes on the territory of Yugoslavia.