Slobodište
Slobodište (Serbian: Слободиште), also known as Mount Bagdala near Kruševac,[1] is the place where the shootings of nearly 1,650 people, mainly partisans, Chetniks, as well as their supporters and Ropma occurred during the German occupation of Serbia.
Slobodište during the occupation
Slobodište is located southwest of Kruševac, on the slopes of Mount Bagdala. The first shootings occurred on September 23, 1941 by shooting of 25 Chetniks under command of Major Dragutin Keserović who were caught after the attack on Kruševac and sentenced to death.
During the occupation, in Kruševac were executed mostly people from Trstenik and the neighbouring places, Vrnjačka Banja, Kraljevo, Kruševac and some of the executed were from Raška, Leška, Kosovo and Western Serbia. Victims were also brought from the Criminal Bureau in Kruševac, which served a kind of mini-camp, and also from Bulgarian prisons and Kruševac Kreiskommandatur 833.
Mass execution in June 1943
The largest execution in Kruševac happened on June 29, 1943, when 324 people were executed as a measure of retaliation. This execution was at first to be carried out on June 28, but since on that day was a great Serbian feast Vidovdan, Milan Nedić's government were able to move the execution a day later. Prior to the execution, SS general August Meissner arrived in Kruševac and signed the poster, noting that he himself ordered this mass execution. After that, 162 members of the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland (Chetniks) and 162 members of the People's Liberation Movement of Yugoslavia were executed. Executions were also carried out within the Criminal Bureau, and bodies were buried in Bagdala.
During the occupation, Bulgarian soldiers also carried out executions repeatedly in Kruševac, along with armed Arnauts in German uniforms and members of the Ljotić's Serbian Volunteer Corps.
Numbers
According to available documents and salvaged German documents about the shooting, 1,650 people were executed in Kruševac during the entire occupation. The executions were carried out in the following order:
| Execution date | Number of executed |
|---|---|
| September 23, 1941 | 1 |
| September 24, 1941 | 88 |
| October 12, 1942 | 10 |
| December 12, 1942 | 10 |
| December 15, 1942 | 10 |
| February 5, 1943 | 40 |
| March 1–30, 1943 | 358 |
| April 12, 1943 | 5 |
| April 29, 1943 | 10 |
| June 1–30, 1943 | 530 |
| July 1–31, 1943 | 550 |
| August 9, 1943 | 9 |
| November 20, 1943 | 1 |
| June 12, 1944 | 10 |
| All | 1 642 |
Slobodište Memorial Complex
"Slobodište" Memorial Complex was built in the vicinity of the shootings, and was named like that because in one of the mounds were found the remains of soldiers of Rasina partisan detachment, who were called "bringers of freedom" of the city of Kruševac ("Slobodište" is a name derived from the Serbo-Croatian word for "freedom").
Architect Bogdan Bogdanović realized the monument at the suggestion of Dobrica Ćosić, soldier of the Rasina partisan detachment. Building of the complex lasted from 1960 until 1965.[1]
There is a following inscription on the monument:[2]
"Under this sky, human, straighten up. Bread and freedom are the same thing to us."
The basic elements of the monument are burial mounds, "Gate of Death", "Valley of giving respect" with 12 stone birds and "Valley of the living ones", and amphitheater with a stage and an auditorium.[3]
Today, "Slobodište" is a historical complex which is a place widely visited by citizens of Kruševac, as well as foreign tourists.
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Slobodište. |
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Spomenički kompleks Slobodište, Retrieved 7-12-2014
- ↑ Spomen-park Slobodište, Retrieved 7-12-2014
- ↑ Memorijalni kompleks Slobodište, Retrieved 7-12-2014
External links
- Kruševljani zaboravili na memorijalni kompleks Slobodište, Retrieved 7-12-2014