Siroki Brijeg massacre

Memorial plaque with the images of the martyrs of Široki Brijeg and the other murdered Franciscans

The massacre of Široki Brijeg describes the events in which 28 Croatian Franciscans from the Široki Brijeg monastery in Herzegovina were killed by Communist Tito partisans between February 7 and 15, 1945 .

The victims are venerated as martyrs within and sometimes also outside the Roman Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina . In this devotion and of the other 38 friars of the Franciscan province of Herzegovina thought that part in the massacre of Bleiburg were killed.

background

The Bosnian Franciscans played an important role in the development of Catholic culture and Croatian self-awareness in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the last decades of the Ottoman rule as well as during the Austro-Hungarian rule, they ran several elementary and high schools and published literature. They promoted both Catholicism and Croatian nationalism in their schools. Among the most famous Franciscans in this regard were Grgo Martić , Paškal Buconjić and Didak Buntić. Her spiritual center was Siroki Brijeg.

The Yugoslav communists accused the Franciscan monasteries of having served as organizational and training centers for the Ustaše . The Franciscan Berto Dragičević from the Široki Brijeg Monastery, supported by the Franciscans Ante Cvitković and Andrija Jeličić, was the commander of a Ustaša unit in this region. It is also known that Radoslav Glavaš, a Franciscan of this monastery, joined the Ustasha. Tito once said that the Franciscan high schools in Bosnia-Herzegovina were "educational nests of national hatred" between Serbs, Croats and Muslims. The communists accused the slain Franciscans of having been actively involved in the fighting for the city alongside the German and Croatian soldiers.

The accusation that the Franciscans of Široki Brijeg, who were murdered by the partisans, personally fought with the Germans and the Ustasha against the partisans, weapon in hand, has not been proven. Paul Hockenos writes that the members of the order, together with Germans and Ustasha, defended the city and the monastery with guns in hand against Allied aircraft. The American military historian Jozo Tomašević comes to the same conclusion .

The opposing side claims that the murdered friars, like the majority of the Croatian population, welcomed the establishment of an independent Croatian state in 1941 as an exemption from Serbian tutelage, but condemned the atrocities committed by the Ustaše and expressed their disappointment about them. A report by a Gestapo agent from 1944 reported that the Franciscans of Široki Brijeg spoke out in sermons against the political system of the time in the independent state of Croatia and against National Socialist Germany.

procedure

An artillery position of the partisans with a light field howitzer during the battle of Široki Brijeg (February 6-7, 1945).

Tito partisans of the 26th Division of the VIIIth Corps of the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia tried to conquer the town of Široki Brijeg from February 6, 1945 and fought fierce battles with the 270th regiment of the 369th Legionnaires Division of the German Armed Forces and Croatian armed forces .

On February 7, 1945 partisans of the 2nd Dalmatian Proletarian Brigade captured the city and shot 12 friars in the monastery of Široki Brijeg. They first threw the bodies into an air raid shelter in the monastery garden, then burned them and buried the human remains. These were secretly exhumed in 1971 and buried in the monastery church.

On February 8, 1945, nine friars sought refuge in the order's own water mill on the local Lištica river . They were arrested by partisans and transported to Split . The majority of them were most likely killed in Zagvozd . The killings took place in other places up to February 15, 1945.

Victim

February 7, 1945

Široki Brijeg Monastery

Marko (Mate) Barbarić (born February 19, 1865 in Šiljevišta near Klobuk ), retired religious priest
Viktor (Bože) Kosir (born October 12, 1924 in Uzarići ), religious theologian
Tadija (Mirko) Kožul (born July 20, 1909 in Turčinovići ), religious priest, professor of the local high school
Krsto (Nikola) Kraljević (born March 21, 1895 in Grljevići ), retired religious priest
Stanko (Petar) Kraljević (born August 12, 1871 in Mokro ), retired religious priest
Žarko (Jerko) Leventić (born August 27, 1919 in Drinovci ), religious priest, parish vicar
Stjepan (Ante) Majić (born May 26, 1925 in Vitina near Ljubuški ), religious priest
Arhanđeo (Nikola) Nuić (born February 21, 1896 in Drinovci), religious priest, professor at the local grammar school and publicist
Borislav (Ljubo) Pandžić (born January 7, 1910 in Drinovci), religious priest, professor of the local high school
Ludovik (Ivan) Radoš (born November 14, 1925 in Blažuj near Tomislavgrad ), religious theologian
Ivo (Ivan) Slišković (born April 25, 1877 in Mokro), retired religious priest
Dobroslav (Božo) Šimović (born December 19, 1907 in Hamzići zu Čitluk ), religious priest, professor of the local high school

February 8-15, 1945

Watermill on the Lištica (Široki Brijeg)

Miljenko (Ivan) Ivanković (born December 2, 1924 in Tubolja near Tomislavgrad), religious theologian
Andrija (Jozo) Jelčić (born May 8, 1904 in Stubica , to Sudenci near Čapljina ), Guardian and pastor of Široki Brijeg
Fabijan (Jozo) Kordić (born March 6, 1890 in Grljevići), lay brother
Bonifacije (Ante) Majić (born May 6, 1883 in Vitina near Ljubuški), retired professor
Dr. Fabijan (Jakov) Paponja (born November 26, 1897 in Lipno near Ljubuški), professor and head of the local Konvikt
Melhior (Jerko) Prlić (born July 27, 1912 in Sovići , to Gorica ), lay brother
Leonardo (Mijo) Rupčić (born September 29, 1907 in Hardomilje , to Humac ), professor at the local high school
Mariofil (Marijan) Sivrić (born February 10, 1913 in Međugorje ), monastery vicar of Široki Brijeg
Dr. Radoslav (Ivan) Vukšić (born December 5, 1894 in Studenci ), professor and director of the local high school

Mostar Bridge

Jozo (Ivan) Bencun (born September 26, 1869 in Međugorje)
Kažimir Bebek (born October 1, 1901 in Vitina near Ljubuški)
Nenad-Venacije (Josip) Pehar (born May 7, 1910 in Stubica near Ljubuški)
Leo Petrović (born February 28, 1883 in Klobuk near Ljubuški)
Rafo Prusina (born January 21, 1884 in Hamzići zu Čitluk)
Bernardin Smoljan (born October 3, 1884 in Rodoč zu Mostar)
Grgo Vasilj (born March 13, 1886 in Međugorje)

Commemoration and reappraisal

The "Martyrs of Široki Brijeg" held a prominent position among the murdered Croatian priests, religious and believers. In 1955 Dionizije Lasić (1913–1997), professor of theology at the Pontifical College in Rome, wrote:

“ Our Church has almost canonized them and has solemnly drawn our eyes and attention to them. She particularly mentions the 28 martyrs of Široki Brijeg: but if we look at the long Croatian martyrology , we will find many other touching cases of true martyrdom: with pious songs in the mouth and the silent surrender in God's holy will. [...] The triumph of these holy sacrifices will surely take place before the church. "

The day of remembrance in the liturgy of the Catholic Church is February 7th . In 1991 the Curia was given documents to initiate a beatification process .

In 2012, the municipality of Široki Brijeg declared February 7th as a local day of remembrance, on which all local victims of the Second World War are commemorated and on which annual events take place.

On February 7, 2015 , the Croatian Post Mostar issued a special stamp , a special postmark as well as a first day cover and card for the postal service from Bosnia and Herzegovina on the occasion of the 70th anniversary . The stamp and stamp show the destroyed Široki Brijeg monastery, and the letter or card shows the portrait photos of the Herzegovinian Franciscans killed in the massacre and in the war.

The events were dealt with in the 60-minute documentary IN ODIUM FIDEI - Iz mržnje prema vjeri (German: Out of hatred of the faith; Croatia, 2015). The pre-premiere of the film took place on February 11, 2015 in Kino Europa in Zagreb , the premiere the following day in Mostar. In addition, public film screenings are to take place in Slavonski Brod (February 24), Chicago (March 8), New York (March 15) and Norval / Ontario (March 22) in the same year .

literature

Martyrdom Croatiae . Staderini, Rome 1946, p. 13-14 .
Ivo Omrčanin: Croatian priests murdered by Chetniks and communists . Munich 1959, p. 28 f., 39 f. u. 41 .
Jozo Tomaševic-Koška: Istina o ubijenoj gimnaziji [The truth about the murdered high school] . Vlastita naklada, Zagreb 1997, ISBN 978-953-6853-47-2 .
Muzej Široki Brijeg - Franjevačka galerija (ed.): Imenik boli i ponosa: Žrtve drugog svjetskog rata župe Široki Brijeg i domovinskog rata općine Široki Brijeg [Directory of Pain and Pride of the Second World War and Homeland of the Parish of Široki Brijegiregir Široki Brijeg] . AS-TISAK, Široki Brijeg 1999, ŠIROKI BRIJEG: FRANJEVAČKI SAMOSTAN, p. 70-72 .
Blanka Matković: Zločini postrojba VIII. Dalmatinskoga korpusa NOVJ-a u Hercegovini početkom 1945. godine . In: HUM: Hum: časopis Filozofskog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Mostaru . No. 7 . Zagreb November 9, 2011, p. 288-331 ( srce.hr ).

Web links

Individual evidence

^ Mitja Velikonja: Religious Separation and Political Intolerance in Bosnia-Herzegovina . 1st edition. Texas A&M University Press, 2003, pp. 140 . [1]
^ Edmond Paris: Genocide in satellite Croatia, 1941-1945: a record of racial and religious persecutions and massacres . American Institute for Balkan Affairs, 1961, p. 113 .
↑ Vjekoslav Vrančić: Postrojenje i Brojčano Stanje Hrvatskih Oružanih Snaga u Godinama 1941–1945 , in: Godišnjak hrvatsko domobrana 1953 , Buenos Aires 1953, Vojnoistorijski institute: Zbornik dokumenata i podataka narodenskih , Tomila podataka 9, narodnoos.223; IV / 31, p.16.
^ Sabrina Petra Ramet: The Three Yugoslavias: State-Building And Legitimation, 1918-2005. Indiana University Press, Bloomington 2006, p. 123.
↑ Tito: Sabrana djela (Collected Works). Vol. 29 Belgrade 1989, p. 127.
↑ Jozo Tomaševic-Koška: Istina o ubijenoj gimnaziji (The truth about the murdered high school). Vlastita naklada, Zagreb 1997, pp. 177-194.
^ Paul Hockenos: Homeland Calling: Exile Patriotism & the Balkan Wars. Cornell University Press, Ithaca 2003, pp. 33 f.
↑ Jozo Tomaševic-Koška: Istina o ubijenoj gimnaziji (The truth about the murdered high school). Vlastita naklada, Zagreb 1997, pp. 177-194
↑ Enver Redzic: Bosna i Hercegovina u drugom svjetskom ratu (Bosnia-Herzegovina in World War II). ANUBiH u. Grafičko-izdavačka kuća OKO, Sarajevo 1998, pp. 182-183.
^ Report by Gestapo agent Pö (pseud.) Of August 21, 1944. Hrvatski državni arhiv, Zagreb (HDA) [Croatian State Archives], Ministarstvo unutarnjih poslova Republike Hrvatske [Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia], Helm [archive of the police attaché Hans Helm; translated into Serbian for operational purposes of the State Security of Yugoslavia], XIII, p. 66, box 122. In: Frano Glavina: Nadbiskup Stepinac i nacionalsocijalizam u svjetlu izvješića Gestapoa [Archbishop Stepinac and National Socialism in the light of the Gestapo investigations] . In: CROATICA CHRISTIANA PERIODICA (CCP), časopis Instituta za crkvenu povijest Katoličkog bogoslovnog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu . tape 21 , no. 40 , p. 94 ( online [accessed March 18, 2013]).