Trubar massacre

{{Short description|Civilian massacre committed by Chetniks on 27 July 1941}}

{{Infobox civilian attack

| title = Trubar massacre

| partof = World War II in Yugoslavia

| image =

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption =

| map =

{{Location map+| Lika N Dalmatia W Bosnia | width=350| float=center

| caption=Locations of massacres in summer 1941

| overlay_image =

| places =

{{Location map~|Lika N Dalmatia W Bosnia| label=Bosansko Grahovo | lat=44.177 | long=16.390 | label_size=75 | marksize=6| position=right}}

{{Location map~|Lika N Dalmatia W Bosnia| label=Trubar | lat=44.338 | long=16.268 | label_size=75 | marksize=6| position=right}}

{{Location map~|Lika N Dalmatia W Bosnia| label=Krnjeuša | lat=44.687 | long=16.226 | label_size=75 | marksize=6| position=right}}

{{Location map~|Lika N Dalmatia W Bosnia| label=Brotnja | lat=44.444 | long=16.112 | label_size=75 | marksize=6| position=left}}

}}

| map_size =

| map_alt =

| map_caption =

| location = Trubar, Drvar, Independent State of Croatia (modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina)

| target = Croatian civilians

| coordinates =

| date = {{start date|1941|07|27}}

| type = war crime, mass killing

| fatalities = 200{{sfn|Dizdar|Sobolevski|1999|p=115}}-300+

| injuries =

| victim = Waldemar Maximilian Nestor

| perpetrators= Serb rebels (either Chetniks or Yugoslav Partisans)

| motive =

}}

A massacre of Croat civilians was committed by local Serb rebels on 27 July 1941 in village Trubar in Drvar municipality Independent State of Croatia (modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina).{{cite book |last1=Dizdar |first1=Zdravko |first2=Mihajlo |last2=Sobolevski |title=Prešućivani četnički zločini u Hrvatskoj i Bosni i Hercegovini: 1941-1945 |location=Zagreb |publisher=Hrvatski institut za povijest |isbn=9789536491285 |date=1999}} It was one of a number of massacres in the southwestern Bosnian Krajina during the Drvar uprising and Eastern Lika.

Background

On 27 July 1941, a Yugoslav Partisan-led uprising began in the area of Drvar and Bosansko Grahovo.{{cite book |last1=Tomasevich |first1=Jozo |title=War and Revolution in Yugoslavia: 1941 - 1945 |date=2002 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-79241 |page=506 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fqUSGevFe5MC&pg=PA506}} It was a coordinated effort from both sides of the Una River in the territory of southeastern Lika and southwestern Bosanska.{{cite book |last1=Goldstein |first1=Slavko |title=1941: The Year That Keeps Returning |date=2013 |publisher=New York Review of Books |isbn=978-1-59017-700-6 |page=158 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPCrbVJNvWUC&pg=PA158}} It succeeded in transferring key NDH territory under rebel control.

Incident

Parishioners of the Catholic parish in Drvar went on a pilgrimage near Knin on 26 July 1941. The massacre occurred in village of Trubar, 18 km from Drvar, where local Serb rebels (either Chetnik or Yugoslav Partisan) stopped a train at Vaganj station, separating and killing the pilgrims who were returning from Knin on 27 July. Murdered pilgrims, among whom was a German Roman Catholic priest, Waldemar Maximilian Nestor, were thrown into the pit of Golubnjača. Shortly afterwards massacres occurred in surrounding villages.{{cite web|last1=Čutura|first1=Vlado|title=Rađa se novi život na mučeničkoj krvi|url=http://www.glas-koncila.hr/index.php?option=com_php&Itemid=41&news_ID=22942|website=Glas Koncila|access-date=30 December 2015}}{{cite web|last1=Vukšić|first1=Tomo|title="Dan ustanka" - ubojstvo župnika iz Drvara i Bosanskog Grahova|url=http://www.katolicki-tjednik.com/vijest.asp?n_UID=1598|website=Katolički tjednik|access-date=30 December 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310123301/http://www.katolicki-tjednik.com/vijest.asp?n_UID=1598|archive-date=10 March 2016}} Some sources cite over 300 fatalities, yet many of the bodies that were thrown into deep caves, have yet to be fully exhumed.{{Cite web|url=https://www.hercegovina.info/vijesti/bih/27-srpnja-1941-srpski-ustanici-izvrsili-strasan-pokolj-hrvata-u-drvaru-i-grahovu-94701/94701/|title=27. srpnja 1941. – srpski ustanici izvršili strašan pokolj Hrvata u Drvaru i Grahovu|website=www.hercegovina.info}}

One of the witnesses of the massacre was a Partisan, Stevo Babić, who wrote that a group of rebels {{clarify|date=September 2016}} had executed train passengers at Golubnjača.{{cite book|last1=Babić|first1=Stevo|title=Drvar 1941-1945 – Sjećanje učesnika, II. sv|date=1972|location=Drvar|pages=207–208}} According to Croatian scholar Blanka Matković, the Yugoslav Partisans were responsible for the massacre.{{unreliable source|date=December 2022}}

Exhumation

The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced in November 2015 that exhumations of bodies from the pit of Golubnjača were carried out and that these are the bodies of pilgrims killed in July 1941. Bodies were buried in priests' tomb in Banja Luka. Franjo Komarica, Bishop of Banja Luka, requested from the Office an investigation of the crime.{{cite web|title=Drvar: Ekshumirani ostaci ubijenog župnika Waldemara Maksimilijana Nestora|url=http://www.hrsvijet.net/index.php/vijesti/24-herceg-bosna/34592-drvar-ekshumirani-ostaci-ubijenog-zupnika-waldemara-maksimilijana-nestora|website=hrsvijet.net|access-date=30 December 2015}}{{cite web|title=Nakon 73 godine sahrana drvarskog župnika|url=http://www.republikainfo.com/index.php/izdvojeno/15781-banja-luka-nakon-73-godine-sahrana-drvarskog-zupnika|website=republikainfo.com|access-date=30 December 2015}}