Remembering Kragujevac: Serbia marks one of WWII's darkest chapters

On October 21, 1941, in the central Serbian town of Kragujevac, the German army executed more than 2,800 civilians in one of the most brutal reprisals of World War II. Among the dead were 300 children, lined up and shot in retaliation for losses the Wehrmacht had suffered in battles against Serbian resistance fighters.

The massacre inspired some of the most poignant works of Serbian literature. Poet Desanka Maksimovic wrote her famous A Bloody Fairytale only days after the killings, immortalising the school children who perished together.

'I saw people falling'

Even though more than eight decades have passed, survivors remain to tell the story. Leon Lukman was only 10 years old when he witnessed the horror. 

"We, the children, played close by, and we heard gunshots. I looked up, and I saw people falling. I thought it was an exercise. But then I realised it was a killing. To this day, I still have dreams about that," he recalled.

Lukman's school was among the targets. The day before the massacre, German soldiers entered classrooms and selected teachers and pupils for execution. Sixteen teachers and 60 children were killed. One teacher’s final cry, "Shoot! I am still teaching," remains etched into Serbian memory.

The Nazi retaliation policy was systematic and ruthless. 

"For every killed German soldier, 100 Serbs were to be shot, and for every wounded—50," explained Nenad Đorđevic of the Kragujevac Memorial Park. 

A stark monument

By German records, at least 40,000 civilians across occupied Serbia were executed by the German regular army under this rule.

Today, a stark monument in Kragujevac, shaped like a bird with broken wings, commemorates the murdered children. Nearby, a museum preserves handwritten farewells from victims, including a 17-year-old boy's final note to his parents.

On exactly the same day, three years after the massacre, the city was liberated by Soviet Red Army units and Serbian partisans. Belgrade, the capital, was freed around the same time after days of fierce combat.

At Belgrade's Kalemegdan Fortress, where the Sava and Danube rivers meet, the military museum displays artefacts from the liberation battles. Historian Marijana Jovelic recalls that German strongholds resisted fiercely until October 20, when a general assault finally broke their defenses.

The Soviets banned the use of heavy artillery to spare the city's historic center, a decision that cost many soldiers their lives. Witnesses remembered troops frustrated at not being able to use cannons to destroy German bunkers. Instead, they shielded Belgrade's heritage with their own bodies.

Today, both Kragujevac and Belgrade stand as thriving cities. Yet, their people continue to honor the sacrifices that secured their survival, ensuring the memory of the massacres and liberations lives on through generations.