World War II Serbian Victims Remembrance Day Date in the current year: October 21, 2024

During World War II, Germany occupied Yugoslavia in just 11 days and divided it into 10 parts. After the occupation, Serbia was organized as a separate territory controlled by the German Military Administration. Ethnic Serbs in occupied Yugoslavia were subjected to extermination, expulsion and forced religious conversion. Between 300,000 to 500,000 Serbs fell victim to genocide during the war.

One of the saddest pages in the history of Serbia during World War II was the Kragujevac massacre. In October 1941, 10 German soldiers were killed and 26 were wounded in a confrontation with Serbian partisans near Kragujevac. As a retribution, the Germans killed over 2,700 civilians, including local high school students (100 executions for every German soldier killed and 50 executions for every soldier wounded).

National WWII Victims Remembrance Day in Serbia marks the anniversary of the Kragujevac massacre. It is not a non-working holiday. On October 21, solemn remembrance ceremonies are held throughout the country. The main one takes place at Šumarice Memorial Park near Kragujevac.