Podravanje
This village lies within the Municipality of Srebrenica. It is ethnically homogenous, and one of the largest Serb villages in this region (413 residents of Serbian nationality), and had previously suffered greatly in both World Wars. From the beginning of the conflict, due to Muslim terror in this region, especially in the summer of 1992, Podravanje was constantly endangered by the Muslims of Srebrenica. For more than five months, strictly on their own capacities, the village was able to withstand such Muslim attacks. The most fierce assault was executed on September 24th, 1992, by the numerous and well armed units of the Army of BiH, recruited from these regions.
September, 1992, Oric planned an attack on the Serbian village of Podravanje which was on the road between Srebrenica and Zepa. Oric sought to drive out and ethnically cleanse the Serbs from the Srebrenica/Zepa area to clear the road between the two towns. Oric assembled troops with the commander of Zepa, Avdo Palic. Oric made use of torbari, or the bag people. These were “a horde of Muslim refugees, men and women, young and old.” Sudetic described them as follows: “Thousands strong, these people would lurk behind the first wave of attacking soldiers and run amok when the defenses around Serb villages collapsed. Some of the refugees used pistols to do the killing; others used knives, bats, and hatchets.”
In Podravanje, history was repeating itself. During World War I, Austrian and Bosnian Muslim troops had burned the Serbian village down. During World War II, Bosnian Muslim troops in the Ustasha formations had murdered 250 Bosnian Serbs and had also burned the village down a second time. Sudetic explained these genocidal attacks against Serbs in Podravanje as follows: “They had not forgotten that the Austrian army, which included many local Muslims, had burned their village in 1914 and that the Ustase, who also included many Muslims from neighboring villages, had killed over 250 Serbs and burned the place in 1942 and 1943.”
This is how Sudetic described the Bosnian Muslim attack on Podravanje: “At six o’clock in the morning on September 24, 1992, Muslim soldiers opened fire on Podravanje from three sides. The Serbs tried to defend the village but panicked and ran when they realized how grossly outnumbered they and how quickly the Muslims were coming at them. The Serb fighters left behind men and women who had been wounded and killed by Muslim gunfire. Then the torbari rushed in. Muslim men shot the wounded. They fired their guns into the bodies of the Serb dead. They plunged knives into their stomachs and chests. They smashed their heads with axes and clubs, and they burned the bodies inside buildings. Oric’s men grabbed half a dozen prisoners; one, a fighter from Serbia who had relatives in Podravanje, was beaten to death, and the others emerged bruised and battered when they were exchanged a month later. …The torbari plundered everything else.”
The 31 Serbs killed in Podrovanje had their throats slit, others were beheaded, burned, and some had their stomachs slit open.
Victims:
1.Vojin (Miloje) Jovanovic, born in 1923
2. Svetozar (Miloje) Jovanovic, born in 1933;
3. Rado (Obrad) Lazarevic, born in 1920;
4. Mileva (Vasilije) Petrovic, born in 1948;
5. Milomir (Marko) Petrovic, born in 1951;
6. Mihajlo (Jovo) Mitrovic, born in 1932;
7. Ruza Mitrovic, born in 1927;
8. Drago (Marko) Mitrovic, born in 1925;
9. Radovan (Andjelko) Marinkovic, born in 1938;
10. Milovan (Milos) Marinkovic, born in 1955;
11. Rade (Milos) Marinkovic, born in 1961;
12. Dikosava (Zarko) Marinkovic, born in 1938;
13. Milos (Drago) Marinkovic, born in 1935;
14. Miladin (Milisav) Perendic, born in 1924;
15. Tomislav (Savkan) Perendic, born in 1930;
16. Stanka (Blagoje) Perendic, born in 1935;
17. Spasenija (Bogdan) Perendic, born in 1932;
18. Mitar (Cvijetin) Sarac, born in 1963;
19. Dusan (Veselin) Sarac, born in 1964;
20. Mirjana (Obrad) Sarac, born in 1943;
21. Milan (Manojlo) Sarac, born in 1929;
22. Gojko (Marko) Tomic, born in 1941;
23. Mihajlo (Marko) Tomic, born in 1941;
24. Milijan (Milos) Vasic, born in 1951;
25. Milisav Vesic;
26. Slavisa (Radomir) Nikolic, born in 1960;
27. Dragan (Cedomir) Nikolic, born in 1960;
28. Nebojsa Pavlovic, born in 1971;
29. Rade (Mileta) Mudrinic, born in 1961;
30. Borisa (Ruza) Mitic, born in 1946;
31. Djuradj (Milan) Bogdanovic, born in 1960;
32. Dragutin (Mitar) Kukic, born in 1954.
Many of the above mentioned victims were butchered by the most atrocious methods: by decapitation, and getting other body parts cut off, by getting their skulls smashed with dull objects, by their stomachs getting cut open, or by getting their throats cut. Appalled by this monstrous crime, the Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church had made a special announcement, and His Holiness, Serbian Patriarch Pavle, held a Mass for the innocent martyrs. Many domestic and foreign television stations had broadcasted images of the massacred Serbs of this village.
http://www.serbianna.com/columns/savich/051.shtml