1941: Sixteen Yugoslav partisans and one German soldier
7 comments August 20th, 2011 Headsman
On this date in 1941, this happened.
These sixteen blindfolded Yugoslav Partisans about to be shot at Smederevska Palanka were joined in death by one conscientious German soldier who refused to help carry out the massacre. (Or not. See comments.)
The Partisans were Tito’s Communist guerrilla movement against the Nazi occupation and while they were up against it at this early date, they would in due time wind up on the winning side and help birth the postwar government.
Their legacy remains in every European sports page as the namesake of the Belgrade sports association Partizan founded immediately after the war. It’s the umbrella entity for the frequent Serbian football and basketball champions as well as a variety of other sports. (Current world tennis no. 1 Novak Djokovic played for Partizan, for instance.)
On this day..
- 2005: Abdul Islam Siddiqui - 2020
- 1537: Baccio Valori, Michelangelo patron - 2019
- 984: Pope John XIV - 2018
- 1962: LeRoy McGahuey, the last involuntary execution in Oregon - 2017
- 1983: 26 in Tehran - 2016
- 1946: Vojtech Tuka, Slovakian Prime Minister - 2015
- 1897: Michele Angiolillo, assassin of Canovas - 2014
- 1941: Alexander Svanidze, Stalin's brother-in-law - 2013
- 1612: The Pendle Witches - 2012
- 1672: Cornelis and Johan de Witt lynched - 2010
- 1799: Eleonora Fonseca Pimentel, Neapolitan Jacobin - 2009
- 1191: Muslim prisoners at Acre - 2008
Entry Filed under: 20th Century,Capital Punishment,Death Penalty,Execution,Germany,Guerrillas,History,Known But To God,Martyrs,Mass Executions,No Formal Charge,Occupation and Colonialism,Power,Public Executions,Serbia,Shot,Soldiers,Summary Executions,Wartime Executions,Yugoslavia
Tags: 1940s, 1941, august 20, partisans, partizan, smederevska palanka, world war ii
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