Battle of Zelengora! Serbs Correct Injustice Towards Forgotten Victims – Mothers Kept the Truth
Metropolitan Hrizostom of Dabar and Bosnia consecrated the land on Mount Zelengora in Republika Srpska where a church of Saint Elijah will be built. The future church with a crypt is conceived as a memorial church worthy of remembrance for thousands of fallen soldiers of the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland, as well as civilians killed in that area at the end of World War II.
The wider area of Zelengora, from the Neretva River to the Drina, is one of the largest unmarked killing fields and mass graves in the Balkans.
In official history and public records, there is no unified and final list of all those killed on Zelengora in May 1945. The reason lies in the fact that the executions were carried out en masse, without trial, and bodies were thrown into unmarked pits and sinkholes.
Communist authorities forbade research on this topic for decades. However, thanks to the work of individual historians, local associations, and survivors, a significant portion of the victims' names has been discovered and documented.
Learned about the crimes from his mother
The initiative to build the church was launched by Dušan Magazin, on behalf of the "Hercegovac" Association from Chicago, who was himself exchanged at Zelengora after being held in a camp during the last war.
"I heard about the terrible crime at Zelengora from my late mother. When I came to Chicago in 1997, at the Church of Stefan Dečanski I found a book describing details of those killed in the vicinity of Zelengora, in the Neretva canyon; there I found information about the events that took place in May and June 1945, which I had earlier heard from my mother."
Battle of Zelengora
In this area, in mid-May 1945, after the official end of World War II in Europe, the main force of the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland (JVuO) under the command of General Dragoljub Draža Mihailović was completely destroyed.
In the spring of 1945, JVuO forces retreated through Bosnia with the intention of breaking back into Serbia via Zelengora, the Drina, and Sandžak. The Yugoslav Army, partisan units, and the KNOJ corps formed an encirclement around Kalinovik and Zelengora to cut off and destroy these forces. The main clash, the Battle of Zelengora, took place on May 12 and 13, 1945, in the area of the Sutjeska River, Ljubin Grob, and Vrbničke Kolibe.
"The idea to build a church at the site of suffering came to me during a family visit to this place, which today is a picnic area, where activities take place that are not appropriate for a place of suffering. Construction of weekend houses near the nearby lake has also begun. I realized that this area must also have a place of remembrance," says Magazin.
He organized the first fundraising evening in Chicago in November 2024. The money was used for site preparation and the architectural project.
The construction of the memorial church of Saint Elijah was also supported by the municipality of Kalinovik, which contributed funds for the purchase of 1,250 square meters of land, already registered to the Serbian Orthodox Church; the complex will be located on a much larger area.
It is important that the victims rest in peace
Last year, on Ilinden, the consecration was halted due to, as our interlocutor says, the intrusion of politics into this action, about which Magazin does not wish to speak in detail:
"It is about events that still divide us today, but I believe opinions about the activities of the Ravnogorski Movement in this project are less important. Evil happened, it did happen. Soldiers died, but innocent people who simply found themselves in the path of those who committed the crime also ended up in those pits. A large number of young people died, most of them not even armed. Let historians deal with that further; the Association and the Construction Board will do their work. It is important that the dead rest in peace."
During the consecration of the land, a cross was also planted at the site of the future altar. Magazin says that, according to the proposal of Bishop Hrizostom, construction of the church, i.e., the foundation, will begin in September.
