BISHOP SERGIJE: THE MARTYRS OF GARAVICE WERE KILLED FOR THEIR FAITH

BIHAĆ, JULY 27 /SRNA/ - His Grace Bishop Sergije of Bihać and Petrovac stated that thousands upon thousands of Serbs were brutally murdered 84 years ago in the area of Garavice, Bihać, and Cazin simply because they stood in the way of those seeking to create an ethnically pure state, and that the consequences of these crimes remain visible today, as many Serb villages have never recovered.

Delivering a homily after the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Bihać, on the feast day of the Holy Martyrs of Garavice and the Bihać–Cazin region, Bishop Sergije emphasized that this day is special, unique, and unprecedented, as these martyrs are being commemorated in prayer for the very first time.

He stressed that the biological and spiritual descendants of these martyrs have not forgotten their suffering in 1941, when neighbors and former friends, aided by Ustaša ideologues from other parts of the country, took them from their homes and fields, and killed them in cold blood.

"They were killed without guilt, entirely innocent, so that the region of Pounje, and the entire territory of the quisling NDH, could be ethnically cleansed of Orthodox Serbs," Bishop Sergije said.

He pointed out that there was not a single Serb household or Orthodox family in the area that was not shrouded in mourning during that bloody summer of 1941.

"Unhealed wounds, without acknowledgment of guilt and without forgiveness, led to new conflicts, from which we have yet to emerge," Bishop Sergije said.

At its May session, the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, acting on the proposal of Bishop Sergije, canonized the Holy Martyrs of Garavice and Bihać who perished in 1941 in Garavice and the wider Bihać–Cazin region. It was decided that their feast day will be observed annually on July 27.

Between July 28 and August 4, 1941, Ustaša forces killed 12,000 Serbs in the village of Garavice near Bihać, including a large number of children.

According to British sources, a total of 14,500 civilians were killed at Garavice over a period of three months, making it the second-largest massacre site in BiH during World War II.