All male Jews in the Yugoslavian town of Kragujevac, between the ages of fifteen and fifty, were among the thousands of male residents of the city executed by the Nazis last October, in reprisal for the ambushing, by a band of Chetnik guerrillas, of a Nazi detachment, during which ten German soldiers were killed, it was learned today by the Yugoslav government here.
The German troops surrounded Kragujevac on October 20 and rounded up every man or youth they could get their hands on, including all Jews who were still left in the town. The prisoners were confined in the barracks at Topovske Supe until the next morning when they were marched several miles from the barracks, in groups of forty, and mowed down by machine guns.
The massacre continued until mid-afternoon when the non-commissioned officer in charge of the executions informed Commandant Zimmerman that 2,300 had been executed. This was the number that had been previously fixed upon to avenge the ten dead Germans and twenty-six who had been wounded. Zimmerman, however, ordered the executions to continue. It is estimated that anywhere from 3,500 to 6,000 were murdered. For three days afterwards, 600 prisoners who had been spared were assigned to burying the dead.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
