81st ANNIVERSARY OF CRIME IN VELIKA

PODGORICA, JULY 28 /SRNA/ - The 81st anniversary of the massacre committed by Nazi forces and members of the SS Skenderbeg Division on July 28, 1944, in the village of Velika, in the Plav municipality, where more than 500 civilians, including over 100 children, were killed, is being marked today in Montenegro.

The Velika massacre took place near the end of World War II, at a time when it was already clear who the victors would be, not only in occupied Yugoslavia, but across the world. The criminal raid took place after Partisan units had achieved significant military successes and inflicted heavy losses on German troops and their local collaborators, including the SS Skenderbeg Division. On July 28, those who perished were mostly residents of Velika, who did not retreat, given the dynamics of the war. Testimonies from survivors speak of the most brutal killings and atrocities, of heartbreaking scenes and incomprehensible outbursts of hatred by the perpetrators toward the civilian population they found there. In 2022, the Parliament of Montenegro adopted a Resolution on the Genocide in Velika.