COMMEMORATING HOLY MARTYRS OF PIVA, VICTIMS OF NAZI ATROCITY

PIVA, JUNE 7 /SRNA/ – The Serbian Orthodox Church is today commemorating the Holy Martyrs of Piva, victims of a Nazi atrocity in the Piva region, where, from June 6 to June 12, 1943, the Nazi Division Prinz Eugen, together with Muslim members of the SS Handschar, killed 1,290 residents of Piva, including 549 children and young people under the age of 20.

According to a post on the Facebook page of Jasenovac Monastery, 522 civilians were killed in the village of Doli on June 7 alone, including 109 children younger than 15. The Blagojević brotherhood lost 220 members on that day. A day earlier, in Gojkovića Do above Plužine, 46 local residents were locked in a hut and burned alive. As the largest site of suffering in the area, Doli has become the central place of remembrance for all the new martyrs of Piva. In 2017, the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church canonized all victims of the atrocities in Piva, and June 7 was designated as their day. On July 30, 2022, the Parliament of Montenegro adopted the Resolution on Genocide in Piva and Velika, formally recognizing these atrocities. The resolution condemned crimes committed by Nazi-fascist forces and their local collaborators.