Oct 21, 1941 marks the kragujevac massacre. on this day, between 2,778 and 2,794 serbian boys and men were murdered by german nazis. the nazis practiced a 100:1 and 50:1 ratio which meant that for every nazi killed by a serb, 100 serbs were killed in retaliation and for ever nazi wounded by a serb, 50 serbs were killed in retaliation. serbian poet desanka maksimovic wrote about the massacre which was part of a wider genocide against serbs in the poem entitled "bloody fairytale" which we have provided below. on oct 21, 2025, we remember. God bless their souls.
A Bloody Fairytale
It was in a land of peasants
in the mountainous Balkans,
a company of schoolchildren
died a martyr’s death
in one day.
They were all born
in the same year
their school days passed the same
taken together
to the same festivities,
vaccinated against the same diseases,
and all died on the same day.
It was in a land of peasants
in the mountainous Balkans,
a company schoolchildren
died a martyr’s death
in one day.
And fifty-five minutes
before the moment of death
the company of small ones
sat at its desk
and the same difficult assignments
they solved: how far can a
traveler go if he is on foot…
and so on.
Their thoughts were full
of the same numbers
and throughout their notebooks in school bags
lay an infinite number
of senseless A’s and F’s.
A pile of the same dreams
and the same secrets
patriotic and romantic
they clenched in the depths of their pockets.
and it seemed to everyone
that they will run
for a long time beneath the blue arch
until all the assignments in the world
are completed.
It was in a land of peasants
in the mountainous Balkans,
a company of small ones
died a martyr’s death
in one day.
Whole rows of boys
took each other by the hand
and from their last class
went peacefully to slaughter
as if death was nothing.
Whole lines of friends
ascended at the same moment
to their eternal residence.
