Professional paper
The victimology of Germans from Slavonski Brod and the surrounding Sava Valley in World War II and the postwar period
Vladimir Geiger
Abstract
Based on data quoted in German historiography / historiography of the Danube Swabians, as well as Yugoslav and Croatian historiography, historical publicist writing, press and archive materials, and especially based on individual name lists/victimologies, this paper presents numerical and nominal indicators of the casualties and victims, i.e. the killed, murdered, dead and missing German soldiers and civilians from Slavonski Brod and the surrounding Sava Valley in World War II and the postwar period. According to nominal indicators for Slavonski Brod and 21 settlements in the surrounding Sava Valley that have been ascertained so far, at least 106 Germans lost their lives during World War II and the postwar period. Primarily during World War II, but also during the postwar period, somewhat less than two thirds of the casualties (mainly men, but also women) perished (were killed and murdered, died, went missing) as members of military and/or paramilitary troops. The remaining persons specified (men, women and children) perished (were killed and murdered, died, went missing) as civilians during World War II and the postwar period. Approximately 15 civilians out of this number perished (died or were killed) during the postwar period, in 1945 and 1946 (mainly in camps). The paper is an attempt of an integral review of actual casualties among the Germans in Slavonski Brod and the surrounding Sava Valley in World War II and the postwar period, accompanied by a revision of data found in German and Croatian editions and papers which bring name lists of casualties in Slavonski Brod and the surrounding Sava Valley that are often incomplete and/or inconsistent.
Keywords
World War II and the postwar period, human casualties; German minority; Slavonski Brod; surrounding Sava Valley (Brodsko Posavlje)
Hrčak ID:
44419
URI
Publication date:
1.10.2008.
Visits: 2.039 *