The Kulen Vakuf massacre was committed during World War II by Communist-led Yugoslav Partisans and groups of non-communist Serb rebels (including Chetniks), killing 1,000 to 3,000 Ustaše prisoners as well as Muslim, and a smaller number of Croat (around 100 killed), civilians in early September 1941 in Kulen Vakuf, part of the Independent State of Croatia (present-day Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina). The local Ustaše had previously massacred Serbs in Kulen Vakuf and surrounding villages.
Background
Ethnic Serbs were targeted by the genocidal policies of the Ustaše-led Independent State of Croatia, a puppet state of Nazi Germany which was established after the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia. The massacre of Serbs by the local Ustaše, such as those in July and early August 1941 in villages around Kulen Vakuf, led to reprisals. The retaliation was brief and quickly repressed, unlike Ustaše war crimes (which were organized at the top of the Croatian government in Zagreb, which systematically and persistently pushed the local Ustaše to commit massacres. The description of the events as conflicts between local Chetniks and Ustaše, motivated by ethnic intolerance, has been called an oversimplification.
Ustaše massacre of Serbs
The Kulen Vakuf massacre was retaliation for earlier, equally-massive Ustaše massacres of local Serbs. There are more than 280 locations where Serbs in Bosnia were tortured and killed during the summer of 1941.
Serbs were massacred in the villages of Oraško Brdo, Prkosi, Veliki Stenjani, Rajnovac, Kalati, Bušević, Kestenovac, Bosanski Srbci and Malo Seoce, all near Kulen Vakuf. During an early massacre near Kulen Vakuf, the Ustaše killed 862 Serbs in one day and 950 Serbs were killed in the village; Miroslav Matijević, a Croat who owned a local restaurant, organized and participated in the massacre of Serbs on a hill near the church in Kulen Vakuf. The Ustaše set fire to an Orthodox church in the village after they had killed many Serbs in it. Vukosav Kulenvakufski, the Serb priest of a church in the village, was murdered by the Ustaše in June 1941 after they killed his family (including his two daughters-in-law and two grandsons) in front of him.
In early August 1941, all Serb civilians from the village of Kalati were massacred or imprisoned in Kulen Vakuf, leaving the village depopulated until Kulen Vakuf and its imprisoned civilians were liberated on 6 September 1941. By 30 August 1941, the Ustaše had killed nearly 200 Serb women and children in Kalati. The Kulen Vakuf massacre also involved the liquidation of the Muslim community. Some Muslim victims were Ustaše members who had massacred Serbs; others were killed because they were thought to be ethnically linked to the Ustaše.
Earlier retaliatory massacres
The Kulen Vakuf massacre was preceded by one in Krnjeuša, when rebels killed up to 240 Croat civilians on 9 August 1941. When rebels decided to attack the Ustaše stronghold of Boričevac, they knew that the village was predominantly inhabited by Croats. Rebel commanders were relieved that Boričevac's Croat civilians escaped rebels, furious at the massacre of the Serbian population of Lika, by fleeing to Kulen Vakuf; A rebel leader warned them by letter about the expected attack. After they captured Boričevac, the rebels discovered two mass graves of Serbian civilians nearby; some rebels recognized family members among the dead. Although they were ordered not to raze the village, the rebels set fire to its houses. Serb rebels later massacred 179 Croat civilians, primarily the aged, infirm, women and children in Boričevac.
Capture
The rebel forces were under the command of headquarters in Drvar. Communist forces consisted of the Freedom (, Слобода) Battalion, commanded by Stevan Pilipović-Maćuka and Đoko Jovanić; one detachment of communist forces from Lika was commanded by Stojan Matić, and Gojko Polovina was their political leader. Other communist detachments were commanded by Nikola Karanović and Pero Đilas, who later joined the Chetniks against the partisans. The communist forces were headquartered in Doljanski Bubanj. The rebel forces included non-communists who were known as Chetniks. Their commanders included Mane Rokvić, who later joined the Chetniks and became a well-known military officer.