Report on the Murder of 800 Civilians near Petrinja
Tersely-worded request by General Edmund Glaise von Horstenau, the German plenipotentiary general in Zagreb, for an explanation regarding reports of a massacre by the Ustase of 800 "men, women and children" near Petrinja. Glaise set up his own intelligence network throughout the NDH, sidestepping Ustase security chief Eugen-Dido Kvaternik, a man Glaise characterized as "the pathological son of the pathological Field Marshal," Slavko Kvaternik.

 

German General in Zagreb

Zagreb, 3.12.1941

TO THE CROATIAN MINISTRY OF DEFENSE
Z a g r e b

 

According to reports I received from several sources on 19.11 [November 19], in a single action of retaliation and cleansing in the area southwest of Petrinja, 800 men, women and children were murdered, several villages were burnt down and a lot of cattle were transported to Zagreb.

Since that area is in German occupation zone, and since these sorts of actions as a rule usually result in the expansion of rebel movement, I request, out of the responsibility I have for German occupation troops, for an urgent and detailed report about these events.

 

German General in Zagreb
Glaise
Major-General

 

Document number 4481.

 

:: filing information ::
Title: Report on the Murder of 800 Civilians near Petrinja
Source: Archive of the NDH. Translated by Sinisa Djuric.
Date: December 3, 1941 Added: May 24, 2003