Prebilovci

Prebilovci (Serbian Cyrillic: Пребиловци), a village in Herzegovina, near the city of Čapljina (Чапљина). Was first mentioned in the 15th century. Has a population of roughly around 50 inhabitants.

Prebilovci is located in the Čapljina municipality which makes up one of the nine municipalities in the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton. The village is also located near the Nature Park and Bird Reserve of Hutovo Blato (5km from Čapljina). Since 1995, Hutovo Blato has been protected as a Nature Park by the Public Enterprise Hutovo Blato.

History

The name of the village, Prebilovci, first emerged sometime around the 15th century and is believed to have come from the old family of Pribilovic. Today the name Pribilovci is also more frequenty used for the village. In the Serb Ortodox cemetary and on other locations also, there are many beautifully carbed out stone graves that probably belonged to old bogomils who lived in the Middle Ages.^[1]

Before the outbreak of the Second World War In Yugoslavia, the village was made up of Serbs and a few Muslim families as well, who had converted to Islam a few centuries earlier, and life changed for the best under the Turkish occupants. The present population is primary made up of Serbs, ever since the war drew to a close, when the Muslims left their homes or were expelled because of the ethnic tensions. The people acted in revenges for atrocities committed against their women and children. Few villages in Herzegovina have vitnessed these kinds of horrors during the world war two persecution and genocide of Serbs.

WWII and persecution

During the Second World War the inhabitants of Prebilovci fell victim to the Ustaša's persecution of non-Croats. In august of 1941, some 650 women and children were taken away from their homes, after which they were moved to a place called Surmanci where they were later thrown into natural pits (the most infamous being Golubinka) around that area — either dead or half dead according to accounts — together with another 3,000 other Serbs living in the Čapljina and Mostar municipalities. The men were in the mountains, hiding, in belief that the Croats would not harm their women and children.^[2]

Althrough, a group of 170 villagers, which primarily consisted of men, survived the massacre. 300 children and infants were massacred that day alone. Few Ustašas who took part in this were ever brought to trial after the War In Yugoslavia had ended.^[3] This incident was also the topic in a documentary before the war in Bosnia had erupted.

The Virgin Mary is also said to have appeared to a couple of Croatian teenagers near Surmanci in the early 80s. The location is today a large Roman Catholic pilgrimage site and the second largest Virgin Mary destination in the world, where people come from all corners of the continents to pay their homage. The massacre of Serbs there is really the town's dirty little secret that's untold — at least threw the Serbian point of view, since many people who come there have never heard about it.^[4]

Bosnian Civil War

In August of 1991, after half a century of silence under the reign of Communism and Tito, the bodies of those who had been massarcred could be extracted and given a proper Orthodox Christian burial and finaly laid to rest; only to fall victims to apoling atrocities once again. In 1992, their remains were shattered and laid to ruins by hundreads of kilograms of bombs placed there by the Croatian army (HVO), accompeneid with other Muslim forces, led under the comand of general Janko Bobetko during operation Čagalj, along with the entire village.^[5] All that remained after this tragedy were some fragments of bones left over. One house survived the war, since it was used by a Croatian squad as shelter. A monument was also built to commemorate those who had been massacred; it was later destroyed by Croats in the Bosnian Civil War as well. No one has yet been prosecuted for these crimes committed in the village of Prebilovci and against the 174 Serbs living there according to the 1991 year census.

Present day

Picture gallery

External links

References

^ Gelcich, Mon. Rag., Libri Ref. IV, 172
^ Copley, Gregory. Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy. Volume XX, Number 12, December 31, 1992. - Template:En icon
^ Prof. Dr. Vojinovic, Nikola. Srpske Jame u Prebilovcima. Genocid hrvatskih kleroustasa nad Srbima u Hercegovini (1991).
^ Martinez, James. Account of massacre and alledged Virgin Mary appearance. - Template:En icon
^ Glas Javnosti (newspaper in Belgrade). About the Bosnian Civil War. - Template:Sr icon

43°05′40″N 17°45′12″E / 43.09444°N 17.75333°E / 43.09444; 17.75333

[1] Gelcich, Mon. Rag., Libri Ref. IV, 172

[2] Copley, Gregory. Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy. Volume XX, Number 12, December 31, 1992. - Template:En icon

[3] Prof. Dr. Vojinovic, Nikola. Srpske Jame u Prebilovcima. Genocid hrvatskih kleroustasa nad Srbima u Hercegovini (1991).

[4] Martinez, James. Account of massacre and alledged Virgin Mary appearance. - Template:En icon

[5] Glas Javnosti (newspaper in Belgrade). About the Bosnian Civil War. - Template:Sr icon

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