Shushnjara massacre: 85th anniversary commemorated in Republika Srpska

On 2 August 2026, the 85th anniversary of the 1941 massacre at Šušnjara near Sanski Most was marked with a memorial ceremony. During four days in August 1941, Ustaše forces killed more than 5 500 Serbs and about 50 Jews, burying many in mass graves that were later exhumed, with 69 bodies recovered after the area was taken by the Bosnian Army.

Officials from Republika Srpska, including Minister of Internal Affairs Željko Budimir, Minister of Labor Radan Ostojić, and director Victor Nuzdic of the War Crimes Research Centre, lit candles, laid wreaths and called for the genocide to be recognised internationally. They stressed that the crimes must never be forgotten and warned against any repeat of such atrocities. The ceremony highlighted the lasting impact of the wartime violence on the local Serbian community and urged broader acknowledgment of the events as genocide.