Branko Dobrosavljević


Branko Dobrosavljević was a Serbian Orthodox priest who fell victim to Ustaše during the Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia at the height of World War II.

Biography

Branko Dobrosavljević was born in the village of Skadar, near Vojnić on 4 January 1886. He completed his high school education as well as the School of Theology at the Seminary in Sremski Karlovci in 1908. He married before he was ordained deacon on 15 March and elevated to presbyter on 22 March 1909. He performed his duties in the villages of Buhača, Radovica and Veljun. Branko received the Order of Saint Sava and Order of the Yugoslav Crown of the Fifth Degree for his services to his people. On the Feast of St. George, 6 May 1942, the very day of his own Slava Branko was arrested by the Ustaše, headed by Ivan Sajfor from Veljun.
More than 500 Serbs were arrested that day and brought to Otočac, among them was parish priest of Cvijanović Brdo Dimitrije Škorupan and Branko Dobrosavljević's own son Nebojša. At first, they were imprisoned in a police station in Veljun, and next day they were taken away and killed in the woods called "Kestenovac", near Blagaj. The Ustaše forced priest Branko to perform the service for the repose of the soul of the dead to his own son Branko, who was alive at the time.
In 1946 priest Branko's martyr relics and the remains of the other killed Serbs were transported to a common grave in Veljun. At the regular session of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, priest Branko Dobrosavljević was canonized and his name was entered into the List of Names of the Serbian Church Saints.
He is celebrated on April 24.