Daksa executions (1944)


The Daksa massacre, also called the Daksa executions, refers to the summary execution of 53 men, accused of collaboration, by Yugoslav Partisans on 24–25 October 1944 during World War II on the Croatian island of Daksa, near Dubrovnik.
After the Partisans entered Dubrovnik on 18 October 1944, they arrested more than 300 citizens. 53 were executed on Daksa without trial. Exhumation and DNA analysis have confirmed the identities of 18 of these, while 35 remain unknown. The Partisans later published and distributed flyers through Dubrovnik with the words: "In the name of peoples of Yugoslavia" and "Judicial Council of the Court Martial of the Command of South Dalmatian region". The flyers contained the names of 35 people killed on that date.
On 19 June 2010, the remains of the executed men were re-interred. The victims included a Catholic priest, Father Petar Perica, and Niko Koprivica, Dubrovnik's mayor. No one was ever tried for the executions.

Victims of the Massacre

The list of people killed on Daksa during the massacre:
  1. Tomislav Baća
  2. Petar Barbir, typographer
  3. Slavko Barbir, student
  4. Boris Berković, journalist
  5. Marijan Blažić, prof.
  6. Ante Brešković, merchant
  7. Baldo Crnjak, craftsman
  8. don Mato Dobud
  9. Milan Goszl, merchant
  10. don Mato Kalafatović-Milić
  11. dr. Niko Koprivica, mayor of Dubrovnik, lawyer and champion of the Croatian Peasant Party
  12. don Đuro Krečak
  13. Ivo Knežević, farmer
  14. Ivan Kubeš, clerk
  15. Jure Matić, postman
  16. Željko Milić, captain of a long voyage
  17. Makso Milošević, prof., Director of the Dubrovnik Gymnasium,
  18. Antun Mostarcic, prof.
  19. Ivan Nikić, clerk
  20. Niko Nunić, B.Sc. Lawyer, Secretary of the Municipality of Dubrovnik
  21. Nikola Obradović, farmer
  22. Ivo Peko, director of the Dubrovnik Roundabout and journalist
  23. Petar Perica
  24. Dr. Baldo Poković, lawyer
  25. Mato Račević, school janitor
  26. Vido Regjo
  27. Don Josip Schmidt
  28. Nedjeljko Dinko Šarić, tax officer
  29. Ante Tasovac, police scout
  30. Toma Tomasic, prof.
  31. Martin Tomić
  32. Josip Tuta, student
  33. Frano Vojvodić, president of the mixed Croatian choir Gundulić in Dubrovnik,
  34. Marijan Vokić, driver
  35. Frano Žiška, retired officer
  36. Dr. Ivo Karlović, Mayor of Dubrovnik