Memorial Museum '21st October'

Top choice in Serbia


Šumarice Memorial Park is home to a sombre museum that tells the harrowing story of the 1941 massacre of around 3000 Kragujevac civilians during the German occupation of Serbia. A 7km circular road leads through the 352-hectare park, past the locations of 30 mass graves and 10 memorials. A gallery of paintings by renowned Yugoslav artist Petar Lubarda is part of the permanent exhibition, as are the personal effects and heartbreaking farewell messages of those who were executed.

There are audio guides in five languages; the exhibition includes English translations.

One of the classrooms of the Kragujevac grammar school, from where the Nazis led about 300 students and teachers to their execution, is today also a memorial room. Each year on 21 October, a commemorative event called 'Veliki školski čas' (meaning 'the great school class') is held in the park, next to the Monument to Executed Students and Teachers.