The Holy New Martyrs of Jasenovac are a collective commemoration of the Orthodox Serbs — bishops, priests, monastics, and laypeople — who were killed at the Jasenovac concentration camp and in the surrounding region during the Second World War. The camp was established and operated by the Ustaše regime of the Independent State of Croatia and functioned from August 1941 until April 1945. Among its overwhelmingly Serbian victims were many who, according to Serbian Orthodox tradition, were put to death specifically for refusing to abandon their Orthodox faith.
Unlike a single named saint, this commemoration gathers a great number of victims under one feast. It is observed on August 31 (Julian calendar), corresponding to September 13 on the New Style calendar. The Jasenovac Monastery serves as a principal site for their veneration.
Timeline 4 moments
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August 1941The Jasenovac camp opensThe Ustaše regime of the Independent State of Croatia established the Jasenovac concentration camp, which began operating on 21 August 1941. Serbs formed the largest group of its victims, many brought there in connection with refusing forced conversion to Roman Catholicism.
1941–1945Mass killing of Orthodox SerbsOver the course of the camp's operation, tens of thousands of Serbs were killed alongside Roma, Jews, and political prisoners. Killings were frequently carried out by hand with knives, axes, and hammers. Among the dead were clergy, monastics, and lay faithful later commemorated as the New Martyrs.
1980First memorialized in the diasporaThe martyrs of Jasenovac were first entered into church calendars by the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of the USA and Canada, and were subsequently published in calendars printed by the Diocese of America and Canada from New Gračanica near Chicago.
2000Glorification by the Serbian Orthodox ChurchThe Serbian Orthodox Church glorified the New Martyrs of Jasenovac, establishing their formal commemoration. Several individual figures associated with the Serbian new martyrs of the period, such as Vukašin of Klepci and Bishop Platon of Banja Luka, had been canonized in 1998.
Contributions & Legacy
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Historical Context
Jasenovac was the largest concentration camp run by the Ustaše of the Independent State of Croatia, a client state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Estimates of the total number killed there range widely, commonly cited between roughly 83,000 and 100,000, with Serbs constituting the largest category of victims.
The persecution of Orthodox Serbs had an explicitly religious dimension. Serbs were often deported after refusing forced conversion to Roman Catholicism, and the Serbian Orthodox Church remembers many of those killed as having died for their faithfulness to Orthodoxy. This understanding underlies their commemoration as New Martyrs.
Named Martyrs
Among the figures associated with the wider body of Serbian new martyrs of this period is Vukašin Mandrapa, venerated as Saint Vukašin of Klepci, a layman from Herzegovina who died at Jasenovac. The principal account of his death, recorded by a fellow prisoner, describes his steadfast refusal to praise the Ustaša leader despite torture; some scholars have questioned the historicity of the specific account.
Bishop Platon of Banja Luka, who served his see from 1939 to 1941, was arrested by the Ustaše in May 1941, killed together with the priest Dušan Subotić, and his body cast into the Vrbanja River. He was glorified as a hieromartyr in 1998 and is numbered among the Serbian new martyrs of the Second World War.
Relics & Shrines
The Jasenovac Monastery is the principal site associated with the veneration of the New Martyrs of Jasenovac and the place where their commemoration is liturgically celebrated.
