Surdulica massacre

The Surdulica massacre was the mass murder of Serbian men by Bulgarian occupational authorities in the southern Serbian town of Surdulica in 1916 and early 1917, during World War I. Members of the Serbian intelligentsia in the region, mostly functionaries, teachers, priests and former soldiers, were detained by Bulgarian forces—ostensibly so that they could be deported to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia—before being taken into the forests around Surdulica and killed. An estimated 2,000–3,000 Serbian men were executed by the Bulgarians in the town and its surroundings. Witnesses to the massacre were interviewed by American writer William A. Drayton in December 1918 and January 1919.

Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July, marking the beginning of World War I. Serbia was invaded by a combined German and Austro-Hungarian force on 7 October 1915. On 14 October, the Kingdom of Bulgaria declared war on Serbia and invaded the country from the east. The Serbian Army was forced to retreat through Albania. Serbia was divided between the Austro-Hungarians, Germans and Bulgarians. The Bulgarian occupation zone was located in the area between the cities of Skopje and Niš, which had been a target of Bulgarian nationalism.

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