Kremnička as a Killing Site
Following the defeat of the Slovak National Uprising in autumn 1944, Banská Bystrica became a focal point of repression. Jews, Roma, captured partisans, and other detainees were confined in local prisons before Hlinka Guard Emergency Divisions and Einsatzkommando 14 transported them to a hillside near Kremnička. Between November 1944 and February 1945, at least 747 people were executed and buried in prepared pits, with related killings carried out in Nemecká. Survivor testimonies and postwar investigations confirm that Roma were among the murdered, alongside Jews and resistance supporters. These massacres rank among the largest war crimes committed on Slovak territory during the Second World War.
„They shot people in the back of the head and threw them into anti-tank ditches.“
Aktuality.sk, Iva Zigová
Further Reading / Sources
Kremnička and Nemecká Massacres – Overview
Short overview of the massacres, perpetrators and victim groups
Enzyklopädie: Genocide of Sinti and Roma – Chronology (5 November 1944)
Entry noting massacres at Kremnička and Roma victims
Museum of the Slovak National Uprising – Kremnička / Nemecká
Museum pages documenting reprisals and mass executions
EHRI – Archive of the Museum of the Slovak National Uprising
Archival descriptions including collections on reprisals and mass executions
Ljubica Radonić – “Representations of Roma in Post-Communist Memorial Culture” (2015)
Academic article including data on victims at Kremnička and Nemecká