• Memorial at the Cemetery of the Murdered After the Suppression of the Slovak National Uprising
A monument in Kremnička, a district of Banská Bystrica which was incorporated into the town in 1970, commemorates the resistance fighters and civilians who were murdered in the aftermath of the suppression of the Slovak National Uprising.
Image: Banská Bystrica, 1944, Civilians digging an anti-tank trench at the beginning of the Slovak National Uprising, Múzeum SNP
Banská Bystrica, 1944, Civilians digging an anti-tank trench at the beginning of the Slovak National Uprising, Múzeum SNP

Image: Banská Bystrica-Kremnička, 2004, Memorial to Those Murdered After the Suppression of the Slovak National Uprising, Stiftung Denkmal
Banská Bystrica-Kremnička, 2004, Memorial to Those Murdered After the Suppression of the Slovak National Uprising, Stiftung Denkmal
The Slovak National Uprising began on August 29, 1944. Launched in the central Slovak town of Banská Bystrica, its aim was to overthrow the dictatorial regime of Jozef Tiso. Resistance fighters from within the Slovak army and partisans jointly fought against the both troops loyal to the regime and the advancing German Wehrmacht and SS units. The Uprising ended when the rebel forces were defeated on October 27, 1944. Between November 5, 1944 and March 17, 1945, members of Einsatzkommando 14 (subordinate to SS-Einsatzgruppe H) and members of the Slovak Hlinka Guard conducted a series of mass shootings in the vicinity of Kremnička. They murdered 747 people. On December 12, 1944, alone 300 people were shot on a field near Kremnička. The perpetrators buried the victims in mass graves. In the course of these retaliation measures, German troops and their Slovak helpers murdered about 5,300 people, including many Jews who had fought with the partisans or sought refuge with them.
Image: Banská Bystrica, 1944, Civilians digging an anti-tank trench at the beginning of the Slovak National Uprising, Múzeum SNP
Banská Bystrica, 1944, Civilians digging an anti-tank trench at the beginning of the Slovak National Uprising, Múzeum SNP

Image: Banská Bystrica-Kremnička, 2004, Memorial to Those Murdered After the Suppression of the Slovak National Uprising, Stiftung Denkmal
Banská Bystrica-Kremnička, 2004, Memorial to Those Murdered After the Suppression of the Slovak National Uprising, Stiftung Denkmal
A total of 747 people were shot at Kremnička and buried in mass graves: 478 men, 211 women and 58 children under the age of 15. Among the victims were about 450 Jews. Approximately 5,300 people fell victim to the retaliation carried out by German and Slovak units, including 1,000 Jews and many Roma.
Image: Kremnička, 1945, Exhumation of the bodies of those shot near Kremnička, Múzeum SNP
Kremnička, 1945, Exhumation of the bodies of those shot near Kremnička, Múzeum SNP

Image: Banská Bystrica-Kremnička, 2004, Memorial stone at a mass grave, Stiftung Denkmal
Banská Bystrica-Kremnička, 2004, Memorial stone at a mass grave, Stiftung Denkmal
Immediately after the end of the war, the bodies of the victims of the mass shootings at Kremnička were exhumed with the help of the Soviet army and preparations were made for the erection of a memorial. The monument was designed by Dušan Samo Jurkovič and unveiled two years after his death, in 1949. In 1995, an inscription of the word »Remember!« in Hebrew and a menorah by Juraj Arieh Fatran, an Israeli architect of Slovak origin, were added to the monument. A further monument is located next to a mass grave in close vicinity. The village of Kremnička has since become a district of Banská Bystrica. The monument is administered by the local Museum of the Slovak National Uprising.
Image: Banská Bystrica-Kremnička, 2004, The elements which were added to the monument in 1995, Stiftung Denkmal
Banská Bystrica-Kremnička, 2004, The elements which were added to the monument in 1995, Stiftung Denkmal

Name
Pamätník pri hrobe umučených po potlačení SNP
Phone
+421 (0) 48/ 415 5085
Fax
+421 (0) 48/ 415 2272
Web
http://mesto.banskabystrica.sk/
E-Mail
ic@banskabystrica.sk
Open
The monument is accessible at all times.
Possibilities
Commemoration ceremonies are held every year on August 29, the anniversary of the beginning of the Slovak National Uprising.