German troops invading Yugoslavia killed and hanged 36 Serb civilians in Panchevo in April 1942 in retaliation for partisans who had fired on the Wehrmacht.

　　German troops invading Yugoslavia killed and hanged 36 Serb civilians in the city of Panchevo in retaliation for partisans who had fired on the Wehrmacht. The Panchevo Executions carried out summary executions of 36 Serbian civilians in Panchevo on April 21-22, 1941, during World War II. The executions were carried out by German troops, especially units of the German Frontier Division. The ambush was a false flag operation and was organized by local German troops.

　On the morning of April 21, 1941, the Germans and the Waffen-SS arrested 100 people from various parts of Panchevo; 40 of the 100 appeared before a military tribunal. After the military tribunal, 36 Serbs were sentenced to death and four were declared innocent. The executions were carried out by German troops supported by the Kulturbund and Waffen SS. Half were hanged and the other half were executed by firing squad. The bodies were displayed publicly for three days after the executions.

　German troops invaded Yugoslavia and Greece in early April 1941; on April 21, 1941, four men were shot dead. The next day, April 22, 1941, 18 people were hanged and 14 were shot dead. The hangings took place in the Old Orthodox Church Cemetery, and the families of the hanged were forced to come to the cemetery to watch the executions. A large number of local Germans witnessed the hangings and shootings. All were from Panchevo, except for those from the suburbs of Panchevo. The bodies of all the victims, both hanged and shot, were left for 24 hours for burial by their relatives. The four victims shot the day before were buried at the same time.

　Numerous dozens of photographs of the crime were preserved. Photographs of the staged trial, victims being taken to the execution site, and executions of both hangings in the cemetery and shootings along the cemetery wall at Novoselyansky Put were preserved. They were taken by Wehrmacht photographer Gerhard Groenefeldt, but otherwise by Heinrich Hoffmann, the official photographer of the National Socialist Party.