Srbosjek

The Srbosjek (Croatian: Srbosjek, lit. 'slicer of Serbians') is a wheat sheaf knife that was originally manufactured in Germany for agricultural purposes.

Croatian Ustaše during World War II for the killing of prisoners in the concentration camps of the Nazi-ultranationalist Independent State of Croatia, most notably the Jasenovac concentration camp

History

The knife gained notoriety in the former Yugoslavian countries because it was used by the Croatian Ustashas during World War II for the killing of prisoners in the concentration camps of the Nazi-ultranationalist Independent State of Croatia, most notably the Jasenovac concentration camp.

Description

The upper part of the knife was made of leather, as a sort of a glove, designed to be worn with the thumb going through the hole, so that only the blade protruded from the hand. It was a curved, 12 cm long knife with the edge on its concave side. The knife was fastened to a bowed oval copper plate, while the plate was fastened to a thick leather bangle.^[1] The knife was fixed on the glove plate in order to prevent injuries and to avoid taking care of a separate knife in order to improve the work speed.^[2]

Such a type of wheat sheaf knife was manufactured prior to and during World War II by German factory Gebrüder Gräfrath from Solingen under the trademark "Gräwiso".^[3][4] Gebrüder Gräfrath was taken over in 1961 by Hubertus Solingen.^[5]

Related pages

• Jasenovac concentration camp