Srbosjek



Srbosjek (literally serb-cutter in Croatian, often mentioned as cutthroat) was an especially designed knife, used mostly for speedy slaughter of Serbs and other victims by the Croatian Ustaše fascists during the WW2 in the Independent State of Croatia, an Axis puppet state. Although the original blade was manufactured in WWII, according to Serbian witnesses at ICTY trial some hand made specimens were also used during the 90s. These blades were reported to look more like a machete.

This knife was manufactured during WW2 by German factory Gebrüder Gräfrath from Solingen-Widderit (which is still in existence today, albeit under another name) under a special order from the NDH government, and was used for slaughter of Serbs, Jews and other victims in organized mass murders at the concentration camp Jasenovac and other places.

The upper part of serb cutter is made of leather, as a sort of a glove, designed to be worn so that the thumb goes through the hole up there, and so that only the blade protrudes from the hand. There was inscription "Gräwiso" on the leather part of the knife, and it was sometimes called "graviso knife" because of this. The blade is curved in order to make it easier to slit the throat of the victim, following the curvature of the neck.

The srbosjek knife was allegedly designed after Ante Pavelic held a session of his NDH government, where one of the items on the agenda was what kind of a knife should be designed to make it possible for the executioners to kill people as fast as possible and with as little fatigue as possible.

In Jasenovac concentration camp competitions in speedy slaughter were organised by the Ustashas. The winner of one such competition, Petar Brzica allegedly cut the throats of 1360 prisoners and won the competition.