“Execution of Hostages” – Monument to the Victims of the Ustasha Regime in Zagreb

The sculptor Frano Kršinić, created the work in 1952. It was the first monument dedicated to the victims of the World War II erected in the very center of Zagreb.

The monument reflects Kršinić’s mastery in conveying human suffering and dignity through sculpture.

The composition, set on a grassy area, consists of a white stone wall made of evenly cut stone blocks, with a low stone ledge serving as the base for the bronze relief.

The dramatic group of victims before the stone wall is depicted as a tightly packed cluster of seven men and one woman. The figures are rendered in high relief, nearly emerging as fully three-dimensional forms.

The scene in front of the wall creates the impression of a final embrace between people facing their fate. The monument is an example of socially engaged art in the spirit of Socialist Realism. As was done literally and metaphorically before executions, the artist “puts the people against the wall,” while the bronze relief amplifies the sense of imminent tragedy and helplessness.

It is dedicated to all victims of fascist terror from the Zagreb area—more than 7,000 citizens of Zagreb executed by the Ustaše in the Dotrščina forest between 1941 and 1945, and about 400 killed in the Stupnički Lug forest near Rakov Potok.

During the World War II and the period of the NDH rule in Zagreb and its surroundings, many civilians were killed—through executions, reprisals, and imprisonment. The monument deliberately draws attention to these events and the victims of that period.

In the postwar years, erecting monuments of this kind played an important role in shaping collective memory as well as symbolizing the new socialist social order.

At a time when the city was recovering from the wounds of war, Execution of Hostages became a symbol of collective remembrance and a warning to future generations.