Tezno massacre

Tezno massacre
Part of the Bleiburg repatriations
Memorial to the victims in Tezno
Location	Tezno, PR Slovenia, Yugoslavia (now Slovenia)
Date	19–26 May 1945
Target	NDH prisoners of war and civilians
Attack type	Mass executions
Deaths	15,000[1][2]
Perpetrators	Yugoslav Partisans

The Tezno massacre (Croatian: Pokolj u Teznom) was the mass killing of POWs and civilians of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) that took place in Tezno near Maribor after the end of World War II in Yugoslavia. The killings were perpetrated by units of the Yugoslav Partisans in May 1945, in the Bleiburg repatriations. Summary executions began on 19 May, when the first prisoners arrived in the Tezno Forest from nearby prison camps, and they continued until 26 May. Most of the bodies were buried in an antitank trench several kilometers long, which the Yugoslav authorities concealed and kept secret.

It is estimated that around 15,000 soldiers and civilians were killed in the massacre. The graves were discovered in 1999 during highway construction. Additional research on the burial sites was conducted in 2007 by the Commission on Concealed Mass Graves in Slovenia. In 2012, the Slovenian Government established a memorial park at Tezno, where an annual commemoration is held.