Dejan D. Antić
Occupation of Niš in World War I – Late 1915 and Early 1916
Abstract: The paper deals with information regarding the events in and around Niš during the first few months of the occupation of the Kingdom of |Serbia in the Great War (1915-1918). Based on both foreign and domestic documents, the paper also analyzes the processes and undertakings regarding the formation of civil and military governments by the occupying forces, with special focus on the Serbian civilians and the health issues in the city itself.
Key words: Niš, Bulgarian Occupation, Bulgarians, the German Army, Serbian People
Historiography has only partially analyzed the period of the occupation of Niš (1915-1918). The unsystematic study of this period was due to the lack of primary historical sources needed to get a full-scale picture of the actions and measures taken by the Bulgarian occupation government in the Nišava River valley (1915-1918).
Based on sources obtained from both local and Bulgarian archives, this paper offers new findings on the overall situation in Niš after the arrival of the Bulgarian and German occupation troops. It also gives new data on the health conditions, capturing of healthy and injured Serbian soldiers, seizing arms, military and health supplies, and other valuable materials found by the invading forces.
The Bulgarians made Niš the center of the Morava military inspection district, hastening to form a civilian and military government on the occupied territory, which they named Bulgarian Morava. In the first few months of occupation, the inhabitants of Niš and nearby areas were exposed to numerousatrocities. In committing these crimes the German soldiers, for whom Niš was a transit station, rose to notoriety. As time went by, the Bulgarian soldiers joined them in committing atrocities against the civilians. Death threats for concealing weapons, requisition of cattle, limiting freedom of movement, forced labor, and incarcerations were happening on a daily basis.