WikiMini

Milica Rakić

Milica Rakić
Милица Ракић
Photo of Milica Rakić
Born(1996-01-09)9 January 1996
Belgrade, Serbia, FR Yugoslavia
Died17 April 1999(1999-04-17) (aged 3)
Belgrade, Serbia, FR Yugoslavia
CitizenshipYugoslav
Known forbeing a child killed during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
Saint

Milica

of Belgrade
Fresco in Vavedenje Monastery, Senjak, Belgrade
New Child Martyr
Born9 January 1996
Belgrade, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (now modern-day Serbia)
Residence8 Dimitrije Lazarov Raša Street, Batajnica, Belgrade
Died17 April 1999
8 Dimitrije Lazarov Raša Street, Batajnica, Belgrade, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Cause of deathShrapnel intake from a cluster munition
Honored inFolk Orthodoxy
Major shrineBatajnica cemetery, Belgrade, Serbia
Feast17 April [O.S. 4 April]
AttributesMartyr's cross, wreath, red dress

Milica Rakić (Serbian Cyrillic: Милица Ракић; 9 January 1996 – 17 April 1999) was a three-year-old Serbian girl who was killed by a cluster munition during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.

Biography

[edit]

Milica Rakić was born in Belgrade on 9 January 1996.[1] Her parents were Žarko and Dušica Rakić. She had an older brother named Aleksa.[2]

Between 9:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on 17 April 1999, three-year-old Rakić was struck by shrapnel while in the bathroom of her second-floor apartment at 8 Dimitrije Lazarov Raša Street, in the Belgrade suburb of Batajnica.[3] Her home was located 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) from the Batajnica Air Base. Batajnica was repeatedly targeted by NATO during its air campaign against Yugoslavia, which lasted between March and June 1999.[4] Rakić was killed instantly. At the time of her death, she was sitting on a potty chair.[5] Five other civilians were wounded in the attack.[6]

Rakić's funeral took place on 19 April.[2] The same day, Yugoslavia's Minister of Information Milan Komnenić released a statement attributing her death to "NATO cowards".[7]

Legacy

[edit]
Rakić's grave in Batajnica cemetery

Rakić was one of 89 children killed during the NATO air campaign, according to Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković.[8] Rakić's death was widely covered in the Serbian media.[9] Her death was not reported by most major Western news outlets.[10] The final NATO report on the bombing of Yugoslavia made no mention of Rakić's death, even under the category of "special incidents".[11] Human Rights Watch (HRW) investigators visited the site of her death on 7 August 1999, inspected the damage and interviewed eyewitnesses. According to HRW, a cluster munition exploded next to the apartment in which Rakić was living.[3] The incident marked the first NATO use of cluster munitions in Serbia-proper; all prior instances of their use by NATO had been recorded in Kosovo.[4] The Yugoslav Ministry of Health provided HRW with photographic documentation of the incident, which was also included in the book White Book of NATO Crimes in Yugoslavia, published by the Government of Yugoslavia.[3]

In 2000, a monument dedicated to the children killed in the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia was unveiled in Belgrade's Tašmajdan Park. It featured a bronze sculpture of Rakić in front of a marble block inscribed with the words "we were just children" written in Serbian and English. The monument was commissioned by the newspaper Večernje novosti and financed by donations that it had received from its readers. The sculpture was stolen twice, once in 2000 and again in 2001, after which it was never recovered.[12] In 2014, a commemorative fountain was dedicated in Rakić's memory in Batajnica.[13] The following year, a new sculpture of Rakić was unveiled in Tašmajdan Park to replace the one that had previously been stolen.[12] The Little Milica Rakić Park in Batajnica was also established in her memory. The park was subjected to extensive renovations in 2017, financed by Serbia's Ministry of Defence.[14]

Following her death, some sectors of the Serbian public called for Rakić to be canonized as a saint by the Serbian Orthodox Church.[15] In 2004, the Tvrdoš Monastery near the town of Trebinje, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, unveiled a fresco of Rakić which contained an inscription describing her as a neomartyr. At the time, the Serbian Orthodox Church announced that it would only consider canonizing Rakić if her cult gained a widespread following.[16] On the frescoes, she is referred to as Saint Milica of Belgrade (Serbian: Света Милица Београдска, romanized: Sveta Milica Beogradska)[17] or as Saint Milica of Batajnica (Serbian: Света Милица Батајничка, romanized: Sveta Milica Batajnička).[18]

[edit]
A monument to the children killed in the NATO bombing located in Tašmajdan Park, featuring a bronze sculpture of Rakić
Fresco of New Martyr Milica Rakić in the medieval Tresije Monastery [sr; de; fr], Kosmaj
Fresco in Memorial Church, Lazarevac

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "List of killed, missing and disappeared 1998–2000". Humanitarian Law Center. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  2. ^ a b Ilic, Srdjan (19 April 1999). "Kosovo Crisis: The Conflict". The Washington Post. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  3. ^ a b c Human Rights Watch (February 2000). "Civilian Deaths in the NATO Air Campaign". Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  4. ^ a b Hudson, Robert C. (2007). "Lessons from Kosovo: Cluster Bombs and Their Impact Upon Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Rehabilitation". In Ferrándiz, Francisco; Robben, Antonius C.G.M. (eds.). Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Peace and Conflict Research: A View from Europe. Bilbao, Spain: University of Deusto. p. 235. ISBN 9788498305203.
  5. ^ Peric Zimonjic, Vesna (14 May 1999). "Yugoslavia: NATO Cluster Bombs Spray Death". Inter Press Service. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  6. ^ Krieger, Heike (2001). The Kosovo Conflict and International Law: An Analytical Documentation 1974–1999. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 502. ISBN 978-0-521800-716-.
  7. ^ Norwegian People's Aid South Eastern Europe (2007). Yellow Killers: The Impact of Cluster Munitions in Serbia and Montenegro. Oslo, Norway: Norwegian People's Aid. p. 67. OCLC 350363422.
  8. ^ "Serbia marks bombing anniversary". BBC News. 24 March 2009. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  9. ^ Atanasovski, Srđan (2016). "Recycled Music for Banal Nation: The Case of Serbia 1999–2010". In Mazierska, Ewa; Gregory, Georgina (eds.). Relocating Popular Music: Pop Music, Culture and Identity. New York City: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 101, note 2. ISBN 978-1-13746-338-8.
  10. ^ Sremac, Danielle (1999). War of Words: Washington Tackles the Yugoslav Conflict. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing. ISBN 978-0-27596-609-6.
  11. ^ Satjukow, Elisa (2017). ""These Days, When a Belgrader Asked, 'How are You Doing?', the Answer is, 'I'm Waiting': Everyday Life During the 1999 NATO Bombing". In Roth, Klaus; Kartarı, Asker (eds.). Crises Related to Natural Disasters, to Spaces and Places, and to Identities. Cultures of Crisis in Southeast Europe. Münster, Germany: LIT Verlag. p. 338. ISBN 978-3-64390-791-2.
  12. ^ a b "Po treći put otkriven spomenik Milici Rakić". Radio Television of Serbia (in Serbian). 24 September 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  13. ^ Čalija, Jelena (5 September 2014). "Spomen-česma za večno sećanje na Milicu Rakić". Politika (in Serbian). Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  14. ^ "The Military Preserves the Memory of Milica Rakić". Ministry of Defence. 29 July 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  15. ^ Tolvaisis, Leonas (2013). "Historical Memories of Kosovo Serbs in the Post-War Period and Conflicting Serbian National Narratives About Kosovo" (PDF). Darbai Ir Dienos. Kaunas, Lithuania: Vytautas Magnus University: 215, note 13. ISSN 1392-0588.
  16. ^ Pašić, P. (1 December 2004). "Mala Milica Rakić novi srpski svetac". Glas javnosti (in Serbian). Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  17. ^ Petrović, Bojana (22 April 2022). "Sveta Novomučenica Milica Beogradska drži krst i ima oreol: Poginula je na noši 1999, sad se vernici njoj mole". Telegraf.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  18. ^ "Sveta novomučenica Milica Rakić Batajnička". ASinfo Portal. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Milica Rakić.