According to the book Dosja, Ideologija Serbe e Gjenocidit by Fadil Kajtazi (2025), Serbia has maintained longstanding cultural and military traditions involving the killing of defenseless civilians and certain extreme family practices.
The Tradition of Killing Women, Children and the Elderly
During the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, Serbian forces carried out mass killings of Albanian women, children, and elderly in Kosovo and surrounding regions. Contemporary accounts describe villages burned, civilians massacred, and widespread atrocities. Albanian sources and eyewitness reports, including those quoted by Leo Freundlich in Albania’s Golgotha, portray Serbian troops acting as exterminators rather than liberators, using machine guns, rifles, and bayonets to alter ethnic statistics through violence.
Serbian socialist Dimitrije Tucović documented horrific scenes, such as the shooting of women holding babies and the killing of children, with houses later burned to conceal the crimes. The Serbian Orthodox Church also participated, with priests joining military actions and church publications praising their involvement.
Similar patterns of violence against non-combatants continued in later periods, including actions against Montenegrins after 1918, where women, children, and elderly were targeted, imprisoned, tortured, and killed during pacification campaigns. In 1999, over 700 bodies of Kosovo Albanians, including 75 children, were exhumed from mass graves at Batajnica near Belgrade.
The Tradition of Incest – Snohačenje
Serbian society has historically practiced “Snohačenje,” a form of incest involving sexual relations between a father-in-law and his daughter-in-law. This custom, referenced in Borisav Stanković’s novel Impure Blood (1910), reportedly dates back to ancient Slavic times and persisted into the 20th century in certain regions. It was practiced when the son was too young or absent, and was accepted under customary law.
The Tradition of Senicide – Llapot
Another documented practice is “Llapot” (or Lapot), the ritual killing of elderly parents or family members when they became a burden. This form of senicide occurred mainly in eastern Serbia (Homolje, Zaječar, Negotin regions) and was practiced publicly until the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The community was invited, and the killing was carried out with sticks, stones, axes, or by placing hot corn mush on the victim’s head so the “porridge” appeared responsible. After the act, families held feasts with music and dancing.
These elements, drawn from Serbian archival sources, newspapers, books, and international reports as compiled by Kajtazi, point to deep-rooted patterns in Serbian history and culture regarding violence against the vulnerable and extreme family customs.
Sources
Kajtazi, Fadil. Dosja: Ideologija Serbe e Gjenocidit – Analizë nga Burime Serbe dhe Ndërkombëtare. Edited by Sabit Rrustemi. Gjilan: Shtëpia Botuese “Beqir Musliu,” 2023. (Translated excerpts published in Balkan Academia, December 22, 2025).
Stanković, Borisav. Nečista Krv [Impure Blood]. 1910. (Literary reference cited in Albanian sources).
Latifi, Petrit. “The Serbian Tradition of Incest – Snohačenje (Снохачење) and the Psychological Implications on Serbian Society.” Balkan Academia, March 3, 2026
Georgevitch, T. R. (Đorđević). Description in eastern Serbia (Zaječar region), 1918. Cited in Wikipedia and ethnographic studies.
Lapot.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. (Summary of legendary practice among Timok Romanians in eastern Serbia).
en.wikipedia.orgJovanović, Bojan. “Ritual of Killing Elders as a Scientific Myth.” Balcanica (1997). (Academic discussion treating it partly as folk tradition/myth).
