Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Gudovac massacre

Gudovac massacre[edit]

This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page.

The result was: scheduled for Wikipedia:Today's featured article/April 28, 2017 by Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 10:18, 16 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Remains of victims exhumed from the site

The Gudovac massacre was the killing of around 190 Serb civilians by the Croatian nationalist Ustaše movement on 28 April 1941, during World War II. It occurred shortly after the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia and the establishment of the Ustaše-led puppet state known as the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). It was the first Ustaše massacre of Serb civilians and presaged a wider genocide against them that would last until the end of the war. The Ustaše used the deaths of two of their local followers as a pretext for the killings. The victims were drawn from the Gudovac district, taken to a nearby field and shot en masse. Five survived the initial shooting and crawled away. The victims were then buried in a mass grave. The Germans soon became aware of the killings, ordered a partial exhumation and arrested 40 suspects, who were released following the intervention of a senior Ustaše official. Monuments were erected on the site of the massacre in 1955, but destroyed by Croatian nationalists in 1991, amid inter-ethnic warfare. A restored monument was unveiled at the site in December 2010. (Full article...)

Most recent similar article(s): Most recent Yugoslavia-related article would be 7th Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia) on 6 April, but this is a very different subject. This is the first Ustase massacre article to make it to FA.
Main editors: 23 editor
Promoted: 30 April 2016
Reasons for nomination: 76th anniversary of the massacre, which was the first mass killing by the Ustase after they took power. This article exists on the French and Serbian wikis.
Support as nominator. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 00:11, 25 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Support as primary author. 23 editor (talk) 00:35, 25 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Support - sombre story - core history material Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 11:30, 22 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Coordinator comment. Two articles about Yugoslav participation in WWII within two and a half weeks seems too close to me. In the absence of a strong reason to run this in 2017, I'm inclined to suggest nominating this next year. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 10:07, 7 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

G'day Mike, one of the reasons for concentration of Yugoslav articles at this time is the invasion of April 1941 and its immediate aftermath. 7th Army was nominated to highlight the anniversary of the invasion, and there will no doubt be another invasion-related FA nominated for 6 April next year. This is a very different topic related to the genocidal policies of the Axis puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia. We have had two and a half week gaps between warship articles, video games, and articles on fungi since November last year, in the case of video games, there are a couple of examples of such a gap. I don't see that should be an obstacle given the very different nature of these two articles. We have also had very few TFAs on such topics as massacres. Cheers, Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 02:27, 8 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Cas, 23 editor, can you comment? I think I understand the distinction that Peacemaker67 is making, but it may be a distinction without a difference to our readers. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 12:04, 8 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I'm with Peacemaker67 on this. I don't think the gap is too small, and I think war articles are poignant at present - even more so in the last few days. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 13:45, 8 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with PM67. The WW2 in Yugoslavia articles that we've been collaborating on over the past few years fall under a number of sub-categories, one of which is the invasion. The other two are about the guerilla warfare that followed the invasion and the atrocities that were committed during this time. This article falls under the latter category. Thus, while this article is similar to the one that was up on 6 April, it is distinct in that it covers an entirely different chapter in Yugoslavia's WW2 history.

There are relatively few FAs about the Balkans to begin with, so I don't believe we run the risk of having too many Yugoslav-related articles on the front page, at least not at this point. Gudovac massacre is slated for 28 April, which is 22 days after 7th Army (Kingdom of Yugoslavia). This is a sufficient length of time, in my opinion, especially for a topic that doesn't have more than two dozen FAs. I concur with Casliber, that war-related articles are especially relevant today, when the act of waging it is openly being described as beautiful . Gudovac and events like it show just how wrong this line of thinking really is, imo. 23 editor (talk) 17:23, 8 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I think that's enough support to run this. Cas, I see you also posted Thomas Crisp at WP:TFARP for 28 April; I'll assume you have no objections to running this instead. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 21:59, 10 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

None at all. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 22:08, 10 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]