Title: Srbosjek Content: right|thumb|250px|The knife was worn over the hand and was used to fastly cut open wheat sheaves. Srbosjek (literally "Serb cutter" in Serbian, often referred to as "cutthroat") is the nickname for a type of agricultural knife created and used to cut wheat sheaves open. It was a widespread agricultural tool in Germany known as "Garbenmesser". In Yugoslavia the idea of it having been used to kill inmates of the Jasenovac camp was widespread.David M. Crowe: Crimes of State Past and Present: Government-Sponsored Atrocities and International Legal Responses, Routledge, Sep 13, 2013, , 9781317986829, p. 71William Dorich: Jasenovac: Then and Now: A Conspiracy of Silence, BookBaby, Oct 1, 1997, , 9781882383900Margaret E. Wagner, David M. Kennedy, Linda Barrett Osborne, Susan Reyburn: The Library of Congress World War II Companion, Library of Congress, Simon & Schuster, 2007, , 9780743252195 p. 683 ==History== Originally used as an agriculture tool for cutting wheat shafts, the knife gained notoriety in the former Yugoslavian countries because it was believed to be used by the Croatian Ustaše during World War II for the killing of prisoners and civilians ( in different villages) in the concentration camps of the Nazi-puppet Independent State of Croatia, most notably the Jasenovac concentration camp.David M. Kennedy, Margaret E. Wagner, Linda Barrett Osborne, Susan Reyburn, The Library of Congress World War II Companion (Simon and Schuster, 2007), pages 640, 646-47, page 683: At Jasenovac, a series of camps in Croatia, the ultranationalist, right-wing Ustasha murdered Mostly Serbs, Jews, Gypsies, Muslims, and political opponents not by gassing, but with hand tools or the infamous graviso or srbosjek (literally, "Serb cutter") - a long, curved knife attached to a partial glove and designed for rapid, easy killing. ==Description== The upper part of the knife was made of leather, as a sort of a glove, designed to be worn with the thumb going through the hole, so that only the blade protruded from the hand. It was a curved, 12 cm long knife with the edge on its concave side. The knife was fastened to a bowed oval copper plate, while the plate was fastened to a thick leather bangle.Taborišče smrti--Jasenovac by Nikola Nikolić (author), Jože Zupančić (translator),Založba "Borec", Ljubljana 1969 The knife described on page 72: 'Na koncu noža, tik bakrene ploščice, je bilo z vdolbnimi črkami napisano "Grafrath gebr. Solingen", na usnju pa reliefno vtisnjena nemška tvrtka "Gräviso" ' Picture of the knife with description on page 73: 'Posebej izdelan nož, ki so ga ustaši uporabljali pri množičnih klanjih. Pravili so mu "kotač" - kolo - in ga je izdelovala nemška tvrtka "Gräviso" ' The knife was fixed on the glove plate in order to prevent injuries and to prevent taking care of a separate knife in order to improve the work speed. Such a type of wheat sheaf knife was manufactured prior to and during World War II by German factory Gebrüder Gräfrath from Solingen under the trademark "Gräwiso".Vladimir Dedijer (Editor), Harvey L. Kendall (Translator), The Yugoslav Auschwitz and the Vatican: The Croatian Massacre of the Serbs During World War II (Prometheus Books. July 1992)Für die Richtigkeit: Kurt Waldheim by Hanspeter Born Schneekluth, 1987 , 9783795110550, page 65 Beliebt war das sogar wettbewerbsmäßig organisierte Kehledurchschneiden mit einem speziellen Krumm-messer Marke Gräviso. Gebrüder Gräfrath was taken over in 1961 by Hubertus Solingen. ==Related pages== * Jasenovac concentration camp