Podrinje (Serbian Cyrillic:Подриње) is theSlavic name of theDrina river basin, known in English as theDrina Valley. The Drina basin is shared betweenBosnia and Herzegovina andSerbia, with majority of its territory being located in Eastern Bosnia, entire Upper Drina course and majority of the Middle course, while the Lower Drina course is shared between two countries, with the river representing border. The part of the Drina basin located in Bosnia and Herzegovina is also called Eastern Bosnia.
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Between 1918 and 1922, Podrinje District, with its seat inŠabac, was one of the districts of theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The district comprised the north-western part of present-dayŠumadija and Western Serbia. Between 1922 and 1929, Podrinje Oblast existed in roughly the same area also with its seat in Šabac. In 1929, a large province of theKingdom of Yugoslavia known as theDrina Banovina was formed with its capital inSarajevo. Drina Banovina included western parts of present-daySerbia and eastern parts of present-dayBosnia and Herzegovina. FollowingWorld War IIAxis occupation in 1941, the province was abolished and its territory was divided between theIndependent State of Croatia and the area governed by theNazi Germany Military Administration in Serbia.
In 1941 Yugoslav Partisans liberated the large western part of theGerman occupied territory. In this territory they proclaimed theRepublic of Užice (Uzička Republika) withUžice city as the centre of the Republic. This large free territory was an island of freedom in Nazi occupiedEurope. The Republic of Užice was short-lived. German troops occupied the territory again, while the majority of Partisan forces escaped towardsBosnia.[citation needed] During theWWII Genocide of Serbs by the Croatian fascistUstaše regime, many Serbs were executed along the Drina Valley for months, especially nearVišegrad.[1]Jure Francetić'sBlack Legion killed thousands of defenceless Bosnian Serb civilians and threw their bodies into the Drina river.[2]
When theBosnian War broke out in 1992, the Drina Valley became the focus of a bitter campaign of ethnic cleansing byArmy of Republika Srpska forces[3] which eventually culminated in theSrebrenica massacres in July 1995.
According to the Sarajevo Research and Documentation Centre (RDC/IDC) Bosnian Atlas of the Dead Project, the Podrinje was the area of Bosnia which suffered the highest number of casualties. In 2007, Mirsad Tokaca, the RDC/IDC's director, reported that 28,666 deaths of a total of 97,207 recorded by June 2007, had occurred in the Podrinje.[4]
Today, one of the cantons in Bosnia and Herzegovina is known asBosnian Podrinje Canton.
Cities and towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Republika Srpska andBosnian-Podrinje Canton Goražde):
Cities and towns in Serbia (Mačva District andZlatibor District):
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44°16′00″N19°20′00″E / 44.2667°N 19.3333°E /44.2667; 19.3333
