During the war, the Ustase (Nazi-supporting Croats) wiped out several Serbian villages of all men, women and children, including the home village of Mr. M's paternal grandfather, who by then had emigrated to the U.S.
It was Christmas of 1943 (Jan. 7 in the Orthodox calendar), and nearly everyone in town was at the village school for a holiday program. The Croatian Nazis entered the school and proceeded to machine gun everyone in attendance. In 1998, Mr. M and I visited the village and saw the memorial marker with the names of the victims.