The Nazi occupation of Slovenian Styria in the spring of 1941 was a great disaster for Slovenians. In accordance with Hitler's order “Make this country German again!” the occupier wanted to destroy the Slovenian nation in just five years and completely Germanize the country. Among the most important measures were arrests and mass deportations of the population, and Serbia was designated as the end point. From June 7th to July 10th, 1941, 6,802 people were deported from Slovenia to Serbia in 17 transports.

The Allied bombing of Kraljevo and its surroundings is part of a wider military-strategic plan to stop the Second World War. In order to prevent the grouping of German forces and their movement from the Balkans to the Western Front, the commands of the Balkan Military Air Force (BAF) directed a series of aerial bombing missions against military-strategic targets in the Balkans. During 1944, the German army group “E” was attacked, which was retreating from Greece through the Moravian-Vardar valley in the direction of Yugoslavia.