Patriarch Gavrilo Dožić V of Serbia

Gavrilo V (, ; born Đorđe Dožić; 17 May 1881 – 7 May 1950) was the 41st Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, serving from 1938 until his death in 1950.

Early life Gavrilo V was born as Đorđe Dožić on 17 May 1881 in the village of Vrujci, near Kolašin, then Principality of Montenegro. He finished primary school at the nearby Morača Monastery, as a pupil of his paternal uncle, archimandrite Mihailo.

Serbian Patriarch World War II In 1941, as soon as the German forces occupied Yugoslavia, Patriarch Gavrilo was arrested by the Nazis who were looting the gold from the Ostrog Monastery. Ruth Mitchell in her book "The Serbs Choose War", wrote "They took from the old man everything, even his shoes. They left him naked except for his shirt. and over rough roads, over the mountains and through the deep valleys, they made him walk, at the point of a bayonet, two hundred miles, hatless in the burning Balkan sun." He later was confined in the Monastery of Ljubostinja. In May 1943, he was transferred to the Monastery of Vojlovica (near Pančevo) in which he was confined together with Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović until September 1944.

On 15 September 1944, both Patriarch Gavrilo V and Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović were sent to Dachau, which was at that time the main concentration camp for priests arrested by the Nazis. Both Patriarch Gavrilo V and bishop Nikolaj Velimirović were held as special prisoners (Ehrenhäftlinge) imprisoned in the so-called Ehrenbunker (or Prominentenbunker) separated from the work camp area, together with high-ranking Nazi enemy officers and other prominent prisoners. In December 1944 they were transferred from Dachau to Slovenia, together with Milan Nedić, the Serbian collaborationist politician, and German general Hermann Neubacher, as the Nazis attempted to make use of Patriarch Gavrilo V's and bishop Nikolaj Velimirović's authority among the Serbs in order to gain allies in the anti-Communist movements. Contrary to claims of torture and abuse at the camp, evidence that Patriarch Gavrilo V himself was subjected to mistreatment is doubtful. Later, Patriarch Gavrilo V and Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović were moved to Austria, and were finally liberated by the US 36th Infantry Division in Tyrol in 1945.

Patriarch Gavrilo V died on 7 May 1950, aged 68, in Belgrade and was buried in the Cathedral of Saint Archangel Michael.

He was awarded Order of Saint Sava, Order of Prince Danilo I and a number of other decorations.