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Croats join silent march to mark Vukovar massacre

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 14:16 GMT

Source: reuters // Reuters

* Vukovar was under siege by Serb militia, Yugoslav army

* Over 200 patients from local hospital executed

* Many Croats ready to forgive, not forget

By Zoran Radosavljevic

VUKOVAR, Croatia, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Thousands of Croats, including war veterans in wheelchairs, filed in a silent column through the streets of Vukovar on Friday to mark 20 years of its capture by Serb rebels and the first mass atrocity of the war in the former Yugoslavia.

"I've brought my entire family here so they can pay respects to the victims and see how Croatia was created," said Ante Marojevic, a war veteran from the southern town of Metkovic, holding his son Luka by the hand.

On Nov. 18, 1991, Serb militia and Yugoslav army troops who refused to accept Croatia's independence captured the once prosperous, ethnically mixed town on the banks of the Danube, after reducing it to rubble in a brutal three-month siege.

The Serbs later took more than 200 patients from a local hospital and executed them in a field in nearby Ovcara, now a memorial site strewn with white crosses.

Images of the exodus of shell-shocked, ghostly pale civilians who survived the siege in improvised basement shelters remained engraved in the nation's collective memory.

President Ivo Josipovic and other top officials laid wreaths at the memorial site in a ceremony attended by at least 30,000 Croats from all parts of the former Yugoslav republic.

CORNERSTONE

Vukovar's fall became a cornerstone of Croatia's modern history which many Croats liken to Nazi attempts to capture Stalingrad in World War Two.

"Vukovar is our pride and our symbol. This huge column of people shows how much our people appreciate this part of our history," Josipovic said.

Serbian president Boris Tadic publicly apologised here in 2010 and the United Nations war crimes tribunal sentenced two Yugoslav army officers for the massacre.

A third officer was acquitted while a rebel Serb leader, Goran Hadzic, is now on trial.

Until a few years ago, Vukovar was littered with houses scarred by shell holes and the remains of homes which had been burnt to the ground. It has been largely rebuilt and many Croats feel they are ready to forgive, but not to forget.

"We must forgive and find a common life (with the Serbs). But the truth must remain known," said Nikola Kekic, a black-clad Greek Catholic bishop who joined the marchers.

Serbs and Croats now live side-by-side and ethnic incidents are increasingly rare, although there are separate Serb and Croat soccer clubs and many cafes are locally known as Serb or Croat. Unemployment runs high.

Tomislav Hoznec, a 54-year-old Croat pensioner who survived the siege, said it was time to move on and there were ethnically mixed marriages in the town once again.

"Of course, it is much more difficult for those who have lost family members here in 1991. But overall, it is much better than 15 years ago. Besides, those Serbs who did some bad things are no longer here anyway. Life goes on," he said. (Reporting by Zoran Radosavljevic; Additional reporting by Igor Ilic; Editing by Sophie Hares)