Anniversary of the collapse of the defense of Lužac

By laying wreaths and lighting candles under the memorial, residents of the Lužac settlement in Vukovar marked the 31st anniversary of the martyrdom on Wednesday, in memory of November 2, 1991, when the settlement's defenses were broken.

During the aggression of the Yugoslav People’s Army and Serbian paramilitary units and the occupation of Lužac, 69 locals were killed.

According to Antun Vidaković, a resident of Lužac whose ten family members were killed in that settlement, the Yugoslav People’s Army and Serbian paramilitary formations first tried to enter Lužac on October 16, and on November 2 they entered the settlement with about 40 tanks and transporters.

“When Lužac fell, they separated Borovo and Vukovar, and then they had everything under control, but while Lužac held, they could not enter either Vukovar or Borovo,” said Ilija Martić, the last commander of the defense of Lužac.

At the foot of the monument wreaths were laid and candles lit by the representative of the President of the Republic, Brigadier Valentin Skroza, the Croatian Parliament Speaker, MP Nikola Mažar, while a joint wreath of the Ministry of Croatian Veterans and Defense was laid by Stjepan Sučić.

Vukovar-Srijem County Prefect Damir Dekanić, Mayor of Vukovar Ivan Penava, representatives of victims' brothers in arms and political parties also paid tribute to those killed by laying wreaths and lighting candles.

Vukovar Mayor Ivan Penava expressed his concern about the impunity of crimes committed in Lužac.

“The direction this country is taking, both through the prosecution of war crimes, and the issues of creating assumptions for people to stay and immigrate to Slavonia is bad. The issue of missing persons is extremely difficult. There has been some progress in recent years, but there are still a large number of missing persons. This pain is hard to live with,” Penava told reporters.

The occupation of Lužac is also considered the beginning of the collapse of the three-month defense of the city, when members of the former Yugoslav People’s Army and Serbian paramilitary units broke out on Priljevo and the banks of the Danube, thus separating the Croatian defenders of Vukovar from the defenders of the city's Borovo Naselje district.

Source: HRT