The remains of 814 Croatians killed by Yugoslav forces in WWII are finally given a dignified burial

August 23rd is the European Day of Remembrance for the victims of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. In the village of Sošice, on the Žumberak Mountains, a commemoration was held for the victims of the communist Yugoslav regime. On the occasion 814 victims exhumed from the mass grave from the Jazovka pit, who were killed by Yugoslav forces during the Second World War, were finally given a dignified burial. Their remains were exhumed in 2022. The bulk of the victims were between the ages of 20 and 35, among them women, nuns and children.

The Jazovka pit, which for decades hid the brutal war crimes committed by Yugoslav communists, was first uncovered by speleologist Mladen Kuka. In his first descent in 1989, he uncovered a horrific sight: “When you see an endless pile of bones, mixed with canes, dentures, and all manner of stuff, you become numb. I prayed the Lord's prayer, and said to myself, regardless of whatever anyone does they do not deserve an end like this.”

Many of the victims were patients from hospitals in Zagreb, forcibly taken by the Yugoslav Army forces when they captured Zagreb in 1945. Others were captured in 1943 when the Yugoslav partisans captured the town of Krašić. Among those at today's commemoration was Biljana Sudac: “We're sad but also hopeful, because we have 47 missing from our village of Zadobarje. Perhaps they are here among the dead. We'll pray for their souls and for the people who did this.”

Zagreb Archbishop Dražen Kutleša served mass for the victims. In his sermon, he called for the veil of silence over the crimes of the Yugoslav communist regime to be lifted: “The prevailing method of memory holing this has not proven effective. Because, the more time passes, the agony and fear of those with blood on their hands only grows, as does the agony and fear of those who endeavor to protect them, as they fall ever deeper into the chasm of their own lies. It is precisely this that in many ways blocks a true step forward for our society and our homeland.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Veterans' Affairs Minister Tomo Medved was also on hand for the commemoration and burial: “We investigated 84 potential mass grave sites, and exhumed the mortal remains of two thousand and twenty victims in the area of sixteen counties. Behind every number is a human life and families plagued with sorrow, but also the murderers who committed these bestial acts. For this reason today's commemoration is a call for the unequivocal condemnation of these horrific crimes of the communist regime.”

To this day no one from the communist Yugoslav regime, the Yugoslav People's Army and the partisan units has ever been held accountable for these crimes.

Commemorations for the victims of communist Yugoslavia's labour camps on the islands of Sveti Grgur and Goli Otok, were also held on Saturday. From 1949 until 1989 the camps were primarily inhabited by political prisoners, where they were subjected to inhumane conditions, hard labour, and physical and psychological abuse. Goli Otok housed male prisoners, while Sveti Grgur housed females. It is believed that some 16 thousand political prisoners served time on Goli Otok, of which between four hundred and six hundred died on the island. However, other sources based on witness testimony, believe that almost four thousand prisoners died in the camp. Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković was on hand today to pay tribute to the victims of the communist regime: “We are here today to remember the large number of people who were killed, tortured and persecuted by undemocratic regimes. Systems that murdered their political opponents or robbed them of the ability to earn a wage. A system that was inhumane towards those who opposed their political regimes.”

Government issued a statement on Saturday in which it noted that Croatia, founded on the victory of the Homeland War, the sacrifice of Croatian defenders and on the values of freedom and democracy, permanently cherishes the culture of remembrance and resolutely condemns the murders, political assassinations and mass violations of human rights committed under previous totalitarian regimes. Government representatives visited Zagreb's Mirogoj cemetery and lit candles at the Wall of Pain monument, the Tomb of the National Heroes, at the grave of political dissident Bruno Bušić, who was assassinated by the Yugoslav regime in Paris in 1978, in front of the memorial to the Croatian victims of the Bleiburg repatriations, at the Stations of the Cross, and at the grave of the first Croatian President, Franjo Tuđman.

Source: HRT