Croatia and Slovenia search for the remains of WWII and post-war victims

The field tests are being conducted jointly by the Directorate for Detainees and Missing Persons of the Croatian Veterans' Affairs Ministry and the Slovenian Government's Commission for Resolving the Issue of Concealed Graves. Search dogs from the Croatian State Geological Survey were also deployed.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Croatian Veterans' Affairs Tomo Medved visited the Crngrob site in Slovenia, where field research is being conducted to search for the remains of victims from World War II and the post-war period. It is believed that several thousand people were executed by Tito’s partisan and communist forces and buried at this execution site.

"A number of the dogs reacted at the same location, which increases the chances that this is the location of the mass grave in question. Once the dogs cover the entire location, the Slovenian side will begin with test excavations, and insomuch as human remains are uncovered they will begin to exhume the mortal remains of the victims," Medved said.

Five micro-locations have been recorded in the Crngrob area, three of which were confirmed by earlier test excavations, while the remaining two are being precisely located by using search dogs from the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service (HGSS).

Minister Medved said that after the search is complete, the Slovenian side will conduct a test excavation, and if victims are found, the exhumation of their remains will begin. He added that the victims will be given a dignified burial in the Republic of Croatia.

The two countries have a joint commission to resolve the issue of the remains of victims of World War II and the post-war period, as well as an agreement on the transfer of the remains from graves in Slovenia that are determined to belong to Croatian victims.

Also on Tuesday, Minister Medved announced that Croatia will assume the remains of more than five hundred Croatian victims that were previously exhumed in Slovenia: “Croatia will assume the first five hundred remains of Croatian victims exhumed in Slovenia. This will be a regular process moving forward.”

The Minister said that he would not give up on the search for Croatians murdered in the WWII and post-war period, and that both the number of mass graves and victims, both in Croatia and beyond its borders, is chilling and large.

Minister Medved concluded that over the past ten years his ministry has investigated more than 630 locations throughout the Republic of Croatia, and exhumations have been carried out at more than 90 locations in 16 counties. The remains of more than 2 200 victims have been exhumed. So far 2 046 of them have received a dignified burial.

Source: HRT