Vukovar to Commemorate 30 Years Since Bloodshed on Nov. 18

Vukovar, 30th anniversary (BETAPHOTO/HINA/Tomislav PAVLEK/DS)

Vukovar will be marking the 30th anniversary of the Battle of Vukovar on Nov. 18, the day when the Yugoslav People's Army and members of paramilitary forces entered the city and ended the three-month wartime siege of the city.

As of last year, Nov. 18 has been commemorated as a non-working national holiday throughout Croatia titled Remembrance day for Homeland War Victims and Remembrance Day for the Victims of Vukovar and Skabrnja. In Vukovar, the central ceremony is the traditional 'Remembrance Procession': a five-kilometer walk from the city hospital that ends with state officials and other delegations laying wreaths at the Croatian Memorial Cemetery for Homeland War Victims.

This year, due to the Covid-19 epidemic, Croatian Veterans' Affairs Minister Tomo Medved, of the Croatian Democratic Union, called on citizens to remain at home and pay their respect by lighting candles for the deceased. Those who do decide to partake in the ceremony were asked to adhere to the prescribed anti-epidemic security measures.

Numerous high-level officials have announced that they would attend the Vukovar memorial, including Croatian President Zoran Milanovic, Prime Minister and president of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union Andrej Plenkovic, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic, as well as members of the Croatian Cabinet -- including Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milosevic, of the Serb minority. Representatives from numerous political parties and veterans associations will also attend.

The representatives of Serbian organizations held their own ceremony in Vukovar on Nov. 16, when they laid a wreath in the Danube and another at the site of the mass grave at Ovcara, thereby paying their respects to all those who died or disappeared in Vukovar in 1991.

The city of Vukovar was under siege for 87 days, from Aug. 25 to Nov. 18, 1991, surrounded by members of the Yugoslav People's Army and paramilitary forces. According to records from the city hospital, 1,624 people died during the siege, while over 2,500 were wounded. About 5,000 were taken to camps in Serbia, while some 22,000 Croats and other non-Serbs were driven out of the city. Three decades later, 300 people remain listed as disappeared.