Croatia remembers Vukovar and Škabrnja victims 

(Photo: Grad Vukovar)

ZAGREB, 18 November 2023 – Croatia is marking the 32nd anniversary of the fall of Vukovar, the most dramatic battle of the Homeland War, and also the Škabrnja massacre today. 

During the 87-day siege of Vukovar by the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) between August and November 1991, 2,717 soldiers and civilians were killed, including 34 children aged between 7 months and 17 years old, 1,219 were wounded, and more than 350 Croatian soldiers unaccounted for.

More than 22,000 Croats and other non-Serbs were also expelled from the city.

Vukovar citizens last night gathered in front of the National Memorial Hospital in Vukovar to pray for the victims of the Homeland War.

(Photo: Grad Vukovar)

Vukovar Hospital is the place where 260 wounded, veterans and medical staff were taken from after the fall of the city, whose bodies were exhumed from a mass grave in Ovčara, while the fates of some taken from the hospital are still unknown.

(Photo: Grad Vukovar)

Candles were also lit all over the country and placed on the sidewalks of streets named after the city. Thousands of candles again were lit in the capital Zagreb along the 10-kilometre-long Vukovar Street to remember victims who list their lives in 1990s Homeland War in Vukovar.

(Photo: Grad Vukovar)

Vukovar was defended by around 1,800 lightly armed soldiers of the Croatian National Guard and civilian volunteers, against 36,000 JNA soldiers.

On 18 November, the last defenders in Vukovar’s town centre surrendered. 

A full day programme, including a big procession, marking the occasion will take place on Saturday in Vukovar.

For the fourth year now, Croatia is marking the occasion with a public holiday.

(Photo: Grad Vukovar)

(Photo: Grad Vukovar)

Also today, the victims of the Škabrnja massacre are being remembered. Around 85 Croatian civilians lost their lives on this day in the villages of Škabrnja and Nadin northeast of Zadar at the hands of JNA.