Remains of 15 Croat civilians killed in 1946 buried

by croatiaweek
September 13, 2020
in News

(Photo: Ministarstvo hrvatskih branitelja)

ZAGREB, Sept 13 (Hina) – The remains of 15 civilians, killed on 12 September 1946 on the order of the OZNA communist secret police because they were Croats, were buried in Otocac on Saturday, where Veterans Minister Tomo Medved supported the construction of a Croatian cemetery at Krbavsko Polje.

We support Bishop Mile Bogovic’s initiative to build a Croatian cemetery at Krbavsko Polje, notably for all victims exhumed outside Croatian territory, Medved said.

The remains of the 15 civilians were exhumed in 2013 from two mass graves near Otocac and temporarily buried at the Otocac cemetery. This past July 30, the Veterans Ministry re-exhumed them after DNA analysis undertaken to establish their identities. Twelve of the victims have been identified. Ten of the victims were men, five were women, and they were aged 20-40.

More than 1,000 gravesites have been registered in Croatia and 60 locations have been researched over the past four years, with the remains of those killed during and after WWII confirmed at 42 locations, Medved said.

(Photo: Ministarstvo hrvatskih branitelja)

“We have exhumed 102 persons at Tuskanac, 294 at Gracani, 82 at Macelj, 25 near the Faculty of Teacher Education in Zagreb, 130 at Brdovec, 30 at Zagvozd, ten at Visnjica, many from smaller graves, and we have exhumed the remains of 814 persons from the Jazovka pit,” he added.

The minister said significant results had been achieved in tracing the remains of persons killed during and after WWII in Lika-Senj County, with the remains of 74 exhumed so far.

Medved said the tracing of the remains of persons killed during the Homeland War in Lika-Senj County would begin on Monday, adding that besides finding the remains of WWII victims, the biggest priority was finding persons gone missing during the 1991-95 Homeland War.