Bosnia: 80th anniversary of Bleiburg killings marked near Stolac

"Thousands were killed not for crimes they had committed, but because of their identity, faith, and beliefs," said Mostar Bishop Petar Palic.

In his sermon, he stressed that "the traces of these atrocities have not been forgotten, regardless of the passage of time", adding that the victims deserve truth, reverence, and just remembrance.

Amid a Yugoslav army offensive aimed at defeating pro-Nazi and anti-communist forces, tens of thousands of mostly pro-fascist Croat soldiers and their families fled in 1945 toward Austria to seek help from the British army, only to be turned back by the Brits, right into the hands of anti-fascists.    

In and around the Austrian town of Bleiburg, thousands of the so-called Ustashas were killed. The Yugoslav forces saw the slaughter they committed as punishment for the tens of thousands of Jews, Serbs, Roma and anti-fascists killed by the Ustasha during WWII.    

After the dissolution of Yugoslavia, Croatia began commemorating the Bleiburg victims with a large gathering near the Austrian town every year, but it was cancelled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

The Stolac commemoration and Holy Mass drew numerous officials, representatives of organisations, and public figures. A wreath was laid by members of the Croat National Assembly (HNS) of BiH, led by President Dragan Covic, Croatian Ambassador to BiH Ivan Sabolic, and representatives of a few associations.

Čović told the press that "forgetting is not acceptable", and recalled that "today we enjoy peace and freedom thanks to the sacrifice of those who suffered, and we must preserve and honour that sacrifice responsibly."

The Mayor of Stolac, Stjepan Boskovic, presented the plans for a Memorial Centre in Radimlja, which, he said, "will serve as a permanent tribute to all victims and a reminder of their struggle for freedom and their own state".