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The Vukovar massacre, also known as the Vukovar hospital massacre or the Ovčara massacre, was the killing of Croatian
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
and civilians by Serb paramilitaries, to whom they had been turned over by the
Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA/; Macedonian language, Macedonian, Montenegrin language, Montenegrin and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian language, Croatian and ; , J ...
(JNA), at the Ovčara farm southeast of
Vukovar Vukovar (; sr-Cyrl, Вуковар, , ) is a city in Croatia, in the eastern Regions of Croatia, regions of Syrmia and Slavonia. It contains Croatia's largest river port, located at the confluence of the Vuka (river), Vuka and the Danube. Vukova ...
on 20 November 1991, during the
Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence) and (rarely) "War in Krajina" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Рат у Крајини, Rat u Krajini) are used. was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croats, Croat forces loyal to the Governmen ...
. The massacre occurred shortly after Vukovar's capture by the JNA, Territorial Defence (TO), and paramilitaries from neighbouring Serbia. It was the largest massacre of the Croatian War of Independence. In the final days of the battle, the evacuation of the Vukovar hospital was negotiated between Croatian authorities, the JNA and the European Community Monitor Mission in cooperation with the
International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of rules of war and ...
(ICRC). The JNA subsequently refused the ICRC access to the hospital despite the agreement and removed approximately 300 people from its premises. The group, largely consisting of Croats but also including Serbs, Hungarians, Muslims and two foreign nationals who fought on the side of the
Croatian National Guard The Croatian National Guard ( or ZNG) was an armed force established by Croatia in April and May 1991 during the Croatian War of Independence. Although it was established within the framework of the Ministry of the Interior for legal reasons, th ...
, was initially transported to the JNA barracks in Vukovar. Several prisoners were identified as hospital staff and removed from the group to be returned to the hospital while the rest of them were transported to the Ovčara farm south of Vukovar. Once at the farm, the prisoners were beaten for several hours before the JNA pulled its troops from the site, leaving the prisoners in the custody of the Croatian Serb TO and Serbian paramilitaries. The prisoners were then taken to a prepared site, shot in groups of ten to twenty and buried in a
mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may Unidentified decedent, not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of exec ...
. The mass grave was discovered in October 1992 and guarded by the
United Nations Protection Force The United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR; also known by its French acronym FORPRONU: ''Force de Protection des Nations Unies'') was the first United Nations peacekeeping force in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Yugoslav War ...
which had deployed to the area earlier that year. In 1996, 200 sets of remains were exhumed from the grave by
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes in the Yugoslav Wars, war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to tr ...
(ICTY) investigators. Croatia believes 61 others were buried in a different grave on the site, while ICTY prosecutors believe that figure stands at 60. The ICTY convicted two JNA officers in connection with the massacre, and also tried former Serbian President
Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Милошевић, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the President of Serbia between 1989 and 1997 and President of the Federal Republic of Yugos ...
for a number of war crimes, including those committed at Vukovar. Milošević died in prison before his trial could be completed. Several former members of the Croatian Serb TO and Serbian paramilitary units have been tried by the Serbian judiciary and convicted for their involvement in the massacre. In February 2015, the
International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...
ruled that the siege, massacre and simultaneous atrocities committed elsewhere in Croatia did not constitute
genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...
. The site of the mass grave is marked by a monument and the storage building used at Ovčara farm to hold the prisoners in captivity before their execution was rebuilt as a memorial centre in 2006. By July 2014, the centre had been visited by about 500,000 tourists.


Background

In 1990, ethnic tensions between
Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...
and
Croats The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...
worsened after the electoral defeat of the government of the
Socialist Republic of Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), commonly abbreviated as SR Croatia and referred to as simply Croatia, was a ...
by the
Croatian Democratic Union The Croatian Democratic Union (, , HDZ) is a major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. Since 2016, it has been the ruling political party in Croatia under the incumbent Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. It is one of the ...
( – HDZ). The
Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA/; Macedonian language, Macedonian, Montenegrin language, Montenegrin and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian language, Croatian and ; , J ...
( – JNA) confiscated Croatia's Territorial Defence ( – TO) weapons to minimize resistance. On 17 August, the tensions escalated into an open revolt of the Croatian Serbs. The rebellion was centred on the predominantly Serb-populated areas of the
Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...
n hinterland around
Knin Knin () is a city in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, located in the Dalmatian hinterland near the source of the river Krka (Croatia), Krka, an important traffic junction on the rail and road routes between Zagreb and Split, Croatia, Split. ...
, approximately north-east of
Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...
, as well as parts of
Lika Lika () is a traditional region of Croatia proper, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by t ...
,
Kordun The Kordun () region is a part of central Croatia from the bottom of the Petrova Gora (Peter's mountain) mountain range, which extends along the rivers Korana and Slunjčica, and forms part of the border region to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Within ...
, Banovina and eastern
Slavonia Slavonia (; ) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria County, Istria, one of the four Regions of Croatia, historical regions of Croatia. Located in the Pannonian Plain and taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with f ...
. In January 1991,
Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
, supported by
Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...
and Serbia's provinces of
Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...
and
Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...
, unsuccessfully tried to obtain the Yugoslav Presidency's approval for a JNA operation to disarm Croatia's security forces. The request was denied, and a bloodless skirmish between Serb insurgents and the Croatian special police occurred that March. This prompted the JNA itself to ask the Federal Presidency to grant it wartime authority and declare a
state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...
. Even though the request was backed by Serbia and its allies, on 15 March, the Federal Presidency declined. Serbian President
Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Милошевић, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the President of Serbia between 1989 and 1997 and President of the Federal Republic of Yugos ...
, preferring a campaign to expand Serbia rather than to preserve
Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...
with Croatia as a federal unit, publicly threatened to replace the JNA with a Serbian army and declared that he no longer recognized the authority of the Federal Presidency. As the JNA came under Milošević's control, the JNA abandoned its plans to preserve Yugoslavia in favour of expanding Serbia. The first casualties of the conflict occurred by the end of March. In early April, the leaders of the Serb revolt in Croatia declared their intention to unite the areas under their control with Serbia. These areas came to be viewed as breakaway regions by the
Government of Croatia The Government of Croatia (), formally the Government of the Republic of Croatia (), commonly abbreviated to Croatian Government (), is the main executive branch of government in Croatia. It is led by the Prime Minister of Croatia, president o ...
. At the beginning of 1991, Croatia had no regular army. To bolster its defence, Croatia doubled its police numbers to about 20,000. The most effective part of the Croatian police force was a 3,000-strong special police comprising twelve
battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...
s organised along military lines. There were also 9,000–10,000 regionally organised reserve police in 16 battalions and 10 companies, but they lacked weapons. In response to the deteriorating situation, the Croatian government established the
Croatian National Guard The Croatian National Guard ( or ZNG) was an armed force established by Croatia in April and May 1991 during the Croatian War of Independence. Although it was established within the framework of the Ministry of the Interior for legal reasons, th ...
( – ZNG) in May by expanding the special police battalions into four all-professional guards brigades. Under the control of the Croatian
Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...
and commanded by retired JNA
General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...
Martin Špegelj Martin Špegelj (11 November 1927 – 11 May 2014) was a Croatian army general and politician who served as the second defense minister of Croatia and, later, the chief of staff of the newborn Croatian army and inspector-general of the army. His ...
, the four guards brigades comprised approximately 8,000 troops. The reserve police, also expanded to 40,000, was attached to the ZNG and reorganised into 19 brigades and 14 independent battalions. The guards brigades were the only units of the ZNG that were fully equipped with
small arms A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originate ...
; throughout the ZNG there was a lack of heavier weapons and there was poor command and control structure above the brigade level. The shortage of heavy weapons was so severe that the ZNG resorted to using
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
-era arms taken from museums and film studios. At the time, the Croatian weapon stockpile consisted of 30,000 small arms purchased abroad and 15,000 previously owned by the police. To replace the personnel lost to the guards brigades, a new 10,000-strong special police was established.


Prelude

After Croatia launched the
Battle of the Barracks The Battle of the Barracks () was a series of engagements that occurred in mid-to-late 1991 between the Croatian National Guard (ZNG, later renamed the Croatian Army) and the Croatian police on one side and the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) on ...
on 14–15 September to capture the JNA's facilities in Croatia, the JNA launched a small-scale operation against
Vukovar Vukovar (; sr-Cyrl, Вуковар, , ) is a city in Croatia, in the eastern Regions of Croatia, regions of Syrmia and Slavonia. It contains Croatia's largest river port, located at the confluence of the Vuka (river), Vuka and the Danube. Vukova ...
to relieve the city garrison. At the same time, it began large-scale
mobilisation Mobilization (alternatively spelled as mobilisation) is the act of assembling and readying military troops and supplies for war. The word ''mobilization'' was first used in a military context in the 1850s to describe the preparation of the ...
of men in preparation for its campaign in Croatia. It was met with widespread refusal of mobilised personnel to report to their designated units, desertions and an overall lack of enthusiasm for the campaign. The response rate was particularly poor in
Central Serbia Central Serbia (), also referred to as Serbia proper (), is the region of Serbia lying outside the autonomous province of Vojvodina to the north and the disputed Kosovo region to the south. Central Serbia is a term of convenience, not an administ ...
, where only 26 percent of those called up reported for service. This resulted in low troop availability, forcing the JNA to deploy fewer infantry units. The JNA's offensive operations, directly associated with the campaign in the east Croatian region of
Slavonia Slavonia (; ) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria County, Istria, one of the four Regions of Croatia, historical regions of Croatia. Located in the Pannonian Plain and taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with f ...
, were launched on 20 September. The assault on Vukovar gradually became the main effort of the campaign as the JNA was repeatedly unable to capture the city. The fighting in and around Vukovar lasted months and eventually drew in the JNA's main armoured force, which had previously been slated to advance west towards Serb-held areas in western Slavonia. In addition to relieving its Vukovar garrison, the JNA wished to dissipate the Croatian forces in the city so that they would not pose any threat to its rear in the event that the campaign progressed west of
Vinkovci Vinkovci () is a city in Slavonia, in the Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. The city settlement's population was 28,111 in the 2021 census, while the total population was 30,842, making it the largest town of the county. It is a local tr ...
. The JNA was reinforced by local Serb-manned TO units and Serbian paramilitary volunteers who were meant to replace those reservists that had failed to respond to their call-up. The volunteers were often motivated by ethnic hatred, looted countless homes and committed numerous atrocities against civilians. After more than two months of fighting, the Croatian forces surrendered on 18 November. Vukovar sustained significant damage due to the JNA's artillery and rocket barrages. By the end of the battle, over 700,000 shells and other missiles had been fired at the city, at a rate of up to 12,000 per day.


Timeline


Evacuation arrangements

On 17 November, Major General Andrija Rašeta, the commander of the JNA 5th (Zagreb) Military District, notified the European Community Monitor Mission (ECMM) that the JNA accepted in principle the quick evacuation of vulnerable persons from Vukovar. At the time, it was estimated that there were about 400 people trapped in the city's hospital, but the actual number was later discovered to be about 450. This included about 40 patients receiving treatment for severe injuries sustained over the preceding few days and about 360 patients recovering from wounds suffered earlier on. In addition to these individuals, some civilians had taken shelter in the hospital in the final days of the battle. They moved there expecting to be evacuated from the city, even though the hospital itself was subjected to daily artillery attack. Furthermore, a number of Croatian troops took refuge in the hospital posing as patients or staff. On 18 November, the Tripartite Commission, consisting of representatives of Croatia, the JNA and the ECMM, discussed methods of evacuation with representatives of the
International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of rules of war and ...
(ICRC), the
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; pronounced ), known in some English-speaking settings as Doctors Without Borders, is a charity that provides humanitarian medical care. It is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) of French origin known for its projects in conflict zo ...
and the
Malteser International Malteser International is an international non-governmental aid agency for humanitarian aid of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Developed in 2005 from the foreign aid service of Malteser Germany (founded 1953), and having the status of an ...
. On the night of 18/19 November, Rašeta and Croatian
Health Minister A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...
Andrija Hebrang signed an agreement on the evacuation. The agreement guaranteed that the evacuees would travel via the route Lužac suburb– BogdanovciMarinci–Zidine junction– Nuštar–Vinkovci. They were to be handed over to international authorities at the Zidine junction, the hospital was to be placed under the control of the ICRC and the ECMM was to oversee the entire operation. Hebrang notified the hospital director Vesna Bosanac of the agreement and told her that ICRC teams would arrive. That evening Siniša Glavašević, a radio reporter who had covered the entire course of the siege from within the city, broadcast his final report from the hospital. Glavašević himself hoped to leave the city with the ICRC, fearing for his life should the Serb paramilitaries capture him.


Takeover of the hospital

On the morning of 19 November, the ECMM became aware that organised resistance had ceased in Vukovar, but it did not receive any information on the fate of the hospital patients. Consequently, the head of the ECMM, ambassador Dirk Jan van Houten, contacted Rašeta asking him to intervene on the ECMM's behalf. That day, a JNA unit arrived at the hospital and Bosanac was taken to meet JNA
Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
Mile Mrkšić. According to Bosanac, Mrkšić told her that he was not obligated by the evacuation agreement. Even though the ICRC was not granted access to Vukovar by JNA officers at the scene, in the early evening of 19 November, ICRC representative Nicolas Borsinger managed to reach the hospital claiming he had an appointment with "a general". Once there, Borsinger found a JNA
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
in charge of the facility who agreed to grant the ICRC access. Borsinger then rejoined the ICRC convoy that was moving towards the hospital to evacuate it. The hospital was also toured by French reporter Agnès Vahramian that day, and there she recorded an interview with Jean-Michel Nicolier, a wounded Frenchman who fought alongside Croatian forces in Vukovar. Vahramian offered Nicolier a
press pass A press pass (alternatively referred to as a press card or a journalist pass) grants some type of special privilege to journalists. Some cards have recognized legal status; others merely indicate that the bearer is a practicing journalist. The n ...
to try to get him out of the city, but he refused. On the morning of 20 November, the ICRC convoy reached Vukovar, only to be stopped at a bridge near the hospital. An armoured vehicle blocked access to the bridge leading to the hospital, and a JNA officer at the scene,
Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...
Veselin Šljivančanin Veselin Šljivančanin (; born 13 June 1953) is a former Montenegrin Serb officer in the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) who participated in the Battle of Vukovar and was subsequently convicted on a war crimes indictment by the International Crimin ...
, refused to let the ICRC pass. In order to facilitate negotiations with the ICRC at the scene,
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
reporter
Martin Bell Martin Bell, (born 31 August 1938) is a British UNICEF (UNICEF UK) Ambassador, a former broadcast war Journalist, reporter and former independent politician who became the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Ta ...
volunteered his interpreter. In a confrontation recorded by television cameras, Šljivančanin told the ICRC personnel: "This is my country, we have conquered this. This is Yugoslavia, and I am in command here!" The ECMM personnel that had arrived at the Zidine junction to meet the returning convoy were informed by the JNA that the evacuees would instead be turned over to them in
Bosanski Šamac Bosnian may refer to: *Anything related to the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina or its inhabitants *Anything related to Bosnia (region) or its inhabitants * Bosniaks, an ethnic group mainly inhabiting Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of three constit ...
, in northern Bosnia, on 22 November. While Šljivančanin held back the convoy, the prisoners were smuggled out of the hospital in buses in another direction. In total, approximately 300 people were taken away from the hospital.


Ovčara farm

Later on 20 November, Šljivančanin and Colonel
Nebojša Pavković Nebojša Pavković ( sr-cyr, Небојша Павковић; born 10 April 1946) is a former Serbian army general who served as Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Yugoslavia from February 2000 to June 2002. He also served as the ...
informed the press that the JNA would provide buses to transport the wounded out of Vukovar. Instead, at about 10:30, the buses took the prisoners to the JNA barracks on the southern edge of Vukovar, where 15 men were separated from the group and returned to the hospital after being identified as hospital staff. During their stay in the barracks, the Croatian Serb TO and Serbian paramilitaries threatened the prisoners. Croatian Serb leaders opposed moving the prisoners to detention facilities in Serbia, claiming they wished to prosecute them for alleged crimes committed against Serbs. After spending two hours at the barracks, the buses took the prisoners to the Ovčara farm near the village of Grabovo. The group largely consisted of Croats, but also included several ethnic Serbs,
Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
, ethnic Hungarians, the French national Nicolier, and one German national who fought in defence of Vukovar. It also included Rašeta's nephew, who worked at the Vukovar
hospital pharmacy A hospital pharmacy is a department within a hospital that prepares, compounds, stocks and dispenses inpatient medications. Hospital pharmacies usually stock a larger range of medications, including more specialized and investigational medicatio ...
at the time. The group taken to Ovčara consisted of 261 people. Sources disagree as to whether the group included one, or two women, one of whom was five months pregnant. The age of the prisoners ranged from 16 to 72. The youngest among them was 16-year-old Igor Kačić.


Igor Kačić

On November 20, 1991, two days after the fall of Vukovar, Kačić, his mother, and sisters came out of the make-shift shelter of the Vukovar hospital basement with other refugees under orders of the
Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA/; Macedonian language, Macedonian, Montenegrin language, Montenegrin and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian language, Croatian and ; , J ...
and local Serb forces. Outside,
Veselin Šljivančanin Veselin Šljivančanin (; born 13 June 1953) is a former Montenegrin Serb officer in the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) who participated in the Battle of Vukovar and was subsequently convicted on a war crimes indictment by the International Crimin ...
, officer of the Yugoslav People's Army, was standing at the door separating the men from women and children. He pointed to Kačić, who was a tall and strong young man, and he put him among the men, saying: "You over there!". Igor Kačić's mother asked Šljivančanin "Why him, he's just a kid?" as she showed him Igor's health card with the date of his birth. Šljivančanin replied: "We'll check everything." That was the last time his mother and sisters saw Kačić. He was killed at Ovčara the same day.


Massacre

The prisoners were forced onto buses. Once they reached Ovčara, away from Vukovar, the captives were ordered from the buses one-by-one and forced to run the gauntlet past dozens of JNA troops and Serb paramilitaries towards a farm storage building. Slavko Dokmanović, a former mayor of Vukovar, was one of the armed men involved in beating prisoners. As the captives were beaten, they were also stripped of their personal belongings, money and jewelry. Over the course of the day, the JNA military police failed to prevent soldiers of the Croatian Serb TO and Serbian paramilitaries from beating the prisoners in the storage building. They were beaten using sticks, rifle butts, chains, baseball bats, and in one instance a wounded prisoner was beaten with his own crutches. By sundown, at least two men were beaten to death. In addition, one of the captors shot five prisoners, including one Frenchman, who is presumed to be Nicolier. Seven or eight men were returned to Vukovar on orders of the JNA, presumably released at the intervention of their Serb neighbours. Ultimately, Mrkšić ordered the JNA military police to withdraw from the farm, leaving the prisoners in the custody of a Croatian Serb TO unit led by Miroljub Vujović, commander of the Croatian Serb TO in Vukovar, and the ''Leva Supoderica'' paramilitary unit. ''Leva Supoderica'' was a volunteer unit set up by the Serbian Radical Party (; SRS) in
Šid Šid ( sr-cyr, Шид, ; ) is a town and municipality located in the Srem District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It has a population of 12,628, while the municipality has 27,894 inhabitants (2022 census). A border crossing betw ...
, Serbia, and subordinated to the JNA's 1st Guards Mechanised Brigade. At about 18:00, the prisoners were divided into groups. Each group of 10 to 20 was loaded onto a truck and transported several hundred metres (yards) from the building towards a wooded ravine. When the prisoners reached the previously prepared execution site, they were shot and buried in a
mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may Unidentified decedent, not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of exec ...
using a bulldozer. After 15–20 minutes, the truck would return empty to pick up the next group. The final group of prisoners was executed just outside the farm building itself. By 22:00 that evening, all of the prisoners had been killed. Most sources place the number of victims at around 260. This figure has been used by ICTY prosecutors. Some estimates of the death toll go as high as 264. The Croatian authorities believe that the total figure stands at 261.


Aftermath

Croatian Serb forces turned Ovčara into a prison camp in early October 1991. Aside from the massacre, 3,000–4,000 male prisoners were temporarily held in the Ovčara camp at some point during autumn of 1991 before being transported to the prison in Sremska Mitrovica or to the local JNA barracks, which was the transit point for Serbian detention camps such as
Stajićevo Stajićevo (; ) is a village in Serbia. It is located in the Zrenjanin municipality, in the Central Banat District, Vojvodina province. The village has a Serb ethnic majority (96.29%) and its population numbering 1,999 people (2002 census). Name ...
and Begejci. Following a series of political agreements concluded in 1991 and a ceasefire between the JNA and Croatia in early 1992, the
United Nations Protection Force The United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR; also known by its French acronym FORPRONU: ''Force de Protection des Nations Unies'') was the first United Nations peacekeeping force in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Yugoslav War ...
(UNPROFOR) was deployed for
peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities, especially military ones, intended to create conditions that favor lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed w ...
in certain parts of Croatia, including Vukovar and its surroundings. It began its deployment in March 1992.


Discovery of the mass grave

Forensic anthropologist Clyde Snow learned of the massacre during his visit to
Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
in October 1992. Snow travelled there as a
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
(UN) team member sent to investigate reports of war crimes. In a meeting Snow had with the dean of the Zagreb University School of Medicine, he was introduced to a former soldier who claimed to have survived the massacre and told Snow where it took place. Three days later, Snow went to Vukovar and drove to Ovčara accompanied by
Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...
Sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...
Larry Moore who was deployed to the region with the UNPROFOR. At the site, Moore spotted a human skull in the mud. A few days later, the UN declared the site a
crime scene A crime scene is any location that may be associated with a committed crime. Crime scenes contain physical evidence that is pertinent to a criminal investigation. This evidence is collected by crime scene investigators (CSI) and law enforcement. ...
and deployed Russian UNPROFOR troops to guard it. Snow put together a four-man team including himself to conduct a preliminary investigation of the site before the winter, and the team arrived at the site in December 1992. They examined the site still under guard by the Russian troops, excavated the skull spotted by Moore and the rest of the body, as well as another set of partially covered remains. The team excavated a trench across the site. That allowed them to detect a few more bodies and infer the size of the grave. The information they obtained led Snow to conclude that the grave may contain more than two hundred bodies. The investigators also found spent cartridges consistent with standard Yugoslav-built
AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is an assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kala ...
s on one side of the grave and bullet holes in trees on the opposite side, leading them to conclude that a
firing squad Firing may refer to: * Dismissal (employment), sudden loss of employment by termination * Firemaking, the act of starting a fire * Burning; see combustion * Shooting, specifically the discharge of firearms * Execution by firing squad, a method of ...
had stood on one side of the pit and fired across or into it. Croatian authorities launched initiatives to exhume the bodies buried at Ovčara in 1993 and 1994, but those were unsuccessful. A five-member Commission of Experts appointed by the
UN Secretary General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...
came to Ovčara to exhume the victims in October 1993. However, they were prevented from carrying out their work by the local Croatian Serb administration. After the Croatian Serb authorities blocked several attempts to further investigate the mass grave at Ovčara, still under constant guard by the Russian peacekeepers, the site was visited by then- U.S. Ambassador to the UN
Madeleine Albright Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Körbelová, later Korbelová; May 15, 1937 – March 23, 2022) was an American diplomat and political science, political scientist who served as the 64th United States Secretary of State, United S ...
in January 1994. She used the occasion to stress U.S. support for the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes in the Yugoslav Wars, war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to tr ...
(ICTY), which had been set up in 1993.


Exhumation

The political situation in the area did not change until 1995. That year, Croatia militarily defeated the Croatian Serbs in offensives
codename A code name, codename, call sign, or cryptonym is a code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in ...
d
Flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * The Flash, several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Barry Allen ** Wally West, the first Kid Flash and third adult Flash ...
and
Storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstor ...
, in May and August respectively. That left eastern Slavonia as the last remaining Croatian Serb-held area. Gradual restoration of the area to Croatian rule was agreed upon in November through the
Erdut Agreement The Erdut Agreement ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Erdutski sporazum, Ердутски споразум), officially the Basic Agreement on the Region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium, is an agreement reached on 12 November 19 ...
, and the
United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium The United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) was a United Nations, UN peacebuilding Provisional government, transitional administration in Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmi ...
(UNTAES) peacekeeping mission was deployed to implement the agreement. The exhumation of the remains at Ovčara began on 1 September 1996 while the site was still under the constant guard of peacekeepers. The exhumation was conducted by ICTY personnel and the
Physicians for Human Rights Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a US-based not-for-profit human rights NGO that uses medicine and science to document and advocate against mass atrocities and severe human rights violations around the world. PHR headquarters are in New Y ...
, with Croatian observers at the site. The excavation works uncovered a mass grave encompassing approximately and containing a heap of intertwined bodies. Most of the bodies exhibited evidence of multiple gunshot wounds. By 24 October, 200 sets of remains were recovered from the grave. The remains were transported for forensic examination to the Zagreb University School of Medicine. In the four years preceding the exhumation, Croatian authorities collected ''ante-mortem'' information on presumed victims, built a modern
morgue A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cu ...
at the School of Medicine and trained
geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic process ...
s in
DNA analysis Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or ...
to allow for the identification of those who could not be identified by ICTY investigators using traditional methods. By October 2002, 184 victims were identified, largely using DNA analyses, and the figure was increased to 194 by 2010. Glavašević's remains were among those exhumed at Ovčara. Croatian authorities suspect that a further 61 individuals killed at Ovčara were buried there as well. They suspect one or more additional mass graves exist in the general area, or that the bodies originally buried at the site were moved to a secondary grave. Nevenka Nekić, the Croatian author of a book on Nicolier, claims that an additional shallow grave was excavated at Ovčara in November 1991 and that Nicolier and 60 others were buried there. According to her, they were exhumed by Croatian Serb authorities and moved to a secondary location in early 1992 because the grave was so shallow that body parts protruded through the ground surface.


War crime trials

In November 1995, the ICTY indicted Mrkšić, Šljivančanin and JNA captain Miroslav Radić for war crimes related to the Ovčara massacre. The group was subsequently termed the "Vukovar three" by the media. The ICTY also charged Dokmanović, mayor of Vukovar at the time, with war crimes in connection with the massacre in a sealed indictment in March 1996. He was arrested by UNTAES troops in Operation Little Flower and transferred to the ICTY via Čepin Airfield on 27 June 1997. The operation was the first arrest of a person indicted by the ICTY by any UN force in the former Yugoslavia. Dokmanović's trial never produced a verdict, however. He hanged himself in his ICTY prison cell on 28 June 1998, several days before a verdict was to be announced. The ICTY also linked Serb warlord
Željko Ražnatović Željko Ražnatović (, ; 17 April 1952 – 15 January 2000), better known as Arkan (), was a Serbian warlord, mobster and head of the Serbs, Serb paramilitary force called the Serb Volunteer Guard during the Yugoslav Wars, considered one of the ...
and his paramilitary formations to the massacre, but he was assassinated in Belgrade before he could be brought to trial. Mrkšić surrendered to the ICTY in the Netherlands in May 2002. Radić and Šljivančanin were arrested in Serbia in May and June 2003 respectively. The arrests were made shortly before the expiration of a deadline set by the
U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...
linking financial assistance to Serbia to its cooperation with the ICTY. In 2007, the ICTY convicted Mrkšić and Šljivančanin, but acquitted Radić. Mrkšić received a 20-year prison sentence, while Šljivančanin was sentenced to five years in prison. In 2009, Šljivančanin's sentence was increased to 17 years in prison on appeal and finally reduced to ten years following a review of the judgment in 2010. The ICTY also indicted Milošević, as well as Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović of the Serbian State Security Service, Croatian Serb political leader
Goran Hadžić Goran Hadžić ( sr-cyrl, Горан Хаџић, ; 7 September 1958 – 12 July 2016) was a Croatian Serb politician and President of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina, during the Croatian War of Independence. He was accused of c ...
and the leader of the Serbian Radical Party
Vojislav Šešelj Vojislav Šešelj ( sr-Cyrl, Војислав Шешељ, ; born 11 October 1954) is a Serbian politician and convicted war criminal. He is the founder and president of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (SRS). Between 1998 and 2000, he was a D ...
for various war crimes, including those committed in Vukovar. Milošević's trial ended without any verdict upon his death in March 2006, while the Vukovar-related charges against Stanišić and Simatović were dropped from their indictments even before the pair were acquitted on all counts in 2013. In March 2016, Šešelj was acquitted on all counts, pending appeal. In 2018, he was convicted of
hate speech Hate speech is a term with varied meaning and has no single, consistent definition. It is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as ...
for inciting the deportation of Croats from
Hrtkovci Hrtkovci ( sr-Cyrl, Хртковци) is a village located in the municipality of Ruma, Serbia. As of a 2011 census, its population is 3,036. Name In Serbian language, Serbian, the village is known as , and in Hungarian language, Hungarian as . I ...
in 1992, and sentenced to ten years imprisonment, but acquitted on all other counts, including those pertaining to Vukovar. Hadžić died of cancer in July 2016, before his trial could be completed. , Serbian authorities have convicted 15 people in connection with the Ovčara massacre. In 2010, Vujović and Stanko Vujanović (deputy commander of Croatian Serb TO in Vukovar) were convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison along with eleven others, all of them former members of the Croatian Serb TO or ''Leva Supoderica''. Predrag Milojević, Đorđe Šošić, Miroslav Đanković and Saša Radak were sentenced to 20 years in prison, Milan Vojnović and Ivan Antonijević were sentenced to 15 years in prison, Jovica Perić was sentenced to 13 years, Nada Kalaba was sentenced to 11 years, Milan Lančužanin was sentenced to seven, and Predrag Dragović and Goran Mugoša were given five-year prison sentences. In December 2013, these convictions were set aside by the Constitutional Court of Serbia and the case was returned to the Court of Appeals for a new trial. In February 2015, Vujović, Vujanović, Milojević, Radak, Šošić and Đanković were released from custody based on a decision of the Supreme Court of Cassation pending a retrial by the Court of Appeals. In a separate trial completed in 2014, Serbian authorities convicted and sentenced Petar Ćirić to 15 years in prison for participating in the massacre as a member of ''Leva Supoderica''. In February 2015, the
International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...
(ICJ) ruled that the siege and ensuing massacre did not constitute genocide, though it confirmed that serious crimes had taken place.


Commemoration

Since 1998, the victims of the Battle of Vukovar and the events that occurred in its immediate aftermath are commemorated annually on 18 November by a procession starting at the Vukovar hospital and reaching the city's memorial cemetery. In 2014, the event drew 80,000 participants. The Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Vukovar became a national public holiday in 2020. A monument sculpted by Slavomir Drinković that marks the site of the mass grave at Ovčara was unveiled on 30 December 1998. Monuments of the same design have subsequently been used to mark all the other mass graves from the Croatian War of Independence. The massacre itself has come to be referred to as the Vukovar massacre, the Ovčara massacre, or the Vukovar hospital massacre. It was by far the largest massacre committed during the Croatian War of Independence. In 2006, the Ovčara Memorial Centre, designed by Miljenko Romić, opened at the site of the former Ovčara farm. The centre opened in a remodeled storage building where prisoners were held on 20 November 1991 before they were executed. The dim interior of the building, accessed through a glass-encased foyer, features illuminated photographs of 200 victims exhumed from the mass grave and the 61 missing who were executed at Ovčara. The concrete floor contains encased spent cartridges and the Spiral of Evil () sculpture displaying the names of 261 victims. The ceiling contains 261 lighting fixtures symbolising the number of victims. The centre also contains an exhibition of personal belongings and documents found in the mass grave. The completion of the centre was funded by the City of Zagreb at the cost of 2 million kuna ( 270,000 
euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...
). By July 2014, the centre was visited by about 500,000 people. In the same year, Croatia launched an education programme which entails visits to the centre by eighth-grade pupils, and 50,000 pupils are scheduled to visit the centre annually. In 2010, Serbian President
Boris Tadić Boris Tadić, (born 15 January 1958) is a Serbian politician who served as the president of Serbia from 2004 to 2012. Born in Sarajevo, he graduated from the University of Belgrade with a degree in psychology. He later worked as a journalist ...
visited the memorial centre and the mass grave site, as the first Serbian head of state to do so. He laid wreaths at the site and apologized on behalf of the Serbian state. Several victims of the massacre are honoured individually in Vukovar. There is a monument honouring Kačić together with his father who was killed on 2 October 1991 during the Battle of Vukovar, a bridge in the city is named after Nicolier, and one of the city's schools is named after Glavašević.


See also

* List of massacres in Croatia * Velepromet camp


References


Sources

;Books * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ;Scientific journal articles * * * ;News reports * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ;Other sources * * * * *


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vukovar Massacre 1990s murders in Croatia 1991 in Croatia 1991 crimes in Croatia 1991 murders in Europe Anti-Croat sentiment Attacks on hospitals during the Yugoslav Wars Ethnic cleansing in the Yugoslav Wars
Massacre A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...
Massacres in 1991 Massacres in Croatia November 1991 in Yugoslavia Yugoslav Wars prisoner of war massacres Republic of Serbian Krajina Serbian war crimes in the Croatian War of Independence Massacres of Croats Massacres in the Croatian War of Independence Attacks on buildings and structures in Croatia Attacks on buildings and structures in 1991 Yugoslav People's Army