Mass Grave from Second World War found in Vrgorac, Croatia

[nobodyofnote]

Mass Grave from World War II found in Vrgorac

Staff from a utility company in Vrgorac (Split-Dalmatia County) have found human bones that are persumed to have belonged to civilians and prisoners of war from World War II.

The Vrgorac workers discovered the mass grave after working near a cemetery and discovered parts of skeletons. The workers notified police immediately, who halted further work in the area until investigations were carried out by experts.

There has been no official confirmation, but unofficially it has been revealed that what was discovered were mass graves of civilians and priests from Ljubuski, who were shot at the end of World War II by Partisans after they had previously taken them out of jail, reports website dalje.com.

Source: http://www.croatiantimes.com/news/Gener ... in_Vrgorac (Croatian Times, 5th August 2012).

[G. Trifkovic]

Hi,

one Yugoslav secret police document, dated 27 October 1945, lists altogether 56 persons from Vrgorac and the surrounding area who died in extrajudicial executions during the war; most of them were charged with espionage and collaboration with the Ustashas/Germans/Italians.

How many of them (if any) are in the recently discovered mass grave is still impossible to say, because the document doesn't provide information on where they were executed.

The document itself was printed in: Blanka Matkovic, Ivan Pazanin (Ed.), ZLOČINI I TEROR U DALMACIJI 1943.-1948. POČINJENI OD PRIPADNIKA NOV, JA, OZN-e I UDB-e (Zagreb, 2011), pp. 520-2.

Cheers,

G.