The Graves Thread

[mostarac]

Doesn't seem to be a lot of info on here about WWII graves being discovered. Seems like a good idea to keep track of them as they happen. Translation mine.

Speleologists descend into pit on Brač: "I'm sad and happy because after 70 years I've found my uncle"

Fully three years after the discovery of human remains in the Burinice pit on Brač, Split speleologists from "Špiljara" exhumed those remains so that in a further process their identities can be verified.

In this way after 70 years the truth will finally be realized about the Second World War execution committed at the pit atop Nerežišća. Speleologists first lowered themselves into the pit 15 years ago at the invitation of now-deceased Dinko Škrmeta who had evidence that his brother Ivan was liquidated at this location.

"The pit can be descended through two entrances not two metres apart, which connect at a depth of a few metres" says Tonči Rađa from Split's Špiljara.

"At the bottom of a 21 metre straight drop, as well as a few more metres sloped down covered with brush and stones,underneath stones were discovered at least two human skeletons, by now covered with moss" explains Rađa of what he saw underground.

On Brač there are stories of two World War II victims being thrown into this very pit, and locals believe that one of the remains could belong to the liquidated Ivan Škrmeta, the brother of the now-deceased Dinko who started the investigation.

After many years Dinko didn't live to see the end of the investigation, but behind him are left his descendants, among which is Petar Škrmeta.

"Two feelings are present, sadness and happiness, but above all doubt because we still don't know for certain if our uncle Ivan ended up there. We are prepared for the investigation."

"But, I'd like to say that I have no words to express my thanks to the speleologist Tonči Rađa, the Supetar police, the Government's Office for Imprisoned and Missing, as well as the State Attorney and certainly Slobodna because after the story published on your newspaper the investigation was launched" says Petar Škrmeta.

Locals says there are many war and postwar pit [graves] on Brač and they hope that the discovery of the crime in the Burinice pit will help reveal the truth about the deaths of other innocents from Brač.

[mostarac]

Another one recently revealed. Local officials have been trying to get this one exhumed for years, it got tied up in permits and lack of political will. Sorry for the wordiness of the translation, that's how the original press release reads (government was on the defensive after several irregularities in the whole process were observed).

Exhumation of remains of World War II victims from a mass grave in Vrgorac (Dec 13, 2013)

The Ministry of Defender's Office for Imprisoned and Missing Persons organized and coordinated a dig and exhumation on December 11 and 12, 2013 of a mass grave located in the area locally known as the "New Cemetery" in Vrgorac.

The exhumation was performed per the Law on the investigation of military graves, graves from the Second World War and postwar period at the request of prof. Borislav Matković, mayor of Vrgorac, Mr. Vice Nižić, head of the Commission for Marking and Organizing Graves from World War II and the Postwar from the ministry of Ljubuški in the Federation of BiH from whose territory some of the victims came from, as well as at the request of the families of the victims. The County State Attorney in Dubrovnik was informed of the exhumation case. The Institute of Forensic Medicine and Criminology of the Medical Faculty in Zagreb took part in the exhumation, which was performed by employees specially educated in exhumation cases using equipment made for this purpose, while security was provided by the Police authority of Split-Dalmatia. For the duration of the exhumation there were present representatives of the city of Vrgorac who were very cooperative partners in the whole process, from the request for exhumation of the mass grave to the temporary care of the deceased remains.

According to information available to the County's State Attorney in Dubrovnik and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as testimonies of witness in the possession of the Office for Imprisoned and Missing Persons, at the location known as the "New Cemetery", in January 1945 members of the Partisan units killed and buried in two mass graves approximately 40 people, largely civilians brought from Herzegovina. Among the victims were several women.

At the "New Cemetery" only one mass grave was discovered from which was exhumed the remains of 9 people, which are temporarily stored in the city cemetery, in a grave provided by the city of Vrgorac. Experts from the Institute of Forensic Medicine and Criminology of the Medical Faculty in Zagreb took DNA samples because it is probable that the victims can be identified. Family members of the victims suspected to be in the mass grave can make a request for identification from the Ministry of Defenders, the Office for Imprisoned and Missing Persons, Savska 66, Zagreb.

During the course of the exhumation performed by the Office for Imprisoned and Missing Persons in Vrgorac, witnesses provided the information that some remains were previously exhumed by family members and laid to rest in Herzegovina as well as the cemetery in Vrgorac. The second grave, which is mentioned in Ministry of Internal Affairs documents and research discoveries by the Office for Imprisoned and Missing Persons, was not discovered at the indicated location. Verifying the facts on this second grave will be the focus of further research.

[mostarac]

This story actually got some English language press earlier this year. Jakljan is an island near Dubrovnik in the south of Croatia. (Another thread about this discovery can be found here).

Croatia buries WWII German soldiers remains (March 1, 2013)

Croatia on Friday buried the remains of 214 German soldiers killed after World War II by the former Yugoslav communist regime's fighters on an island near the Adriatic town of Dubrovnik, national radio reported.

The remains were first exhumed in February from a mass grave on the island of Jakljan.

The victims, believed to be German sailors brought to an island and executed there by former Yugoslav leaders Josip Broz Tito's partisans, were buried at a Dubrovnik cemetery.

"We want to investigate and identify all grave sites, all victims of the World War II, its aftermath as well as all the victims of the communist regime" in the former Yugoslavia, Veterans Minister Predrag Matic told the national radio.

So far, remains of some 20,000 German soldiers who died during and after World War II have been found in Croatia.

Most of them were buried in the capital Zagreb's cemetaries or in the coastal town Split.

It is estimated that another 10,000 soldiers are still to be found in Croatia.

[mostarac]

Burial of 45 victims from Kupres this summer. Kupres saw heavy fighting between Partisans and Crna Legija in 1942 when the Partisans were repelled. In 1943 the town was essentially left unguarded and Partisans expelled most of the local population - this mass grave originates from this period.

Burial of victims exhumed from the Ogledalo mass grave in Kupres (August 17, 2013)

On Friday people of Kupres humbly and respectfully paid respect to the first group of approximately 70 victims of a Partisan crime which took place 70 years ago at the Ogledalo site, near the village of Kukavica. Before the burial of the victims, a prayer for the dead was said by parish priest Marko Tomić who prayed for those victims of Catholic faith, as well as by representatives of the Islamic and Orthodox communities Fahrudin efendija Makić and Tomislav Čubrilović.

Yesterday's funeral laid to rest only a portion of the killed, considering that the victims have not been exhumed from all pits. Among the 45 victims buried in the communal grave is the father of the memorial's designer, Josip Dumančić. Among those laid to rest if the grandfather of a former Kupres mayor. Stjepan Herceg says that now there is a place to regularly come and pay respect to the dead.

Prayers for the victims were done by representatives of the Catholic, Islamic and Orthodox communities. They said that the location of the deaths should be visited, and the circumstances around them in 1943 should be clarified.

Mayor of Kupres Perica Romić also held an informal speech in which he emphasized how it is important to visit the location and pass the history to future generations, not only because of the victims whose lives ended there, but also that future generations should not forget what happened in distant 1943.

Mario Bagarić, one of the organizers, confirmed that yesterday's funeral is only the first burial of all the victims at Ogledalo. Due to the circumstances, all the victims from the site are not yet exhumed from the mass graves so that work on excavation will continue after which all the victims will be buried in the new communal grave which is marked and the memorial which has been blessed.

[mostarac]

Single remain exhumed in Čitluk, in what was their first for the local commission. This place should be busier next year.

The Remains of Croatian Soldier Žarko Vranješ Exhumed (December 7, 2013)

In the proximity of the community of Vionica today the remains of Croatian solider Žarko Vranješ who was killed and buried in 1945 between Bijaković and Vionica were exhumed. Today’s exhumation of the deceased Vranješ marked the beginning of the second phase of work of the Commission for Marking and Organizing Graves from World War II and the Postwar in the municipality of Čitluk. Since its founding the Commission has been dedicated to collecting information about deaths in our municipality and today’s exhumation is the first which the Commission has performed on the basis of the collected information.

Information about the grave of the deceased Vranješ were provided to the Commission by Mr. Soldo from Vionica and the Commission’s goal is on the basis of collected information to perform exhumations of the remains from the Second World War and the postwar which will then be boxed and placed in the mortuary at the Podavvor cemetery. The Commission will certainly find the remains of more people considering that it has information on tens of similar cases.

“From Mr. Soldo from Vionica we received information and that was the first information we received after the formation of the Commission and like this we’re going in order. This was our first request, later we were contacted by the family. When we were approaching the exhumation this week unfortunately we didn’t succeed in contacting the family, but from the first discussion I can confirm that they also confirmed the statement by Mr. Soldo from Vionica that this is indeed Žarko Vranješ, a Croatian soldier who was killed in 1945 and buried between Bijaković and Vionica” we were told by president of the Commission Andrija Stojić, who also added that in the future more remains will be found, after which will follow and mass and joint funeral.
According to Stojić, the remains collected in today’s and future exhumations will be stored in the mortuary most likely until the summer and a joint funeral. Family of the killed whose identity is confirmed either by testimony of DNA analysis will be able to collect the remains, and in cases where the remains cannot be identified they will be buried respectfully in a joint grave.
The location of the burial of Žarko Vranješ was marked prior to the exhumation, which helped greatly in the unburying and collection of the remains.

“This work was fairly straightforward because we knew the location, name and surname of the man who died. I see that the location was visited so this was a relatively easy job for us, especially since here there was only one burial as opposed to a mass grave in which a lot of time and effort is spent on separating remains. It’s good that the Commission in Čitluk started with this work and that it started with this straightforward task, because later when there are graves with more bodies it will be a much more demanding job” we were told after the exhumation by archaeologist Tihomir Glavaš.

After they carefully examined the dug up ground, the collected remains were stored in a metal case, and the location that Vranješ was buried was returned to its original state.

[mostarac]

Franciscan priest fra Jozo Olujić's remains discovered, killed by Partisans c. 1944.

Fra Jozo’s remains found in a pit after 70 years: “He wasn’t searched for because of political reasons” (September 26, 2013)

Will the secret of the liquidation of fra Jozo Olujić, killed at the end of October 1944, be revealed after more than six decades? His brother Franciscans are asking themselves that, as well as the locals of Han and Gljev near Sinj, after human remains were found near their towns in the Križnjača pit on Kamešnica.

They were discovered there by members of the Speleological Association “Špiljar” from Split, and many are suggesting that the remains in question are of the professor from Sinj’s gymnasium fra Jozo Olujić, who went missing in the whirlwind of World War II. Such assertions are put forward by fra Ivan Norac Kljajo, parish priest from near Gala:

“Fra Jozo Olujić was a peaceful man, he was never involved in politics, he preached about faith, and he was a respected professor of biology at Sinj’s gymnasium”.

“For decades locals spoke about how near the war’s end the friar was taken, with the communist authorities saying that he was buried on Poparić field, but that is not true. The only truth us that he was taken to the Križnjača pit, liquidated there and thrown into the pit, where his belt and rosary were later found” tells us fra Ivan Norac Kljajo.

The story about the liquidation of a priest after the Second World War circled among the locals for decades, and one of them Ivan Zebić, tells us: “I know at war’s end or in the postwar period fra Jozo Olujić was taken from the parts and after that all trace of him was lost”.

“Because of political circumstances no one looked for missing friars, and I hope that the truth will be finally be revealed”, says Zebić.

The pit, only a kilometre from the village of Gljev, was investigated by speleologists from Split’s “Špiljara”.

“The pit is in inaccessible terrain, well-type, about 30m deep, with the skeleton at the very bottom, covered with rocks”, says speleologist Tonći Rađa.

The discovery on Kamešnica will be reported to the police, after which will follow the exhumation and the disclosure of one more crime.

[mostarac]

Twenty eight remains exhumed in Doboj in 2010. These victims were later confirmed as Montenegrin Chetniks killed by Partisans, although it's not mentioned in this early article.

Bodies of World War II victims found near Doboj (July 21, 2010)

In the village of Majevac near Doboj, 28 bodies of victims of Montenegrin nationality killed at the end of 1945 were exhumed.
“Not far from the elementary school in Majevac there was a mass grave with 14 bodies, while the remains of the other victims were found in the close vicinity”, confirmed councillor Dragan Marković representing national minorities in the assembly of the municipality of Doboj.

He added that a team of experts from Montenegro came to Doboj to confirm the truth about the deaths of patients of the Montenegrin mobile-typhus hospital which was based in 1945 in the village of Majevac, after which it is unknown what happened to it.

According to locals in Majevac, work on the exhumation of the victims was temporarily stopped, because the area where the victims were buried 65 years ago was asphalted over for a schoolyard for the elementary school in Majevac.

“I loaned a tractor with an augur to the Montenegrins who came to Majevac to locate the grave. After just a few bores in the ground the bones were found”, tells us a local from Majevac.

For the work to continue on the exhumation, permits are required from the municipal office for inspection works, as well as permits to remove the schoolyard, as it’s thought that the remains of the remaining victims are located underneath it.

[mostarac]

Another single grave, this one from 1941.

After 72 years the secret of the first liquidated priest is revealed (October 18, 2013)

Speleologists from Split’s “Špiljara” found human bones in a pit in the vicinity of Bitelić in the Sinj area. It’s thought that they are the remains former parish priest of Zasiok don Jure Mladina who vanished without a trace 72 years ago, in November 1941.

The assertion that they belong to don Jure is expressed with great confidence by don Jozo Gojsalić.

“This was told by a participant in these tragic events from the start of the war, and they were written by don Bogoslav Bartulović who was the parish priest of Zasiok and Bitelić in the 60’s of the last century.

According to this story, the Partisans came to the parish hall in Zasiok overnight with a lever, broke into the house and took don Jure.

“By the Church of St John they took off his shoes and forced him barefoot into the mountains. He fell and always received beatings. His feet were all bloody. After long period of torture, they threw him into a pit which is near Krajin’s stable.

This story matches with the location of the now discovered pit with the remains.

“Don Jure was the first liquidated priest of the Diocese of Split-Makarska in the Second World War”, says doc. dr. don Josip Dukić who stresses that prior to DNA analysis it won’t be known for certain if it is in fact don Jure.

“About the circumstances of the liquidation of the parish priest of Zasiok there are a few reports which largely match, apart from some details”, asserts don Josip.

“To shine light on the circumstances of don Jure’s liquidation I’ll take the opportunity to highlight newly discovered facts which I found in the archive of the Museum of the Cetinje Region. It is a report of the Ustaša Municipal District written in Sinj November 17, 1941, letter # 1124. It’s important to note that the report is dated ten days after what was, all things considered, the day of don Jure’s murder, which happened on November 7, 1941.”

“The report, as it is written, was put together by the municipal president on the basis of radio messages from the commander of the Ustaša company from around Bračev dolac, which was sent by that commander to the divisional commander in Sinj.”

Ustaša Report

From what is currently the oldest document in which the circumstances of the death is particularly described, I’ll separate a few fairly important facts.
At the head of the group which took don Jure were “communist Ante Bračulj-Jukić with his communist group” and “about 30 communists with Tadija Anušić from Glavica near Sinj".

In the group was one villager from Laktac, five villagers/communists from Bitelić and 15 villagers from Bračeva dolac. Most of the villagers were of Serbian nationality.

They took the priest to Laktac where they stayed overnight. The next day the villagers went home, but the communists with don Jure went to “their camp by Vještić Gora by the stables of Krajina until Petar Bračulj Matin, Jakov Bulović and Stevan Djapić took don Jure Mladina to the village of Sajkovići in Livno municipality and surrendered him to Marko Mihaljević and Cviji Oraščić seemingly that he could be tried not by the communists who were largely Catholic, but by the Chetniks who are Greek Orthodox easterners”. That is how the report ends notes don Josip Dukić.

If it is fact don Jure and whether another World War II crime will be revealed will only be confirmed after further investigation and analysis of the human remains.

[mostarac]

Article on Huda pit. All work has stopped here, although the whole mass grave is thought to contain 3-4,000 human remains, majority of which would be Croatians.

Victims from Huda pit: Instead of in graves, in plastic boxes (July 28, 2013)
The space in which the remains are located is 60m long and inside there is space for at most 1390 boxes, while in the shaft there are still between 2500 and 3500 victims for which, according to the Slovenian, there is no money for exhumation.

Although four years have passed since the discovery of the shocking crime in a mine shaft in Huda pit in Slovenia, the remains of 778 victims discovered in the first shaft sit forgotten almost on the very spot where they were discovered, every skeleton in its own plastic box.

Every box has a card with a number, and they are sorted on metal racks on either side of the shaft. The exhumation of the remaining victims has not even begun. The problem is, according to the claims of those responsible in Slovenia, about money.
So the spot of the deaths of the victims of Huda pit have become by circumstance their mass grave as well. Or their crypt. Nevertheless the Slovenian Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs, which is responsible for mass graves in Slovenia, considers this altogether appropriate. And entirely satisfactory. In other words, the current crypt, in which the remains are “buried” in plastic boxes, in their consideration represents an “appropriate and respectful” storage of the remains found in Huda pit.

But according to Mitja Ferenc, a member of the government’s commission for uncovering hidden graves, who took shocking photographs of the crypt in Huda pit published with this text, the current approach to “caring for” the remains of the victims of Huda pit is not sustainable on the long term.

Insufficient space
Namely, the space in which the victims’ remains are now located is 60m long and inside there is space for at most 1390 boxes, while there are still a few thousand victims in the mine.
Access to the remaining victims is not available for now due to the unsafe condition of the mine shaft, which must be repaired prior to the continuation of exhumation of the victims, otherwise there is a danger of collapse and burial of the victims, which there are still an estimated 2500 to 3500 hidden in the mine.

Ferenc tells how he and his associates tried in the years since the discovery of Huda pit to do whatever they could so that the remains could be cared for in an appropriate way. “We thought that we succeeded in dissuading those responsible from the idea of making a crypt inside the mine, because the remains need to be buried outside of the mine, considering that only in this case will people be able to come, light candles, lay flowers and show their piety. If the remains are left inside, they are behind closed iron doors, while on the side there will be a plaque which will say ‘This is Huda pit’”, says Ferenc.
The chaos in caring for the remains is confirmed by the fact that the crypt is in the mine, located about 400m from the entrance to the Barbara pit and not far from the spot where the victims were found behind a few artificial barriers with which the perpetrators attempted to forever hide their crime, which was at first to be the permanent solution while now it is temporary.
“I can’t understand how it’s possible to so silently and disrespectfully act towards these victims and just hide them so far from human eyes! Does that mean we have resolved the problem?!” says Ferenc disgusted.

Also a Croatian problem
The problem of the human remains in Huda pit is not only Slovenia’s, but also Croatia’s. In Huda pit were killed Slovene White Guardists, as well as a group of women from the nearby women’s camp in Teharje, but it is thought that the most victims are from Croatia, including civilians and captured Home Guard who were brought to their deathsite from the train station in Laško.
A few years ago Croatia and Slovenia signed an international agreement on organizing gravesites of the killed from May and June 1945, but Slovenia has not yet ratified it. Nevertheless, if Croatian officials haven’t responded materially, they have responded morally.

After the discovery of Huda pit, the site of the crime was visited by then Croatian prime minister Jadranka Kosor and her minister of internal affairs Tomislav Karamarko, who was scared of the scene and said that only a “sick mind could do this”.
Croatian officials, regardless of who is in power, are responsible for footing the cost – or at least try to! – of mass graves which hide the victims of graves, as is done by any civilized country.

There are more than 130 of the graves in Slovenia! Zagreb should resolve this question with Slovenia and the graves should be marked, while the remains are respectfully laid to rest. The financial crisis and budget cuts can’t be a response to shirk this responsibility. All victims – including those who have been exhumed and those whose exhumation is still waiting – deserve a respectful burial. “All victims have a right to piety and a grave, regardless of their actual guilt or innocence”, wrote the Slovenian philosopher Spomenka Hribar in 1984 in her well-known essay “Guilt and Sin” in which she first spoke publicly on postwar nonjudicial liquidations.

The victims of Huda pit are still waiting on their respectful burial. In plastic boxes.

[mostarac]

38 German soldiers discovered in a cemetery in Makarska in 2012.

Thirty eight German soldiers exhumed from the old Makarska cemetery (March 27, 2012)

Thirty eight bodies were exhumed from an earth mound at the old Makarska Cemetery on the Sveti Petar peninsula, of which some were in decaying wooden boxes. Trees were planted on this grave 50 years ago, clearly with the intention of forgetting the deceased laid there.

But the archaeological research at the location important to the history of Makaska confirmed the old story that locals whispered for decades: apparently the bodies are of German soldiers killed (in battle) on Brač in November 1944, who were taken by boat to the city, stored in the basement of the Tonoli palace for a time, and then placed in boxes and buried on the peninsula.

Unusual human burial

Above all it is an unusual human burial for the Second World War, which left victims everywhere from pits to forests, so that communists in Zagvozd and Kozica near Vrgorac executed 20 citizens of Makarska including 4 priests. At the new cemetery 32 people were brought from different parts of Dalmatia and Herzegovina, killed here and buried in a trench.

"Before the restoration of the medieval church at Sveti Petar in 1993, the discussion about the war victims resting there began, but the archaeologists only dealt with the immediate vicinity of the church. The exhumations have now included the Ministry of Internal Affairs, city officials, Church representatives, and a representation from the German embassy. We decided to respectfully bury these unlucky soldiers, and even to try to reach their family, considering that most of them had dog tags nearby with identification numbers and in Germany there is an institution which has victims' lists and is concerned with identification" explained Zoran Rajčević, the director of the Makarska cemetery and president of the Commission for Victims from World War II and the Postwar, adding that all the remains are going to the Pathology department in Split, after which they will be buried at the German military grave in Split or Zagreb.

Marinko Tomasović, the archaeologist leading the research at the peninsula in the name of the City Museum, could not comment on the analysis, but he told us that there was a grave from old Makarska.

[mostarac]

Mass grave discovered near Zvornik this week.

In eastern Bosnia a mass grave from the Second World War was discovered
http://www.slobodnadalmacija.hr/BiH/tab ... fault.aspx

A mass grave was discovered In eastern Bosnia in the vicinity of Zvornik, with initial forensic investigation indicating that the remains are from World War II and the skeletons in question belonged to German and Italian soldiers. The Prosecutor of Bosnia and Herzegovina which led the investigation into this case announced this on Friday.

The grave was discovered in April near the village of Snagova by accident during works to build a memorial-fountain.

Considering that mass graves had previously been discovered at the location in question containing the remains of Bosniaks killed by Bosnian Serbs after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995, it was thought that this would be the case again.

While investigating the location, forensic researchers from the Missing Persons Institute discovered the skeletal remains of twenty people which analysis showed not to belong to the last war but from the Second World War.

Along with the remains were discovered Italian currency from that period as well as personal items with instructions in German, along with German watches and currency. It is thought with great certainty that they are dealing with German and Italian citizens.

Among the remains are jaw bones with large tooth indentations which could greatly simplify identification.

The Prosecutor of Bosnia and Herzegovina has announced that the results of the investigation and analysis will be provided to the embassies of Germany and Italy in Sarajevo.

[mostarac]

Mass grave of German soldiersdiscovered on Korcula island.

The Remains of 61 German Soldiers Exhumed on Korcula
http://www.novilist.hr/Vijesti/Crna-kro ... og-vojnika

On November 27th the Volksbund began to exhume the remains of German soldiers in the town of Korcula, with the total remains to-date of 61 soldiers discovered according to the ministry of veterans.

The ministry of veterans - on the basis of the agreement of the Government of Croatia and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany concerning German war graves in the Republic of Croatia - issued an approval to the German Volksbund on November 12th for the exhumation of the German grave in Korcula.

The Volksbund will bury the remains at the German military cemetery at Mirogoj in Zagreb. The final count of the number of exhumed soldiers will be available after the official records are submitted, the ministry announced.

The mayor of Korcula Andrija Fabris pointed out there was knowledge of a cemetery at the former location of the youth association, but that it was destroyed after the Second World War.

"During World War II a hundred Germans died in this region and in the area of the Youth Association - Slavonski Brod a cemetery was built. It was a military cemetery, but after the war the decision was made to destroy it. It was leveled and filled in afterwards and so it remained until now", said Fabris who added that according to word of mouth a hundred German soldiers were buried there.

The ministry of veterans confirmed that the mass grave was reported by the city of Korcula on the basis of a report by the neighbourhood of Sv. Antun. According to information gathered as part of the investigation, a greater number of German soldiers who died in battles for the western part of the island of Korcula in 1945 were buried on the site of the former youth association.

[Xavier]

thanks for posting....may the deceased rest in pax someday...