Jakljan - 102 POW's killed by Tito's Yugoslavs

[Dr Eisvogel]

Island of Jakljan: Mass grave with the bodies of 102 POW's killed without trial by Tito's partisans

Friday, 22nd February 2013 12:16

Dubrovnik's island of Jakljan, the only uninhabited island of the Elaphites, probably hides the remains of 102 captured members of the defeated armies from the WWII, who were killed without trial at the end of May of 1945 by the Partisans

Available data suggest that in this grave the remains of most of these POW's who surrendered to the Partisans in Istria and near Trieste. They were transported by ship all the way to South Adriatic, and they were killed on the bank of the sea and buried in the cave, that is the pit made by excavating sand by the local population just 10 meters away from the execution site, reports Slobodna Dalmacija newspaper.

It is presumed that the mass grave hides the bodies of all the victims, except two who during the executions attempted to save their lives by running into the interior of the island.

The surviving witnesses Kuzma Stjepović (88) i Zvonimir Koporčić (85) told that the POW's were buried on the spot where they were killed, and they have very precisely shown the location of the unmarked grave to the members of the Dubrovnik society "Croatian Homeguardsman".

The corpses are buried with the land cover of just half a meter and it is surprising that the grave hasn't been discovered by accident in the period before the Homeland War, when the buildings on the island were used by a children's ferial home from Belgrade.

- Witness Stjepović has emigrated to Italy in 1947, and from there to Canada. He retold the statment of Luka Ivanković, inhabitant of near-by island of Šipan that on Jakljan "until 1951 the killlings of undesirable Croats were conducted by UDB-a (State Security Directorate) whose member he was, but got disappointed in Communism". It is known that it wasn't allowed to freely visit Jakljan until 1970-ies, when in 1974 the building and the bungalows for the children's ferial home were built. During the building of foundations for one object, the workers found the bone remains and three human skulls and though it was planned, they didn't finish the northern bungalow - says president of the "Croatian Homeguardsmen" Society Željko Kulišić who tried for years to shed light on this shameful episode from the post-war time in these areas.

According to the research of the president of the Dubrovnik branch of the Political Prisoners' Society Augustin Franić the killed are captured German sailors and airmen, Croatian sailors and soldiers from Konavle area who were captured after 8th of May 1945 in Istria and the vicinity of Trieste.

They were killed using the method from near-by Daksa island: bullet in the back of the head, which is witnessed by the shot wounds in the skulls and part of them had their hands tied, which is witnessed by the wire found in the cave on Jakljan - adds Kulišić.

Jakljan was visited on Friday by Predrag Matić, Minister of the Veterans' Affairs with his staff.

Original article: http://www.hrsvijet.net/index.php?optio ... Itemid=112

Location of the island of Jakljan:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... akljan.PNG

Pictures of the mass grave with skeletons being exhumated (graphic!):
http://slobodnadalmacija.hr/Portals/0/I ... 220213.jpg
http://www.aa.com.tr/cdn/documents/AA/c ... =609&h=424

My questions:

1.) Since Trieste garrison surrendered to the Yugoslav Army on May 1st 1945 and the article mentions the sailors taken prisoner after May 8th 1945 in Istria, could they be from the German garrison of Pula, which was defending Muzil peninsula until 8th/9th of May?

2.) What unit of the Croatian soldiers recruited in Konavle managed to get to Istria and Trieste by May of 1945?

[Panzermahn]

Thanks for sharing this info, Dr. Eisvogel.

I think this topic should be in the H&WC subforum, perhaps the moderator could moved this topic?

[Dr Eisvogel]

Thanks for sharing this info, Dr. Eisvogel.

I think this topic should be in the H&WC subforum, perhaps the moderator could moved this topic?

Well, I've posted it on this thread on purpose, because I would like to get the answers for the questions I've posed and I think more qualified experts for my questions visit this subforum than H&WC.

However, the moderators will decide.

Best regards,
Eisvogel

[G. Trifkovic]

Topic moved to H&WC.

Cheers,

G.

[Dr Eisvogel]

During the exhumation, which started on February 19th, for the time being death remains of the 33 persons have been found and the estimate is that there could be 102. The remains in question belong to the members of the German and Croatian Navy from the WWII period.

It has been ascertained that all of them are of younger life age, tall, and with some of them the golden teeth have been found, which speaks about their social status. Allegedly they have been taken to the peer and thane led to the execution in pairs. Its interesting that until now, no personal object has been found near the bodies. The remains have been found under the pine tree, which looked the biggest and the oldest from all in the search area, but it grew after the execution.

(...)

The Minister of the Veterans' Affairs said that individual identification will not be possible, and that everybody will be buried in the common tomb in the Homeguardsmen cemetery at Gospino Polje.

(...)

Colonel Grujić said, that after all information are gathered, the further actions are the responsibility of the State Attorney, which should proceed with the investigative work. All the ascertained facts will be available to the public and historians, who will gave their verdict.

- We are here to locate and mark the burial remains. Our court medicine experts have ascertained that there are shot wounds, and because the projectiles have been found, it is possible to say with certainty that we are speaking about violent deaths of the people in question. This case is connected with the Daksa case and every further step is the responsibility of the State Attorney, Office, which leads the investigation. The societies which care about the victims of war, gave their contribution. There are data that the people in question departed from Istria - said Grujić. Since part of the killed is of German nationality, the Ministry will contact the German institutions and inform them of the ascertained data.

President of Dubrovnik branch of the society "Croatian Homeguardsman" Željko Kulišić emphasized that the society is for the last 7, 8 years actively works on this case and collects data about possible locations of the execution sites.

- With the great effort and terrain work the people started to open their souls and speak about that. We all know of Daksa and Jakljan, but we awaited for a long time for this story to start being handled. In this particular case, for Jkljan two persons are to be thanked, who said: we want to show you the execution site, while we are still capable. Thanks to the courage and desire wee have discovered this today. The bones of the victims are thrown everywhere on the islands of the Elaphites Archipelago. I thank to the Ministry and Col. Grujić for having taken concrete steps in this case as soon as they received our prepaired documents - said Kulišić.

The so-called Grujić team, will investigate in Dubrovnik area, except Jakljan, a few further locations connected with the Homeland War, connected with the defenders disappeared in the area of Šipan island.

Complete original article:
http://www.dubrovnik-policija-91.com/in ... e-mir.html

Pictures of the exhumations and skeleton remains:
http://www.dubrovnik-policija-91.com/im ... jan086.jpg
http://www.dubrovnik-policija-91.com/im ... jan117.jpg
http://www.dubrovnik-policija-91.com/im ... jan118.jpg
http://www.dubrovnik-policija-91.com/im ... jan156.jpg

The Daksa execution site, already mentioned in this and previous articles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daksa_massacre

An article about the Daksa victims and execution site:
http://www.safaric-safaric.si/lokacija_ ... 202010.pdf

[Panzermahn]

Thanks for sharing this info, Dr. Eisvogel.

I think this topic should be in the H&WC subforum, perhaps the moderator could moved this topic?

Well, I've posted it on this thread on purpose, because I would like to get the answers for the questions I've posed and I think more qualified experts for my questions visit this subforum than H&WC.

However, the moderators will decide.

Best regards,
Eisvogel

Hello Eisvogel,

I am not sure how related was this info but according to James Lucas (Last Days of the Reich: The Collapse of Nazi Germany, May 1945 - Cassell 2000), the Titoist massacred the surrendered German garrison at Pola where Kriegsmarine officers and men were tied to rocks and thrown down to the sea in May 1945.

However Lucas unfortunately did not provide the source for this claim.

Panzermahn

[Dr Eisvogel]

Hello Eisvogel,

I am not sure how related was this info but according to James Lucas (Last Days of the Reich: The Collapse of Nazi Germany, May 1945 - Cassell 2000), the Titoist massacred the surrendered German garrison at Pola where Kriegsmarine officers and men were tied to rocks and thrown down to the sea in May 1945.

However Lucas unfortunately did not provide the source for this claim.

Panzermahn

Hello Panzermahn,

thank you for indicating Lucas's book. However, I am skeptical about the claims, which cannot be checked, even more so because I haven't encountered neither German nor Italian claims about such execution of the members of the Pola garrison.

This is the info about the commander of the German garrison in Pula, Georg Waue.
http://web.archive.org/web/200910290258 ... GEORG.html

Best regards,
Eisvogel

[Dr Eisvogel]

On Jakljan 214 victims of the crimes were found!

During the exhumation of the remains of the victims of the Partisan crimes on the islet of Jakljan, which has been completed, the remains of 214 persons have been found.

(...)

On this Elaphite island the prisoners-of-war were killed, and although it was expected to find about 100 victims, exhumation showed all the dimensions of this execution site, since the remains of even 214 victims have been found.

(...)

- For the crimes committed after the end of the WWII, which were heavily guarded Communist secret, nobody of the Partisan leaders answered. According to the testimony of Mr. Stjepović the executions of the undesirable Croats were carried on the Jakljan until 1951, on the orders of the infamous UDB (State Security Directorate) and with the help of its known local henchmen.

(...)

http://www.dulist.hr/clanak/28002/na-ja ... va-zlocina