In Vukovar, the 32nd anniversary of Vukovar’s suffering in the Homeland War is being marked, during which 2,717 Croatian soldiers and civilians were killed in that Eastern Slavonic city, and 374 of them are still missing.
On this date, after an almost three-month siege and heavy fighting, the forces of the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) captured Vukovar.
The exact number of Vukovar victims is still unknown, but according to data from the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Croatia from 2006, Croatia lost 879 soldiers in Vukovar, while 770 were wounded in the city of Vukovar itself, and 1,131 civilians were killed.
In the column of memory, which will pass along a 5.5-kilometer route, from the Vukovar hospital to the Memorial Cemetery of the Victims of the Homeland War, the highest representatives of the state authorities, led by the presidents of the Republic of Croatia, the Parliament and the Government, are expected to lay wreaths and light candles at the Memorial Cemetery.
As announced, Denis Bećirović, a member of the BiH Presidency, will attend the marking.
In 1999, the Croatian Parliament adopted the Decision on the declaration of a day of remembrance for the victims of Vukovar in 1991.
By the decision of the Government of the Republic of Croatia from 2019, November 18 was declared a holiday and non-working day and is marked as the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Homeland War and the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Vukovar and Škabrnja.
In March of last year, the Croatian Parliament passed the Law on declaring Vukovar a place of special national piety.
