Croatia

CroatiaHervatska

June 2007

1815 to 1839: After the Congress of ViennaThe Ottoman Empire, having emerged from the Middle Ages predominant in the Balkans, controlled Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina at its northern fringes.

1914: Eve of the First World WarThe Turks were driven from most of the Balkans in the 19th century and were replaced by rivalrous European powers. With Russian patronage, an independent Serbia was born alongside an Austrian-controlled Bosnia, where a Serbian nationalist ignited World War I by assassinating the Austrian crown prince.

Between the Two World WarsThe Versailles conference created a unified kingdom of the south Slavs -- Yugoslavia. It encompassed Serbs, Croatians and Slovenians, with the capital in Belgrade and the lion1s share of influence held by Serbs. Bosnia's Muslims were not recognized as a distinct group.

Nov. 1942: Height of Axis OccupationThe Axis powers occupied Yugoslavia, creating a puppet state in Croatia ruled by local fascists who fought and butchered Serbs, Jews and Gypsies. Yugoslav Communist partisans led by Tito, as well as Serbian royalists known as Chetniks, fought the Nazis, and Tito emerged in control.

1945 to 1990: Cold War StabilityUnder Tito, Yugoslavia held together as a federation of six autonomous republics, although Serbs retained great influence, notably in the military. As Communism collapsed, Serbia's President, Slobodan Milosevic, hastened Yugoslavia's disintegration with a blatantly nationalistic appeal to Serbs.

1991 to 1995: Open Warfare (Rat u Hrvatskoj) Fighting broke out in 1991 when Slovenia and Croatia seceded, then spread to Bosnia in 1992. After three years of bitter warfare characterized by atrocities and the creation of hundreds of thousands of refugees, a U.S.-sponsored peace accord for Bosnia was signed in Dayton, Ohio, in late 1995.

Vukovar

This huge water tower, built in 1960s, was shelled day by day. As the months of siege (87 days) of Vukovar went on, it became the symbol of its destruction.

Vukovar grad heroj

Vukovar 1991 Exodus

Vukovar 1991

At the end of the three-months siege in 1991 there was no single house in Vukovar that had a roof.

12 years after the war, the town and surrounding area are still heavily mined.

Fill up your gas tank; don’t take a walk behind the station. It is a minefield!

Pretty woods – Pretty dangerous minefield!

War-damaged buildings are unsafe to enter – Mines!

Ovčara Massacre (video)

Translation

Ovčara Massacre Monument

Hospital patients kept here – Concentration Camp

“Blight Tour” Boats plying the Danube River from the Ukraine, Russia, Germany stop briefly in Vukovar.

Stork on top of building is a sign of luck.

Neo-Nazi Symbols

International Day in Support of Victims of Torture – June 26

CWWPP Staff at Booth in Vukovar

Neo-Nazi Graffiti is starting to appear

Ustaše

“Hang Serbs on the Willow Trees!" Graffiti

Robert Strk, ex-soldier and lay counselor with CWWPP. Robbie is an excellent chef and sausage maker, too!

Audio clip on Croatian veterans and their needs.

Vukovar video of war

CWWPP Staff Lunch

Dušanka Ilić “The Bench We Share”

“Palisood” = Peace and Love in Spite of our Differences.

The Bench We Share

PALISOOD – The Bench We Share

“Never Again”

Love in Danger: Trauma, Therapy and Conflict Explored Through the Life and Work of Adam Curle

by Barbara Mitchels

•Paperback•ISBN: 0954972767•$31.96 

Croatia: A Nation Forged in Warby Marcus Tanner

ISBN: 0300091257

$18.00

On to Germany