Vukovar

So last Thursday and Friday we went to Vukovar. Vukovar is a town in Slovonia (eastern Croatia). During the 80's and early 90's it was a booming factory town. Its eastern edge is created by the Danube River. Across the river is Serbia. The city was almost exactly split between ethnic Serbs and ethnic Croats. This wasn't really an issue until the war started. Really long story short- Slovenia and Croatia bailed out of the federation of Yugoslavia because it was no longer benefiting them, economically or socially. Slovenia was allowed to leave because it was tiny, far away (by Yugoslav standards) and had an almost entirely ethnically Sloven population. After they declared independence the Yugoslav Army (controlled by Belgrade and Slobodon Milosevic) made a half- hearted effort to keep "Yugoslav Integrity" but after ten days the troops came home. Croatia was a different matter. The Belgrade government pretty much told Croatia they were free to leave if they really wanted to but the areas that were predominantly Serb were staying in Yugoslavia. And thus we have war. The contested areas- eastern Croatia and along the border with Serbia felt rising ethnic tensions, and government supported fear. The Media started showing old footage from the WWI when Croat nationalists (Ustasha) and Serb nationalists (Chetniks) equally pillaged and murdered and committed heinous crimes. So in August of 1991, the general scene was this: Croats were being told to be afraid of their Serb neighbors who were actually suppressed Chetniks. Serbs were being told of the atrocity of Ustasha Croats. Now in a large city that had the highest (or second highest) number of mixed marriages and ethnicity had not been an issue people were choosing ethnic sides.

Then the Yugoslav Peoples Army (JNA)- which consisted of mostly Serbs since the other republics were bailing out left and right- circled the city of Vukovar to liberate their people from Croat occupation. For three months the city was under siege and people lived in basements and shelters to survive the daily bombings and avoid the tanks roaming the streets. The local Vukovar militia grew out of those trapped in the city. For three months they fought off the Serb army and Paramilitaries.

On November 18th the Defenders of Vukovar surrendered because they were out of ammunition. Some things to point out: both Serbs and Croats were being bombed by the army, Croatia had no military force, and President Tudjman did not too much to help out the defenders. The defenders also killed between 6000-8000 JNA and paramilitaries. The Serbs never reported numbers. Roughly 500 defenders were killed.

On November 18th though- the city population was sorted into ethnic groups: the Serbs were 'liberated' the Croatian women and children were sent back to Croatia but after some time in Serbia. The Croatian men and fighters were sent to concentration camps. The worst part though- is that Para-militaries went to the hospital, and took the hospital staff, the wounded, and the elderly and drove them out to a hanger in a farm. They were all 261 killed in a mass grave, although some of the bodies are missing. The youngest was 16 and there was one 6 month pregnant woman. Her husband was a politician.

Vukovar is considered an international success, because it was arranged and agreed that the city would be repopulated along ethnic lines. It is once again perfectly split along ethnic lines, same percentages as before. But the town is missing thousands and thousands of people. In '91 there were roughly 84,000 residents. In 2001 when the reconstruction and repopulation efforts were started the population was 31,000. With 57% Croat and 43% Serbs living in the same city everyone was clapping each other on the backs for a job well done. But the city is still really divided. Children do not go to school with the other ethnicity, there are seperate graveyards, stores, health care, everything. They physically live in the same place but no one interacts.

Driving into the town was shocking. Every other building is riddled with bullets, and every third or fourth is a bombed out ruin. It took my breath away. This is what war does to a town, physically at least. It was so hard to see why anyone would want to go back to this- beautiful though the river is, this is the most Ghost like town I have ever seen. It was so weird. Obviously this was something before hand, but now it is filled with old pensioners, young uneducated youth, and no economic prospects. Not to mention the daily surroundings of war ruins. There are so many memorials in this town- everything is a memorial. It is this huge sign of Croatian pride and independence, and yet the people who live there are never allowed to forget the sacrifices they made- be they Serb or Croat. The sense of guilt and responsibility is also heavy. Its a very intense place, and this post hardly does it justice. Its hard to even articulate what i felt about it.