Tordinci

Tordinci (Hungarian: Valkótard) is a village and a municipality in the Vukovar-Syrmia County in Croatia.

Tordinci
Municipality
Tordinci Location in Croatia
Coordinates: 45°22′N 18°48′E
Country	Croatia
County	Vukovar-Syrmia
Area [1]
• Total	50.24 km^2 (19.40 sq mi)
Population  (2001)
• Total	2,251
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	?
Area code(s)	32
Vehicle registration	VK

Tordinci is underdeveloped municipality which is statistically classified as the First Category Area of Special State Concern by the Government of Croatia.[2]

Name

The name of the village in Croatian is in the plural, and therefore it is grammatically correct to refer to it as "Tordinci are" instead of "Tordinci is". A hypothetical singular version of the name would be Tordinac.

Demographics

According to the 2001 census, there are 2,251 inhabitants,[3] 75.88% Croat and 18% Hungarian.

Settlements

The settlements in the municipality are:[3]

• Antin (population 806)
• Korođ (Kórógy) (population 521)
• Mlaka Antinska (population 88)
• Tordinci (population 836)

War

During the Croatian War of Independence, Tordinci was attacked for the first time by artillery on 14 August 1991.[4] New artillery attacks occurred for three consecutive days, on 20–22 August, and were repeated on 30 August.[5] A further artillery attack on the village were recorded on 2 September and one more two days later. On 6 September, Tordinci was shelled again and attacked by Croatian Serb Territorial Defense Forces (TO) and the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) infantry at 20:00. The infantry attack was successfully repulsed by the Croatian National Guard (ZNG). A series of artillery attacks occurred on 15–29 September, while the JNA and the ZNG fought for control of the JNA barracks in nearby Vinkovci.[6] A fresh ground assault on Tordinci was repulsed by the ZNG on 30 September. The next day, civilian population started to flee Tordinci, panicking after the Croatian Serb TO and JNA captured Antin the previous day. On 2 October, defence of Tordinci was reinforced by 97 ZNG troops of the 109th Infantry Brigade, before a new mortar attack on the village the following day.[7] On 25 October, 30 JNA tanks, supported by infantry, surrounded Tordinci at 22:00. The force captured the village the next day after heavy fighting. During the battle, the ZNG sustained eight fatalities and nine troops were injured before the ZNG retreated from Tordinci.[8]

In 2004, a mass grave was discovered in Tordinci,[9] and a total of 208 sets of human remains were recovered in the village by 2012. Since 2002, a 22-kilometre (14 mi) memorial procession is held annually through Tordinci, Antin, Ćelije and Korog—villages where mass graves of 266 Croatian soldiers and civilians were found after the war.[10]

In the war, Serb forces destroyed the bell towers of a Catholic parish in the village of Tordinci by artillery fire. In 2008 the towers were restored.[11]

In 2009, Croatian State Attorney's Office charged Colonel Boro Ivanović with war crimes committed against civilians in the village. The charges include killing of 22 civilians on 25 October 1991, after the a tank company of the Yugoslav People's Army 12th Proletarian Mechanised Brigade, supported by Serb paramilitaries, captured the village. The State Attorney's Office also said that 11 additional civilians were arrested, physically abused and taken to the Begejci camp in Serbia.[12]

Footnotes

1. "Općine na područjima posebne državne skrbi Republike Hrvatske" (PDF). Croatian Chamber of Economy. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
2. Lovrinčević, Željko; Davor, Mikulić; Budak, Jelena (June 2004). "AREAS OF SPECIAL STATE CONCERN IN CROATIA- REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT DIFFERENCES AND THE DEMOGRAPHIC AND EDUCATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS". Ekonomski pregled, Vol.55 No.5-6. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
3. http://www.dzs.hr/hrv/censuses/census2001/Popis/H01_01_03/h01_01_03_zup16-4588.html
4. Penava 2006, p. 605
5. Penava 2006, p. 606
6. Penava 2006, pp. 607–608
7. Penava 2006, p. 608
8. Penava 2006, p. 609
9. "JNA premještala posmrtne ostatke?" [Did JNA move human remains?]. Slobodna Dalmacija (in Croatian). 23 March 2004.
10. Miroslav Flego. "Tisuću hodočasnika na Križnom putu "Putem masovnih grobnica"" [A Thousand Pilgrims in Mass Graves Procession]. Večernji list (in Croatian).
11. Mons. Srakić blagoslovio nova crkvena zvona u crkvi Presvetog Trojstva
12. Sanja Butigan (22 October 2009). "Pukovnik bivše JNA Boro Ivanović pod sumnjom za ratni zločin" [JNA Colonel Boro Ivanović suspected of a war crime]. Slobodna Dalmacija (in Croatian).

References

• Penava, Šimun (October 2006). "Masovne grobnice Hrvata ubijenih 1991. u selima Tordinci i Antin" [Mass Graves of Croats Killed in 1991 in the Villages of Tordinci and Antin]. Scrinia Slavonica (in Croatian). Croatian Historical Institute - Department of History of Slavonia, Srijem and Baranja. 6 (1): 595–628. ISSN 1332-4853.