Tovarnik massacre

The Tovarnik massacre was the mass murder of Croat civilians by Serb forces on 22 September 1991 in the village of Tovarnik.

Tovarnik massacre
Part of the Croatian War of Independence
Tovarnik
Tovarnik on the map of Croatia, JNA/SAO Krajina-held areas in late 1991 are highlighted in red
LocationTovarnik, Croatia
Date22 September 1991
TargetCroats
Attack type
Mass killing, ethnic cleansing
Deaths68
PerpetratorsJNA, local Serb rebels

Background

During the September 1991 Yugoslav Campaign in Croatia, JNA and local Krajina Serb forces attacked and occupied several villages in Eastern Slavonia and Croatian Syrmia (modern-day Vukovar-Srijem County) during the JNA-led offensive against Vukovar and adjacent areas. The village of Tovarnik, on the border with Serbia, fell on the 22 September 1991, after light resistance by a few local Croat defenders.[1]

Killings

JNA and local Serb rebels entered the village and immediately began to abuse and kill the remaining Croat inhabitants that had not been able to flee, 68 Croat civilians were killed on 22 September 1991.[1] Among those killed included the village priest, Ivan Burik.[1][2]

In the months following the massacre, the local Croat civilian population that remained continued to be abused and persecuted. Croats were forced to wear white armbands to identify themselves.[1] Civilians from Tovarnik and nearby areas continued to be psychologically and physically tortured, with some 300 civilians and POWs taken to nearby detention camps. Serb forces had expelled 95% of the 2,500 Croat inhabitants by the end of 1991 and had destroyed 75% of the homes and buildings in the village.[3]

See also

References
  1. "22. rujna 1991. Tovarnik – pokolj 68 Hrvata nakon okupacije sela heroja". Narod.hr. 22 September 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  2. Cançado Trindade, Antônio A. (2017). Judge Antônio A. Cançado Trindade. The construction of a humanized international law. A collection of individual opinions (2013-2016). Vol. 3. Leiden: Brill / Martinus Nijhoff. pp. 123, 174, 197. ISBN 90-04-34004-1. OCLC 993638126.
  3. Vuković, Tomislav (25 September 2011). "Povodom 20. obljetnice srpskih zločina u Tovarniku" (PDF). Glas Koncila (39).
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