VALPOVO, Oct 4 (Hina) - A monument was unveiled on Saturday at the local cemetery in Valpovo, eastern Croatia, in tribute to German and Austrian civilians detained in a local labour camp in 1945 and 1946.
VALPOVO, Oct 4 (Hina) - A monument was unveiled on Saturday at the
local cemetery in Valpovo, eastern Croatia, in tribute to German
and Austrian civilians detained in a local labour camp in 1945 and
1946. #L#
The monument was set up by the Osijek-based association of Danube
Swabians and the Union of Societies of Danube-Swabians, and was
designed by architect Helmut Frisch from Vienna.
The Valpovo camp was established in line with a decision of the
presidency of the Anti-fascist Council of the National Liberation
of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ) in November 1944. Under that decision, local
Germans were to be expelled from the then Yugoslavia and placed in
labour camps before expulsion. Until April 1946, some 3,000 people
- mostly women, children and elderly people - were detained in the
camp. A total of 1,076 people died of starvation, typhoid fever and
due to harsh conditions in the camp. Another several hundred camp
inmates are believed to have died.
The head of the Croatian German community - the Territorial
Association of Danube Swabians, Nikola Mak, said that Germans
deeply regretted the crimes committed in the name of Germany, but
they also wanted to pay tribute to innocent victims who suffered
under the burden of collective guilt without bearing any personal
responsibility.
The head of the Union of Societies of Danube-Swabians, Rudolf
Reimann, thanked Croatian authorities for the help in setting up
the monument, stating that "a happy future can be built only in free
and peaceful co-existence and if one overcomes the past".
Attending today's ceremony, along with the surviving inmates, were
county and municipal officials, representatives of the Austrian
and German embassies, the Union of Societies of Danube Swabians,
the German and Austrian societies of Danube Swabians and the
Federation of Expellees.
(hina) rml sb