ZAGREB ARCHBISHOP COMMENTS ON INCIDENT AT BLEIBURG CEREMONY

ZAGREB, May 13 (Hina) - The peace of soul of every man and reconciliation are one of the priorities in Croatian society and the Church believes it can play a role in that process, Zagreb Archbishop and president of the Croatian Bishops' Conference (HBK), Josip Bozanic, said at a news conference on Monday, commenting on yesterday's incident in the Bleiburg field in Austria when a government official was prevented from addressing the gathered at a ceremony commemorating the victims of the Bleiburg and Way of the Cross tragedies. #L# Bozanic's meeting with reporters was organised on the occasion of the 36th World Communications Day, May 12. Recalling the words of the Holy Father, Archbishop Bozanic said that one must not forget the martyr, but one also had "to clean the memory of the martyr". "That cannot happen all of a sudden. It is a process which must take place, because one should sympathise with the victims and their burden," Bozanic said, stressing the role of theologians and the media in the process of healing wounds. The chairman of the HBK Committee on Social Communication, Ivan Devicic, said that yesterday's event in Bleiburg was not a normal occurrence. This would not have happened to Italians or Germans, the Rijeka bishop said, adding that events like yesterday's were good neither for the people nor the state. The participants in the 57th commemoration for the victims of the Bleiburg and Way of the Cross tragedies, who gathered in the Bleiburg field in southern Austria on Sunday, booed off the envoy of the Croatian parliament, vice-president Zdravko Tomac, not allowing him to deliver his speech. At the end of WW2, Croatian soldiers, fearing retaliation by the then Yugoslav federal army, decided to surrender to English Allies in Austria. They were followed by their families and numerous civilians. However, according to previous arrangements with the partisans, the Allies surrendered them to the partisans in the Bleiburg field on May 14-15, 1945. According to recent estimates, that exodus included about half a million Croats. Many were killed there over those two days. Later that May, the Yugoslav army returned over 20,000 captured Croats from the Austrian border to Yugoslavia. Many were killed or died of exhaustion during the long marches known as the Way of the Cross. (hina) rml ha