MASS FOR BLEIBURG VICTIMS TO BE HELD ON MAY 16

ZAGREB, May 5 (Hina) - Holly Mass will be celebrated in the Bleiburg field at noon on May 16, on the occasion of the remembrance day of Bleiburg victims and victims of the Way of the Cross, a parliament committee in charge of marking May 15 as the remembrance day of all victims of Bleiburg and the Way of the Cross reported on Wednesday. The event will be broadcast live on Croatian Radio Television (HRT). The Bleiburg tragedy is one of the greatest tragedies of the Croat people in this century. At the end of World War Two, Croatian soldiers, fearing retaliation by the Yugoslav army, decided to surrender to the Allies (English) in Austria. Members of their families and numerous civilians followed them. However, according to previous arrangements with the Partisans, the Allies handed them over to the Partisans in the Bleiburg field. According to some estimates, about half a million people were handed over. Many of them were killed in the field on May 14 and 15 1945, and the others were sent back to Yugoslavia. Many of them died of exhaustion or were killed on the long marches, later called the Way of the Cross. The exact number of victims of Bleiburg and the Way of the Cross is not known, but is estimated to be between 55,000 and 300,000. (hina) it jn/rml