DJAKOVO, Oct 7 (Hina) - A monument erected in memory of Danubian Germans - victims of a prison camp which operated between August 1945 and May 1946, was officially unveiled on Thursday in the eastern Croatian village of
Krndija.
DJAKOVO, Oct 7 (Hina) - A monument erected in memory of Danubian
Germans - victims of a prison camp which operated between August
1945 and May 1946, was officially unveiled on Thursday in the
eastern Croatian village of Krndija. #L#
This is the first monument the World Association of Danubian
Germans from Sindelfingen, Germany, erected in Croatia in memory of
innocent German victims who lost their lives after World War II.
After 1944, partisan authorities systematically expelled and sent
to prison residents of Krndija, a village once populated mostly by
Germans.
About 4,000 people passed through the camp for Danubian Germans in
Krndija in less than a year since its opening. Of those 4,000, about
1,000 died of hunger and disease. When the camp was shut down,
Krndija was settled mostly with people from Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Today it has about 80, mostly elderly residents.
Today's unveiling ceremony was attended by some 200 Danubian
Germans who arrived from Germany and Austria, survivors and former
Krndija residents, German Ambassador to Croatia Volker Haak, and
representatives of the Croatian Parliament, minority
organisations, and local authorities.
The monument, which bears a text in Croatian and German, was
unveiled by the president of the Association of Danubian Germans,
Jakob Dinges, and the president of the World Association of
Danubian Germans, Franjo Koenig.
(hina) jn rml