COMMEMORATION DAY PROGRAMME ON BLEIBURG AND WAY OF THE CROSS VICTI

VICTI $ MS ZAGREB, May 6 (Hina) - The committee for marking May 15 as day of the Bleiburg and Way of the Cross victims determined a Commemoration Day Programme at a meeting held in Zagreb on Monday. On 15 May 1945, six days after the official end of World War Two, soldiers of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) who had surrendered to the Allies at Bleiburg, Austria, were handed over to the communist Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). A large number of soldiers, members of their families and other civilians who had followed were executed on the Bleiburg plain by JNA, without a trial. Those who were not killed were forced to walk towards concentration camps in the former Yugoslavia. On their way, known as the Way of the Cross, they were either killed, tortured or cruelly humiliated. The number of the Bleiburg and Way of the Cross victims is estimated between 55,000 and 300,000. The Commemoration Programme includes a visit to Bleiburg on Sunday, May 12, with a mass to be held on the Bleiburg plain. After the mass, wreaths will be laid by the monument for the victims. Several round tables will be held on Bleiburg and the Way of the Cross victims, and on May 15 one hour at schools will be dedicated to the tragic events. (hina) ha jn 061635 MET may 96