A commemoration marking the 68th anniversary of the suffering of soldiers of the 1941-45 Independent State of Croatia and civilians began at Bleiburg field in Austria at noon on Saturday.
As of last year, the commemoration is no longer held under the auspices of the Croatian parliament and as of this year, parliament is no longer financing it either. This year's event is expected to be addressed by MP Josip Djakic. The commemoration is being held under the auspices of a dozen Croatian and Bosnian counties, municipalities and towns.
It is believed that tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians were killed at Bleiburg in May 1945. They wanted to surrender to the allies, but the British army turned them over to the Yugoslav army. Some were killed in the field and many died in the following months on marches back to the then Yugoslavia known as the Way of the Cross marches.
The Croatian state leadership decided last year to visit Tezno, Slovenia and lay wreaths for the victims of those marches, "all those who lost their lives without being guilty or tried," as President Ivo Josipovic said on that occasion. Tezno is the site of one of more than 500 mass graves in Slovenia.
