On the 23rd of August, the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes, 814 victims of mass killings that happened during and after World War II, exhumed from Jazovka, were buried in Croatia. Jazovka is a forest cave located near the village of Sošice on the Žumberak side of the mountain range of Gorjanci, close to the border with Slovenia (on the Slovenian side, there is Javorovica, the village with the highest altitude in the municipality of Šentjernej).
The funeral ceremony was led by the Zagreb Archbishop Dražen Kutleša, who said during Mass that martyrdom is not a message of hatred, but a call for conversion and healing of society from divisions.
He thanked the Croatian authorities for their work in uncovering and ensuring the dignified burial of the victims. He said that reconciliation is not possible without truth and that peace can only be built on its solid foundations, because “only truth can set us free.” He also pointed out that communism, unlike Nazism and fascism, was never officially condemned, and its perpetrators were never held accountable for their actions (source: https://www.zg-nadbiskupija.hr/nadbiskup-kutlesa-predvodio-misu-zadusnicu-i-obred-ukopa-ostataka-zrtava-bacenih-u-jamu-jazovka/26985).
The commemoration was also attended by the Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia and the Minister for Croatian Veterans, Tomo Medved, and the Deputy Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Ivan Penava. Medved emphasised that the crime in Jazovka had become a symbol of the madness of communist violence. “Today’s ceremony is therefore also a call for the uncompromising condemnation of these horrific crimes of the communist regime,” Medved said, according to Croatian media reports.
Jazovka is a forest cave located near the village of Sošice in Žumberak, Croatia, which was the site of mass post-war killings and thus became a mass grave. The cave is also well protected as a cultural site. It is approximately 34 meters deep, with an elongated and sloping section at the bottom that is approximately 15 meters long.
In 2020, the remains of 814 victims were excavated from the cave. They had been murdered by partisans after the capture of Krašić in January 1943 and then again after the end of World War II. The victims were mostly wounded medical personnel and nuns who were forcibly taken from Zagreb hospitals by members of the Yugoslav army in 1945. You can read more about this at the following link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazovka
What about Slovenia?
Things are completely different in Slovenia than in Croatia. Namely, Slovenia is still unable to bury all the victims of totalitarian regimes. The bones excavated from the cave under Macesnova Gorica still lie in bags; during the current government of Robert Golob, they were taken from Kočevje to the premises of the Škofja Loka municipal services. Even Nataša Pirc Musar, the President of the country, did not attend this year’s ceremony to remember the victims of post-war killings in Kočevski Rog. Well, perhaps the “security assessment” was that the police helicopter she loves so much would not be able to “land safely” above the pits soaked with the blood of the innocents.
Jazovka is a cave in the Žumberak area, i.e., on the Croatian side of Gorjanci, while on the Slovenian side, it is closest to Javorovica in the municipality of Šentjernej.
More photos of the ceremony and burial in question are available at the following link: Zagreb Archdiocese – https://www.facebook.com/zgnadbiskupija
Moja Dolenjska
