BELGRADE, OCTOBER 22 /SRNA/ – The director of the Documentation and Information Center Veritas Savo Štrbac told SRNA that the demolition of the Šoškoćanin family chapel in Borovo marked the beginning of the removal of Serb tombstones in Croatia under the controversial Law on Cemeteries, which was initiated by the pro-Ustasha coalition partner of the HDZ in the Croatian government – the Homeland Movement.
Štrbac said that the president of the Homeland Movement himself, Ivan Penava /50/, known as the long-time mayor of Vukovar, has filed as many as 10 requests for the demolition of Serbian tombstones.
“The body of Vukašin Šoškoćanin, the wartime commander of Borovo in 1991 and the most well-known member of the Šoškoćanin family, is no longer in the family chapel, as his family, anticipating such developments, had long ago transferred him to a tomb in the yard of the Bođani Monastery in Vojvodina,” Štrbac said.
However, Štrbac says, even though the controversial plaque, describing who Vukašin Šoškoćanin was and stating that the Serb flag flies on Serb land, is no longer there as it was already destroyed long ago, the Croatian authorities have demolished the chapel, around which the old graves of Vukašin’s ancestors are located.
“Those from the Homeland Movement, who were the initiators of the Law on Cemeteries, stated that all auxiliary structures in cemeteries, allegedly built to glorify members of the so-called aggressor or to `offend the feelings of Croatian citizens,` must be demolished,” Štrbac said.
The director of Veritas emphasized that, according to his information, at least two families in Dalmatia have already removed busts and markers from the tombstones of their loved ones.
“They did this because members of the Homeland Movement filmed Serb tombstones that bothered them and publicly broadcast the footage on TV and other media, announcing that they would demolish them if the families did not remove them themselves,” Štrbac said.
The Croatian newspaper Novosti reported that, after years of controversy and debate surrounding the Šoškoćanin family chapel at the Borovo cemetery, work has begun on its removal.
The family chapel, whose most well-known member was Vukašin Šoškoćanin, the wartime commander of Borovo in 1991, has been the target of attacks by right-wing groups in Croatia for years.
The building has been vandalized several times, most recently on November 18, 2018, when red spray paint was used to write “U” and “ZDS” /Ustaše greeting `for the homeland ready`/.
At the end of June this year, the president of the Homeland Movement, Ivan Penava, submitted a request to the county administration for the removal of this and ten other Serb monuments in Croatia, claiming that they insult the national feelings of Croats.
The request was submitted in accordance with the Law on Cemeteries, which provides for the removal of tombstones erected after May 30, 1990.
In the meantime, a plaque has been removed from the family chapel, which read:
“Here rests Vukašin Vule Šoškoćanin, tragically deceased in the waves of the Danube at the age of 32 on May 15, 1991, commander of the defense of Borovo Selo. Declared a national hero at the Great Serb National Assembly in Beli Manastir on September 25, 1991. And now I watch Borovo, my native village, my brothers, sisters, and Serb fighters. My battles rage fiercely, proudly raising their foreheads, and Serb flags stand high and firm on Serb land.”
Vukašin Šoškoćanin died 13 days after the clash in Borovo, in which 12 police officers from the Vinkovci police station were killed, after drowning in the Danube while crossing by boat from Serbia.
He was buried in the family grave in Borovo, but his body was later transferred to the Bođani Monastery.
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