On Monday, Vukovar remembers the most difficult day in its recent history, when on 18 November 1991, after 87 days of heroic resistance, the defence of the city collapsed and the eastern Croatian city was occupied by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and Serbian paramilitary groups.

Numerous crimes were committed against civilians and defenders in this war-ravaged city.

During the almost three-month-long aggression of the former JNA and Serb paramilitary groups against Vukovar in 1991, at least 2,717 Croatian defenders and civilians were killed, more than 22,000 inhabitants were displaced from the city and several thousand defenders and civilians were taken to Serb-run concentration camps in the occupied territories and in Serbia, about 300 of whom died in these camps.

The names of 350 people are still on the list of those detained or missing in the Homeland War after they disappeared without a trace in war-torn Vukovar.

Although the fighting in Vukovar and its surroundings had begun earlier, 25 August 1991 is usually cited as the day on which the battle for the city began. At that time, the JNA and Serbian paramilitary groups launched an all-out artillery and infantry attack with the intention of conquering the town in a week or less.

However, the Croatian defenders, who were ten times weaker in terms of numbers and weaponry, managed to resist the attack for almost three months. The inhabitants were left without electricity and regular water and food supplies, while hundreds of shells fell on the city every day, in addition to the tank and air attacks.

The occupation of Vukovar lasted until 15 January 1998 and the peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danube region, after which the inhabitants of Vukovar finally returned to their homes.

According to available data, 5,400 single-family houses and 282 apartment blocks were rebuilt in the Vukovar area as part of the post-war reconstruction. 245 million euros were spent on this part of the post-war reconstruction.

Commemorative events are held

A commemorative programme entitled “Vukovar – a place of special love for the homeland” began on Monday at 10 a.m. in the National Memorial Hospital Dr Juraj Njavro.

In addition to war veterans and representatives of associations, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic will also take part in the programme.

The Croatian defenders of Vukovar will lead a memorial column together with the family members of the fallen, disappeared, killed, abducted and deceased Croatian defenders, as well as those who witnessed the destruction of Vukovar during the war as children.

The victims of Vukovar will be honoured by laying wreaths and lighting candles at the cemetery for victims of the Homeland War.

On Sunday, the eve of Remembrance Day, Croatians began commemorating the victims of the fall of the eastern town of Vukovar and the southern town of Skabrnja into the hands of the JNA and Serbian rebels 33 years ago.

On the eve of Vukovar and Skabrnja Remembrance Day, residents of towns and municipalities across Croatia lit candles and lanterns in the centres of their communities and along streets named after Vukovar.

After four years of occupation, Skabrnja and the nearby areas in the Dalmatian hinterland were liberated in August 1995 during Operation Storm at the end of the Homeland War, while Vukovar was reintegrated into the Croatian constitutional and legal system in January 1998 as part of the UN-supervised peaceful reintegration.