VUKOVAR
Perhaps
no place in former 
Vukovar’s
history is similar to other cities in the region. There
has been human habitation in the area for over 5000 years (in fact, the word
“Vukovar” comes from Vucedol, one of the local tribes of the Bronze Age). Illyrians (the ancestors of today’s Albanians)
and Celts also settled in the region and were eventually followed by Romans, Slavs,
Franks, and Hungarians. With the schism
between
Vukovar
was first mentioned as a town in the 13th century and it would soon become the
seat of Vukovo, the Croatian region between the
After
being liberated from the
After
the first World War came the unification of what would eventually come to be known as
Neither
the Ustashe nor the Cetniks won the war; instead, the communist Partisans (led by Marshal
Tito) gained power in post-war
Following
multi-party elections in 1990, the communists did not win in Croatia and, within a year,
the republic would declare its independence from Yugoslavia.
The backlash in eastern Croatia was considerable, since many Serbs living in
those areas favored remaining part of Yugoslavia and rejected Croatian independence (by
Croatian accounts, the Serbs wanted to maintain the favorable economic position they had
maintained in a Serb-dominated state; by Serbian accounts, they wanted to protect
themselves against retaliatory discrimination by a Croatian-dominated state).
By
the summer of 1991, the Yugoslav Army was sent in to Vukovar and was joined by a local
Serb volunteer militia. A Croat militia made
up almost entirely of volunteers defended Vukovar for three months in spite being
outnumbered and outweaponed. The city –
or what was left of it – finally fell to 
Yugoslav
forces in November of 1991. What followed was
a horror not seen since in
United
Nations forces came into the area in 1992, but sporadic fighting continued, as did ethnic
cleansing. Over 100,000 Serbs, displaced by
war in other cities, were settled in Vukovar.
A
political agreement about the future of Vukovar would not come until November 1995. Vukovar would ultimately return to Croatia
following a transitional administration under the UN, Yugoslav forces would be
demobilized, both Croatian and Serbian political parties would be permitted, and refugees
would be permitted to return home. This last
point would prove the most difficult to implement beyond paper since Serbs still insisted
on autonomy and many had been living in formerly Croat homes for several years. In 1998, the UN administration ended and Vukovar
officially became part of
As
some displaced Croats return home, still others are not ready. Serbs, now settled in Vukovar, are no more ready to
return to their original homes where they would feel like strangers. While destroyed buildings and industries are in the
process of reconstruction, the human psyche and mutual trust will take a far longer time
to rebuild.
Internet sites about Vukovar are varied and are among the most contentious along national lines, with each side claiming its version of history as the truth. As an example, compare the description on the site maintained by the Municipal Government of Vukovar with the site maintained by the Serbian Unity Congress
Personal
Accounts
Nikola was one of the Croatian volunteer soldiers who defended Vukovar from the Yugoslav Army and Serbian paramilitaries. Having survived the traumas of Vukovar, Nikola now finds himself unable to return to his town or himself.
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