A mass grave in Slovenia believed to hold up to 300 victims killed after World War II by the former communist regime has been discovered in the country’s east, authorities said on Wednesday.
“We’ve found the mummified remains of between 200 and 300 people,” Marko Strovs, head of the government’s military graves department, told journalists.
He added the victims appeared to be “killed with gas” since there were no visible signs of wounds from firearms.
Investigators and historians on Tuesday removed concrete walls built after World War II to close off the Huda Jama cave near Lasko, some 90km east of the capital Ljubljana. They then discovered the remains.
The investigation of the Huda Jama cave started last August as part of a long-running probe of more than 500 suspected mass graves throughout Slovenia.
They are believed to contain the remains of pro-Nazi collaborators who sought to escape from the former Yugoslavia’s communist regime in 1945. Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia before becoming independent in 1991.
The identities of the victims in Huda Jama remain unclear. However, accounts from local residents indicate they were pro-Nazi collaborators from Slovenia or Croatia, said the head of the Slovenian Research Center for National Reconciliation, Andreja Valic.
“Current information, based on oral testimony, indicates that the slain people could have been Slovenian or Croatian citizens,” Valic told Slovenian news agency STA.
State prosecutor Barbara Brezigar also visited the site and described seeing the remains as “horrible.”
“It is one of the most shocking things you could see in your life,” Brezigar told journalists.
She said any investigation into the crimes would be difficult since most of those responsible were likely dead.
Judicial forensic Joze Balazic, who took part in the excavation of the mass grave, said at the entrance piles of military shoes were found.
“It seems that they [the victims] had to undress and take off their shoes before they were killed. We did not see any small-size or children’s shoes,” Balazic told reporters, suggesting most of the victims were soldiers.
Most of the bodies were found in a 15m-long and 2.5m-wide underground passage situated some 400m from the entrance to the cave.
He added that there are another two passages in the cave where more bodies could be found, but that these will only be investigated in a month’s time, after the first one discovered on Tuesday is documented and a way through is opened.
Strovs explained the good condition in which the remains were found was because of the fact that the cave had been sealed with several walls of concrete separated by layers of barren soil.
“At the end, we came to a long passage that was all in white. Soon we understood the white mass were the bodies that had been all covered with lime,” Strovs said of the gruesome discovery.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
RSS