In Herzegovina, some twenty kilometres upstream from Mostar, on both banks of the Neretva, squeezed between the limpid river and the mountains, lies Grabovica. That early September morning the rain was vacillating, as if waiting for the right moment. It waited for the commemoration and mass to come to a close before it decided to pour down from the swelling clouds.
In the night between 8 and 9 September 1993, members of the 9th Brigade of the First Corps from the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBIH), as well as members of other First Corps units from Sarajevo committed a grave war crime against the civilians of this small Croat village on the banks of the Neretva. According to the Association of Croat Victims “Grabovica 93”, over those few days in September 1993, 33 civilians were killed and the remains of 17 victims have not yet been found. Five members of the Army of RBiH have been found guilty of this war crime by courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Sefer Halilović was acquitted in the trial at the Hague Tribunal. According to the court judgements, the civilians were killed in a particularly brutal way and among the victims was a four-year-old girl, Mladenka Zadro, killed in her mother’s arms. The families of the victims told us that they are particularly distressed by the fact that the remains of some victims have not been found and that command responsibility for the crime in Grabovica was never assigned and only the direct perpetrators were tried.
In a profound sense, suffering denotes the feeling of being passive victims of our own fate. Being unable to change it, our every attempt futile and our every move predestined. What should we do with this feeling? And what can we do? These are the questions that each of the thirty people from the mixed group of war veterans, former members of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBIH), the Croat Defence Council (HVO), the Croatian Army (HV), the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), and the Army of Yugoslavia (VJ), keeps asking themselves and others. These former enemies, united by this re-examination and by the same aim, provide an answer.
On the right bank of the Neretva, at the plateau in front of the memorial to the victims of Grabovica, stood a mixed group of war veterans, together with activists of the Centre for Nonviolent Action. They had no qualms. Some thirty of them, from Živinice, Brčko, Bihać, Sarajevo, Belgrade, Novi Grad, Mostar, Zagreb, Podgorica, Šamac, Vitez, Zavidovići, Kruševac, Prijedor, Jajce, Goražde, stood waiting. Though identified only as the delegation from the Centre for Nonviolent Action (CNA), without reference to the armies they used to belong to, by laying the wreath they honoured those killed, they paid their respects to the victims with open hearts.
The very fact of former enemies attending the commemoration together, paying their respects to victims of all wars, sends the message that we are no longer enemies and that we never want to be enemies again. That the suffering, fear and pain we have all experienced connect us and bring us closer together. That we grieve and empathise with each other’s pain, to ease it, and to make sure it never happens again.
“Today, we are here together with a group of war veterans from all three armies. Today, thirty of us veterans advocating for peace want to pay our respects to the victims on this difficult day. It is important that as veterans, former enemies, we are here together to honour victims from one of the biggest tragedies in the past war for the Croat people. With this, we want to send a message for a better future. We veterans want to send a message to new generations that can bring optimism, that we can grieve with each other and empathise, that we mourn victims on all sides,” said Adnan Hasanbegović, a veteran of ARBiH and a member of CNA.
Sead Đulić, a theatre director and drama teacher from Mostar, a veteran officer in ARBiH, waited with the group of war veterans. His play “Lullaby for Mladenka” that deals with the crime committed against Croat civilians in Grabovica was performed once again that evening in Mostar. At the commemoration itself, the hosts publicly thanked him for his courageous and human act.
“It is crucial that more people come to places like these, that they muster the strength and courage to come. Unfortunately, it took us so many years to start coming to each other’s commemorations, but I think this is the way forward. If we continue to look at our victims while they look to theirs, if we do not deal with everything that has happened, we can never move on. This is the way, for us to come from different sides and honour innocent victims. That way is long, slow and difficult, but these positive stories must become prime news, because this is the way to preserve and develop our society,” Đulić said.
We found out from our hosts that Ivica Čavlović, who had been in the “Zulfikar” unit of ARBiH and who tried to protect the civilians, was also killed in Grabovica. This act worthy of respect and honour has remained largely unknown to the wider public. It seems that our presence has had a positive influence on different memories. We would like to believe that our arrival evoked memories of this human act from the past and that the presence of the mixed group of war veterans was encouraging. We hope that we helped make sure that not only suffering and crimes are remembered, but also examples of ultimate human decency. It seems that only humanity inspires people to remember humanity; perhaps only humanity invokes humanity.
The name of Ivica Čavlović was not spoken at the commemoration in Grabovica, nor is it included on the memorial alongside the names of those he tried to protect. He is not written about in the newspapers or mentioned on television. We would like to know more about why his name has been left by the wayside.
After the commemoration, Fra Andrija Jozić, Guardian of the Šćit Monastery, delivered a mass for the killed civilians of Grabovica and pointed out the importance of remembering the victims. “It is clear that we must create a climate of coexistence, forgiveness, regaining trust, but these basic premises of peacebuilding rest on the foundations of truth.” We are heartened by the reconciliatory tone of Fra Jozić, as we are by the presence at our introductory meeting of Father Nebojša, the Christian Orthodox priest from Bijelo Polje near Mostar and his words of support, “What you are doing here is a great deed. We should not forget anyone’s victims, we should treat all equally, and thus build peace together, especially us clerics.” We are also encouraged and motivated by the fact that, even though we were identified only as CNA, without reference to veterans and the armies they belonged to, the media and the people were well aware of our presence. The reactions of those present and some newly established contacts tell us that our presence has inspired more people to want to join our actions.
We would like to live to see the day when commemorations will not begin to the tune of military marches or, as was the case in Grabovica, to the notes of songs by Marko Perković Thompson. We would like to see political officials of just one people, usually the victimised people, joined at commemorations by political representatives of other peoples. We would like to see commemorations attended by representatives of all three religious communities…
We would like to thank Stano, Krešo, Zovko and Mr Josip Drežnjak from HVIDR, HVO and the Association of Croat Victims “Grabovica 93” for the invitation they sent us in the spirit of humanity and with an open heart.
“Today, we continue to commemorate the deaths of all civilians. As a Croat and HVO veteran, I am glad that I have participated at other commemorations on different sides, just as I am glad that other veterans came to Grabovica today. I would particularly like to thank the veterans of the Army of BiH who came to Grabovica today, I know it was not easy for them, because I know how I felt when we visited places where the perpetrators had been members of HVO. I see our visit today as something positive, as a step towards bringing people together and increasing trust,” said Stanislav Krezić, an HVO veteran from Mostar.
For almost ten years, we have been trying to organise an action with war veterans in Herzegovina. By attending the commemoration in Grabovica, we have reached this milestone. Two years ago, we were at the commemoration for Croats killed in Trusina, which is at the very threshold of Herzegovina. It was an important step for us – the first time that we met with the major institutions and individuals who organise and attend commemorations for killed Croats in Herzegovina. Since that commemoration, we have enjoyed significant support from Dragica Tomić, head of the Association of Croat Victims in Konjic. The journey from Trusina to Grabovica shows how we are making steps forward. We are encouraged and hope that we will continue to push the geographic reach of our actions further and even beyond Herzegovina.