VOZUĆA - SYMBOL OF HISTORICAL SUFFERING AND EXPULSION OF SERBS FROM ANCESTRAL HOMES

ZAVIDOVIĆI, SEPTEMBER 10 /SRNA/ - Vozuća is a symbol of the historical suffering and expulsion of Serbs from ancestral homes in the Defense-Patriotic War, but also in the Second World War, when, according to data collected so far, 1,540 of them perished, Milijan Marković, who lost both of his grandfathers in Jasenovac, told SRNA.

Marković says that the idea has existed for a long time that the Serbs of the Vozuća region who died during the Second World War should be plucked from oblivion, and their names and surnames were recorded out of a moral obligation because everyone has the right to a grave or a written record of their existence. "A list with the names and surnames of 1,540 victims was compiled, among whom are 326 men who were taken to Jasenovac," Marković said and pointed out that their suffering in the post-war period was not discussed, and if the story was brought up - it would be like "it happened and God forbid that it happens again." These are the victims from the settlements that gravitated to the Orthodox parishes in Stog and the Vozućica Monastery - Željova, Predražići, Vračevac, Bare, Pantelići, Mrkaljevići, Stakići, Vukovine, Pavlovići, Bučje, Panići, Gaj, Ćorići, Jeličići, Kalaiš, Lipa, Maričići, Zobici, Pejići, Kočarina, Predrazi, Pašalići, Cvjetovine, Šiktari, Prisjeke, Miljevići, Janjila, Vasovine, Vasići, Turčinovići, Hrge, Kamenica, Šivna, Stog, Trnići, Medići, Podvolujak, Oštrić, Svinjašnica, Lozna, Orahovice, Treštenice, Kapetanov Brd, Jasikovac, Borovci, Kesten, Krčevine, Savičići. He says that he never met either one of his grandfathers, nor did he feel their love, because they both died during the deportation to the Jasenovac concentration camp. Describing their suffering, Marković says that the Nazis used the same methodology as in Drakulić outside Banjaluka, i.e., in February 1942, people in the settlements were invited to report to the school in Vozuća in order to receive passes from the new regime of the Independent State of Croatia /NDH/. "Those who came were kept there for two days, until the arrival of a train with closed wagons into which they were loaded, and first they were taken to Sarajevo, where they spent three days, because none of the camps at that time could accept them due to overcrowding, and then they sent them to Jasenovac," said Marković. Pointing to the list of victims, which he compiled using various sources, Marković says that those 1,540 victims were not men under arms, but ordinary people, boys and girls, killed en masse - they were burned down or slaughtered in their houses or thrown into the Krivaja River. "When you extract information about the victims from the documents, let's say you single out Petrović /Petar/ Petar. Next comes Petrović, the wife of Petar. Then Petrović Petar's one child, then another, and then a third. With the fourth, you are already praying to God that he doesn't have a fifth child, and then you see there is the sixth one," says Marković. He says that he is satisfied that the names of the Vozuća victims from the Second World War, together with those from the Defense-Patriotic War, will soon be written on a memorial plaque, which will be a place of gathering and a lasting testimony to the people of this region about their ancestors and origins. The "Path of Exodus 2023" March, organized by the Zavidovići Natives' Association based in Doboj, is being held today in commemoration of 28 years since the suffering and expulsion of 1,920 Serbian families from the area of Vozuća, the Krivaja River Valley and southern Ozren. The march is organized as part of a commemoration of the mass sufferings of the people of Vozuća that took place from September 10 to September 24, 1995, as a result of the offensive of 23,000 Muslim soldiers of the Second and Third Corps of the so-called Army of BiH and the "El Mujahideen" detachment, as well as the NATO bombing supported by NATO rapid response units and the Pakistani contingent of international peacekeeping forces. At that time, more than 30 Serbian villages were burned down, 1,920 Serbian families with 7,680 members were expelled, 459 soldiers of the Republika Srpska Army and civilians were killed, and a large number of people are still being searched for. With the fall of Vozuća, the expulsion of Serbs and the ethnic cleansing of the Zenica region, which began in 1992, ended.