Vukovar is a Microcosm of Conflict in Post-Yugoslavia

Henry Srebrnik, [Summerside, PEI] Journal Pioneer

The collapse of Yugoslavia in the 1990s led to warfare throughout the country, as Croats, Kosovar Albanians, Muslim Bosniaks, Serbs, and Slovenes all fought each other for control of territory. Seven sovereign entities would emerge by 2006.

The 1991-1995 Croatian war for independence from Serb-dominated Yugoslavia claimed some 20,000 lives. While the Roman Catholic Croats declared themselves a sovereign country, minority Orthodox Serbs in Croatia opposed the secession and, at the least, wanted Serb-populated regions, such as the Krajina and eastern Slavonia, to remain Serbian.

The Serb-controlled regions in 1991declared themselves the Republic of Serbian Krajina, and its government engaged in a war for ethnic Serb independence from the newly-formed Republic of Croatia.

In August of 1991, Serb forces launched a full-scale attack against Croatian-held territory in eastern Slavonia, including the city of Vukovar, on the Danube River.

By the time Vukovar fell three months later, at least 2,000 defenders were dead and it had been virtually destroyed. After its surrender, hundreds of soldiers and civilians were massacred by Serb forces and at least 31,000 civilians were deported from the town and its surroundings. The damage to Vukovar during the siege has been called the worst in Europe since 1945.

While the rest of Serbian Krajina was recaptured by Croatia in 1995 in Operation Storm, which was finalized by the Erdut Peace Agreement, Vukovar remained in Serb hands until 1998 when it was peacefully reintegrated into Croatia through UN auspices.


Between 300,000 and 350,000 Serbs were relocated as a result of the 1991-1995 war.  Approximately 220,000 Croats had previously been displaced with the establishment of Serbian Krajina in 1991.

During the decades of Communist rule in Yugoslavia, Vukovar had been showcased as a model “Brotherhood and Unity” city where Croats and Serbs could live in harmony. The secularisation of the city attempted to stem the ethnic and religious animosity that had led to mass murder during the Second World War.

The lands of both the Orthodox and Catholic churches were nationalised, religion was removed from the education system, church marriages were no longer considered valid, and the public role of both clergies was curtailed.

But it all unravelled as Yugoslavia fell apart. On both sides, nationalists mobilised religious heritage, motifs, and practices, as vehicles for their ethnic movements.

Today, Vukovar remains a city on edge and real peace remains elusive. The battle for the city continues through memory wars, conflicts over dual language signage, and ethnically divided education.

Incidents involving Croats and Serbs occur regularly, and public spaces have become identified by the ethnicity of those who gather there. Even coffee shops are identified as Croat or Serb. The city is a cauldron of mutual animosity.

In September 2013, the Croatian government implemented its Constitutional Law on the Rights of Ethnic Minorities for the city. The legislation allows for minorities to have their language used for official purposes if they make up more than a third of a city’s population.

Since ethnic Serbs constitute 34.8 per cent of Vukovar’s population of 28,000, according to a 2011 census, signs in both the Latin and Cyrillic scripts were introduced. Croats use the Latin alphabet, while Serbs use Cyrillic script.

Respect for minorities’ rights was a key condition for Croatia to join the European Union in 2013.
But tens of thousands Croatians demonstrated against the introduction of the Cyrillic alphabet on street signs. Some signs were torn down, others were smashed with hammers, while protesters clashed with the police. Cyrillic, they contended, “is the symbol of Serb aggression.”

Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic’s centre-left government condemned the “chauvinist violence,” saying it would not take down signs in Cyrillic in Vukovar, as the “rule of law must prevail.”

The Danube, which once served as the city’s link to the wider world, is now the border between Serbia and Croatia, and Vukovar itself remains just as divided.