MEMORIAL DEDICATED TO VUKAŠIN ŠOŠKOČANIN, COMMANDER OF BOROVO SELO DEFENCE, REMOVED

BOROVO, FEBRUARY 6 /SRNA/ – Croatian authorities have removed the chapel dedicated to Vukašin Šoškočanin, commander of the Borovo Selo defence, after three decades.

The demolition of the chapel began in November last year and was preceded by the adoption of the Law on Cemeteries in April 2025, which prescribes the procedure for the removal of Serbs’ memorials. The head of the Homeland Movement, Ivan Penava, said that the mausoleum dedicated to Šoškočanin in the area of Borovo Selo had “finally” been removed, stating that this was “one of the key promises of the Homeland Movement.” Penava, who referred to the chapel as a mausoleum, said that it was a structure which, as he claimed, “glorified the life and work of a Chetnik vojvoda,” according to Croatian media reports. The director of the Veritas Documentation - Information Centre Savo Štrbac, previously said that the working title of the law was “Lex Vukašin Šoškočanin”, to whom the family had built a chapel in Borovo Selo with a plaque with his name, surname, and title, as well as verses stating that “on Serb land, the Serb flag will stand high.” That inscription and plaque, Štrbac explained, were destroyed long ago, the chapel was vandalized, and Vukašin’s body was long ago transferred to Glođane near Bač in Vojvodina. Štrbac recalled that Croatian and Serb units clashed in Borovo Selo near Vukovar in 1991, in which 12 Croatian police officers and three Serbs were killed - an event many historians consider the beginning of the Croatian-Serb conflict.