Dvor massacre

The Dvor massacre was the execution of 9 disabled and elderly civilians on 8 August 1995 in the village of Dvor in the aftermath of Operation Storm.

Dvor massacre
LocationDvor, Croatia
Date8 August 1995
Target8 Croatian Serbs and 1 Croat
Attack type
Mass killing
Deaths9

Killings

Due to the bombing on the first day of Croatia's Operation Storm, August 4, 1995, residents from a nursery home and patients from a psychiatric ward were evacuated from the village of Petrinja to Dvor.[1] They were transferred to a school surrounded by UNPROFOR peacekeepers.[1] On 8 August 1995, a group of unidentified assailants entered the village and took the patients to the main hall of the school and executed them.[2]

A Danish U.N. peacekeeping force under the command of Jorgen Kold who had been stationed in Dvor watched the massacre unfold through the large shattered windows of the school.[2] Kold defended his unit's failure to act by saying that they were instructed not to leave the camp or interfere.[2] "I didn't know that it was an impending massacre," he said, explaining that he could only have acted in "self-defence".[2] At the time of the massacre, both Croatian and Serbian forces were in the vicinity of Dvor, but neither side has admitted to the killings.[2] According to Kold, his unit observed at least three Croatian soldiers with baseball caps and backpacks, near the camp on the morning of the massacre and "either they're covering it up, or someone doesn't want to remember".[2]

Documentary

In 2015, a documentary on the massacre entitled 15 minutes - The Dvor Massacre was released, directed by Kasper Vedsmand and Georg Larsen.[3]

References
  1. "RTS "postpones" documentary to protect Croats who made it". B92.net. RTS. 16 March 2016.
  2. Larsen, Georg; Vedsmand, Kasper (29 May 2016). "When the UN watched a massacre unfold in Croatia". AlJazeera.
  3. "15 minutes - The Dvor Massacre". Sarajevo Film Festival.

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