Not all tourist stops are beauty, culture, and elegant history. There is the darker side of human history and not all of it far in the past. Such was our reminder of this during our stop at the Croatian town of Vukovar, once a prosperous city of 40,000 nestled along the banks of the Danube River. In 1991, Croatia declared independence from Serbia-dominated Yugoslavia. Serbia reacted by attacking Vukovar (and much else of Croatia that the Serbian leadership wanted to remain in control of). For 100 days, the Croatians of Vukovar held out. 90% of the city was destroyed, much of the population fled, and at least 5,000 sent to concentration camps in Serbia. Many never returned. In their rage over the stiff resistance, the Serbians murdered most of the surviving defenders. Over 1000 missing solders and civilians are still unaccounted for. The Croatians regained control of Vukovar in 1997 after the Dayton agreements ended the conflict.
Of course, in that war and the Bosnian war that followed, war crimes were committed by all parties. Yet the destruction of Vukovar stands out as a reminder of the worst of it all.
We spent only the morning in Vukovar and reboarded the Amadeus Nova to travel down stream to Novi Sad, Serbia. We’ll arrive mid-afternoon. This will be our first visit to this country.