Ovčara

Ovčara ... a farm, a simple farm, similar in many respects to thousands of other farms. It is located some 10 kilometres south-east of Vukovar. Along with two other farms, Grabovo and Jakobovac, it represented a perfect picture of the wealth and power of the Eltz family. Today it is part of the Vukovar farming concern VUPIK. Its name would have remained unknown if it weren’t for the events of 1991 - a horrifying act of hatred, lack of humanity and a symbol of what is lowest in people.

Ovčara ... a mass grave, a sacred place known throughout Croatia and abroad. The place where 263 wounded patients and medical staff of Vukovar hospital were brutally killed. Their lives continue among the stars in the sky.

The Ovčara Memorial Centre opened on November 20th 2006 in the hangar where fifteen years before the victims had spent their final hours, leaving behind them their unrealised dreams. Staring from the wall at the visitors are the honest, surprised, innocent eyes of the victims, leaving the visitor wondering how they must have felt on that cold November day in 1991, and if they had been aware that this time they would not return home. What were their last thoughts, whose name died upon their lips? This will forever remain a mystery. We can only thank them for their bravery, their lives, thank them on behalf of Vukovar and Croatia.