World War II mass graves found in Zagreb

Thursday, 1 st July, 2010
World War II mass graves found in Zagreb
The remains of German soldiers and Ustashe killed by Partisan forces and then buried in a mass grave during WWII have been exhumed and sent off for forensic examination.
Two skulls, bones, a military belt, and a button with the inscription "NDH" referring to the Independent State of Croatia established between 1941 and 1943 and which collaborated with the Nazi regime, were found in the top layer of the dig.
Ivica Relkovic, the president of the Croatian Responsible Society (HOD) discovered the graves on Monday in Gornja Kustosija (Zagreb) following conversations with witnesses.
The HOD is awaiting a court order for further exhumation. Relkovic said that he gave the police a map with six other locations where additional graves are suspected to exist, all within 300 meters of the site.
Milan Bituh, 79, was 14 when he witnessed the execution of 16 German officers and drivers.  He said that he never told anyone of what he had seen because because before the 1990s – when Croatia was part of former Yugoslavia – he could have been put in jail for such disclosure.
He denied the claims of some of the HOD officials that a child was murdered at the site, the Croatian daily Vecernji List reports.croatiantimes.com