A monument by academic sculptor Lovre Jakšić “Croatia’s Rose”, commemorating Ružica Markobašić who was murdered at Ovčara farm on 20 November 1991 while five months pregnant, was unveiled outside the National Memorial Hospital in the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar on November 18, Hina news agency reported.
The project was initiated by the “Croatia for Life” association which said in a press release the monument was dedicated to all pregnant women and their children killed in wars on Croatian territory.
The press release also said after the fall of Vukovar, Ružica Markobašić sought refuge in the Vukovar Hospital from where she was taken with other wounded people and patients by the occupying forces to the Ovčara far where she was executed.
Sculptor Lovre Jakšić also sculpted a bust of the French volunteer Jean-Michel Nicolier, who was also killed at Ovčara.
Croatia marked the 30th anniversary of the fall of Vukovar, when during an 87-day siege of the city by the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA), 2,171 people were killed, including 34 children aged between 7 months and 17 years old, 1,219 were wounded, and more than 350 Croatian soldiers unaccounted for. More than 22,000 Croats and other non-Serbs were also expelled from the city.
/ Argumentum.al with CroatiaWeek
