Croats commemorate WWII massacre in Austria скачать в хорошем качестве

Croats commemorate WWII massacre in Austria

(14 May 2016) Thousands of far-right supporters, many brandishing insignia and waving flags of Croatia's World War II Ustasha regime, gathered on a field in southern Austria on Saturday to commemorate the massacre of the pro-Nazis by victorious communists at the end of World War II. The event, held annually, this year came amid a surge of far-right sentiments in the EU's newest member country. For Croatian nationalists, the Bleiburg site symbolises their suffering under communism in Yugoslavia before they fought a war for independence in the 1990s. Tens of thousands of Croatians, mostly Ustasha soldiers, fled to Bleiburg in May 1945 amid a Yugoslav communist offensive, only to be turned back from Austria by the British military and into the hands of revengeful anti-fascists. Thousands were killed and buried in mass graves in and around Bleiburg. The Ustasha regime sent tens of thousands Serbs, Jews, Gypsies and Croatian anti-fascists to death camps during the war. The gathering Saturday on a vast field surrounded by mountains was attended by top Croatian officials and Croatian Catholic Church clergy who held a mass for the killed Croats. Since taking power in January, Croatia's centre-right government has widely been blamed of turning a blind eye to the rising extremism and downplaying the crimes of the Ustasha regime. The policies have triggered protests from the minority Jewish and Serb communities. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...