As it does every year on 18 November, Croatia remembers the terrible siege of the City of Vukovar in 1991. At the city's memorial, alongside the hundreds of graves of the city's defenders, 938 white marble crosses symbolise the same number of victims buried by the besieger in a mass grave near the city.
Remembrance Day is a public holiday in Croatia in memory of all the victims of the Homeland War. Throughout Croatia, it is time for recollection and remembrance: everywhere, along the streets, in public squares, on windowsills, memorial candles are lit never to forget the price of freedom and democracy. More than 20,000 people were killed and 37,000 wounded during the Croatian War of Independence, in the heart of Europe, on the threshold of the 21st century. In addition, 1406 people are still reported missing and the burial sites of another 391 remain unknown.