Mass Grave Discovered, probably from Stalin era

From: The New York Times

World Briefing | EUROPE
Russia: Workers Find Mass Grave
By REUTERS
Published: June 9, 2010

Workmen building a road outside of Vladivostok discovered a mass grave with at least 495 skeletons, probably dating to Stalin’s purges in the 1930s, municipal authorities said Wednesday. At least 3 ½ tons of bones were extracted from the site, the city government said. Many of the skulls had gunshot wounds. Millions of Soviet citizens were executed or died in labor camps during Stalin’s rule.

Mass Grave Uncovered in Serbia

From: The New York Times

May 10, 2010
Mass Grave of Kosovo Victims Found in Serbia
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 11:26 a.m. ET

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) -- Acting on tips from witnesses, Serbian war crimes prosecutors have discovered a mass grave believed to contain the bodies of 250 Albanians who were killed in Kosovo during the 1998-99 war there, then transported to Serbia and secretly buried to hide the atrocities, officials said Monday.

The burial site -- hidden beneath a small building and a newly built parking lot -- is the fourth mass grave of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo that has been found in Serbia since 2001. Two others were discovered in Kosovo. In each case, most of the bodies were those of civilians, including women and children.

The latest discovery is another example of the mass atrocities that were committed during the bloody Serb crackdown on the Kosovo separatists that killed at least 10,000 people and left nearly a million displaced.

Hundreds of bodies of slain ethnic Albanians have been exhumed in Serbia and returned to Kosovo since Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic was ousted from power in a popular revolt in 2000. The previously discovered mass graves in Serbia represented the bulk of genocide charges filed against Milosevic at a U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Netherlands, where he died of a heart attack during his trial in 2006.

Serbia has since tried to deal with its wartime past as it seeks European Union membership, which requires the prosecution of those who committed atrocities during the wars in the Balkans in the 1990s. Milosevic's policies still have strong support among ultranationalists in Serbia.

''According to witness testimonies, there are 250 bodies of Kosovo Albanians inside'' the newly discovered grave, Serbia's war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic said at a news conference Monday in Belgrade, Serbia's capital.

He said exhumations would begin soon at the site, which was discovered based on witness accounts and in cooperation with a European Union mission in Kosovo.

Serbia's war crimes prosecutor's office said the grave is located in a hilly, rural area of Rudnica, near the town of Raska, 180 kilometers (108 miles) south of Belgrade.

Aerial photos of the site showed a house and a small parking lot near a road nestled between the hills. Vukcevic's deputy, Bruno Vekaric, said the mass grave is believed to be located beneath the building and the parking lot.

Officials did not say when the grave was discovered.

During the Kosovo war, the bodies of Kosovo victims were brought to Serbia by Milosevic's regime in an attempt to cover up the atrocities against civilians.

Some 1,860 ethnic Albanians are still missing from the Kosovo war, many believed to have been buried by Serb forces in similar mass graves in Serbia.

''Serbia has the democratic capacity to face what happened,'' Vukcevic said. ''It is our obligation to the victims who have the right to bury the dead.''

The brutality of Serbia's crackdown in Kosovo prompted NATO to bomb the country in 1999, forcing Milosevic to pull out his troops. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Belgrade refuses to recognize it.

In Kosovo on Monday, officials urged Serbia to face up to its past and overcome its troubled relations with Kosovo Albanians.

Kosovo deputy Prime Minister, Rame Manaj, claimed the discovery was a result of pressure from the EU.

''This comes too late, but this pressure from the international community is welcome as it is the only force that can move things from point zero,'' Manaj said of the discovery of the bodies.

''It is painful news,'' said Xhavit Beqiri, the spokesman for Kosovo's president.

''We suspect there are more Kosovo victims in other such mass graves around Serbia which Belgrade has always known about, but has selectively unearthed them to reduce the scope of the crimes committed in Kosovo,'' Beqiri said.

Vukcevic urged Kosovo's authorities to investigate the fate of about 500 Kosovo Serbs who he said remain unaccounted for since the 1998-99 war after revenge attacks by ethnic Albanians.

------

Associated Press writers Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade and Nebi Qena in Pristina contributed to this report.

Eds: CORRECTS that 4 of the mass graves were found in Serbia, 2 in Kosovo.

From: BBC News

New Serbian mass grave discovered

A new mass grave thought to hold the bodies of about 250 Kosovo Albanians has been found in Serbia, the country's war crimes prosecutor has told the BBC.

It said the information had come from Eulex, the EU police mission in Kosovo, and Serbia was sending investigators.

The victims are believed to have been killed during the 1998-99 conflict, when Serbian forces fought ethnic Albanian rebels in Kosovo.

The grave is near the town of Raska, close to the border with Kosovo.

There had been rumours two years ago that the grave existed, but searches at that time found nothing.

'Beneath building'

The war crimes prosecutor's office said it would be several days before exhumations could begin at the site in Rudnica, about 180km (110 miles) south of Serbia's capital, Belgrade.

Officials said the remains were buried beneath a building whose foundations had been deliberately constructed to hide the site, reports the BBC's Mark Lowen in Belgrade.

The prosecutor, Vladimir Vukcevic, said the discovery was a sign that Serbia was committed to coming to terms with its history.

"This is more proof that Serbia does not shy away from its dark past and is ready to bring to justice all those who have committed crimes," Mr Vukcevic was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

Our correspondent says identifying the victims through DNA analysis is likely to take several more years - and prolong the painful period of reconciliation.

It is not the first time mass graves from the conflict have been found in Serbia. The bodies of more than 800 Kosovo Albanians were found in several locations in Serbia in 2001, including police compounds.

The bodies were moved out of Kosovo before a Nato bombing campaign forced Serbian security forces out of the region.

Other, smaller mass graves have been found containing Serbian victims of ethnic Albanians.

Researchers in Serbia and Kosovo say more than 11,000 people died in the Kosovo conflict, most of them ethnic Albanian, but at least 2,300 Serbs.

Hundreds missing

A further 1,800 people are classified as missing, according to Eulex figures, but are presumed to be dead.

A former top Serbian police official, Vlastimir Djordjevic, is currently on trial at the UN's Hague-based war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslovia.

He was allegedly involved in the murders of hundreds of ethnic Albanians and the deportation of 800,000 others from Kosovo during the conflict, when he was in charge of police forces in Serbia.

He denies charges of deportation, murder and persecution.

He was a close aide to the late Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who died in tribunal custody in 2006 before a verdict was reached in his trial for war crimes.

Belgrade withdrew forces from the Serbian province of Kosovo in 1999 after a Nato bombing campaign, and the area was put under UN control.

Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2008 has been recognised by more than 50 countries, including the US and most EU states, but not recognised by more than 100, including Serbia and Russia.

Recent Serbian governments have been pro-Western and last year the country submitted a formal application to join the EU.

But membership negotiations cannot begin in earnest until two war crimes suspects - including the former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic - have been captured.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/8671783.stm

Published: 2010/05/10 12:36:48 GMT

© BBC MMX

Report on the Mass Grave of San Rafael Cemetery, Málaga, Spain

photo by Julián Rojas, in El País.com
San Rafael Cemetery, mass grave

View Larger Map

I have not yet located any information in English on this recent story, but I'm sure the English-speaking press in Spain will cover it sooner or later. Nonetheless, the story is this:

An official report has just been released on results of the three year-long (2006-2009) exhumation of the nine mass graves located at San Rafael Cemetery in Málaga, Spain. There are 4,471 officially registered as buried in this mass grave, from 1937-1957, nearly 20 years after the start of the Spanish Civil War. In what may be seen as an important reconciliatory gesture, the PP (Partido Popular, or "People's Party") and the PSOE (Socialist Party) presented the report together at the Picasso Museum in Málaga. Reportedly, this is the largest mass grave site in western Europe. To date, the remains of 2,840 persons have been exhumed, including those of 349 children who died of hunger, illness or injury. According to the Ministry of Justice, this number refers to children below age 10, the majority of whom died in 1937 and the following years. The exhumed also include 89 women.

To read more about the San Rafael Cemetery and its use as a mass grave site, please see this interview with Sebastián Fernández, a lecturer of History and Archaeology at University of Málaga (from 2008):"There was absolute genocide in Malaga after the Civil War."

"Contra Garzón" ("Against Garzón") by Manel Fontdevila

[*this note corrects an earlier translation, where I said "And then there are those who think we shouldn't look to the past, yet act like we're living in it." -- I meant to say: "And then there are those who think we (one) shouldn't look to the past, yet act like they're living in it." I don't know how I did that, sorry!]

This drawing by artist Manel Fontdevila in the Spanish paper Público sums up the recent news about Judge Baltasar Garzón's possible trial (see Feb. 7 post).

From left to right, we read:

"Historians rewrite history."

"Justices pursue the one in search of justice."

"And then there are those who think we shouldn't look to the past, yet act like they're living in it."

"Yes indeed."

The skulls allude to the victims of the Francoist repression; within approximately the last 10 years, there have been numerous exhumations of mass graves throughout Spain, often culminating in the "reburial" and dignification of remains, some 70 years after the end of the Spanish Civil War. The phrase "those who think we shouldn't look to the past" most likely refers to conservative leaders of the PP (Partido Popular, or "People's Party") who have argued that memorialist discourse only "opens old wounds," preventing Spain from moving forward. The Partido Popular emerged out of the AP (Alianza Popular, or "People's Alliance"), which was founded by Manuel Fraga, a former Francoist minister.

Naming the Dead of WWI

From: BBC News (29 Jan 2010)

Memory-related quote: "'Even if his body isn't found, in some respects his memory is even more alive now. By researching what sort of person he was, we now know much more about him,' Mr Parker says."

The lost soldiers of Fromelles

By Peter Jackson
BBC News

The first of the remains of 250 World War I soldiers found in France are being reburied with military honours after painstaking efforts to identify them. How do you put the right name on a headstone after so long?

When the first chipped and battle-scarred bones were excavated from a muddy field in northern France last May, the story of the forgotten battle of Fromelles began to emerge.

The remains of 250 British and Australian soldiers had lain undiscovered for 93 years since falling on the Western Front.

Boots, purses, toothbrushes and other personal artefacts lay amongst the twisted skeletons at Pheasant Wood, offering partial clues about the men's identities.

But it is the unique genetic codes within these remains that offer the best chance of putting names to each unknown soldier.

So far, more than 800 UK families who think they may have lost a relative at Fromelles have given DNA samples, but many will be disappointed.

The man whose job it is to help identify the soldiers says it is like finding a needle in a haystack, albeit with a very good metal detector.

"The problem with DNA that's been in the ground for 90 years is it degrades in quality and quantity," says molecular geneticist Dr Peter Jones.

"If it's a very acidic site, there's no chance of DNA at all because acids attack DNA rapidly. If it's dry and arid like in a desert, you get good DNA. If it's wet, less good."

The remains extracted from Fromelle's muddy burial pits have produced small but workable amounts of DNA, says Dr Jones. The teeth, which preserve well because they are encased in enamel, give by far the best samples.

"The hardest part is finding the right families and getting them to come forward... you can have good DNA profiles, but no family to match it up to."

Although 250 bodies have been recovered from the graves, it's thought about 1,500 British and 5,500 Australian troops fell in the battle, making it all the harder to match.

And when it comes to matching DNA samples across several generations, Dr Jones says the methods are far from perfect.

Unlike the seven "markers" used for more exact matches on the National DNA Database, he only has two at his disposal - the Y (paternal) and mitrochondrial (maternal) profiles.

"If we had the children of the soldiers, we could use the same markers as the DNA database. But because we are three generations away, the markers get diluted out through each mother and father."

Families searching for their ancestors have been asked to give maternal and paternal samples - preferably two each - using a simple cheek swab.

The DNA results will be added to the anthropological, archaeological and historical information to try to get positive identifications.

Families will be told sometime after March, once the remains of all 250 soldiers have been buried. Their final resting place will be a new war cemetery nearby, the first to be built in 50 years.

The £3m project, funded by the British and Australian governments, is overseen by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Waiting for news will be Richard Parker, 47, who has spent 25 years trying to retrace the footsteps of his ancestor Leonard Twamley. His father's uncle was just 19 when he volunteered for the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Six months later, the 20-year-old died at Fromelles.

"He was an ordinary working class lad from Coventry working in a cycle factory, who gave his life because it was considered his patriotic duty to do so."

Although interested in Len's story since his 20s, Mr Parker did not know he was killed at Fromelles until an amateur historian contacted him last year.

Since then he has made a pilgrimage to the French village with his father, who supplied DNA, along with Len's surviving nephews and nieces.

"Even if his body isn't found, in some respects his memory is even more alive now. By researching what sort of person he was, we now know much more about him," Mr Parker says.

"My grandmother died without knowing where Len was buried... this would bring proper closure to a family tragedy that goes back 95 years."

Unknown soldiers

The bodies that remain untraceable will be buried with a headstone marked simply "Known Unto God".

Dr Jones fears many will suffer this fate. He estimates the final number identified to be up to 100, but more likely tens.

Even if there is a DNA match, it may not necessarily be the right family because some DNA profiles are relatively common.

Adoptions, women who married and changed names, and paternity issues can also throw a spanner in the works. Other families simply die out.

But a match can be made through cousins, nephews or nieces on the family line. So if a family is missing a paternal link, they can trace the soldier's father, grandfather or brother, then locate their living relatives.

Dr Jones says one family went back seven generations on the maternal side then came forward five to find a suitable relative.

Forensic anthropologist Professor Margaret Cox says the team is so reliant on DNA matches as 90% of British enlistment records were destroyed in the Blitz.

And the painstaking methods of extracting and cataloguing remains have been refined at the scenes of genocide and war crimes in Rwanda, the Balkans and Iraq.

As at those sites, the bodies recovered gave clues to their fate - in this case, fractured bones showing damage from machine guns, rifles, mortar shells and shrapnel. But they were buried in deep graves with order and respect.

"You try not to imagine what it was like, it makes it difficult to do our work," she says, adding that this is easier said than done at times.

What brought the tragedy home were the artefacts - the inscribed bibles and lucky charms.

For her, the two most poignant came from Australian soldiers. The first was a small lucky charm in the shape of a boomerang, to symbolise returning home.

The other was the return half of a railway ticket from Freemantle to Perth, intended for the soldier's journey home to his family.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8473444.stm

Published: 2010/01/29 12:05:37 GMT

Brazil launches its own "historical memory project"

In 2007, the Spanish Socialist government, led by President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, passed the controversial Law of Historical Memory. The law was intended to provide a public condemnation of the Franco regime, by offering symbolic and economic reparations to victims of the dictatorship (and in some cases, descendants of those victims as well). The law also promised removal of Francoist symbols, except in the case of so-called "artistic religious" reasons. One of the most publicized articles also prohibited political demonstrations at the Valle de los Caídos site, the grotesque Fascist mausoleum where Franco is buried. The site had become the stomping ground of ultra-right Phalangist groups, particular on November 20, the anniversary of Franco's death. In addition to these areas, perhaps one of the most important features of the law was its promise to locate, identify and exhume the thousands of mass graves scattered throughout Spain, graves which are not just remnants of the war, but of the brutal postwar repression. On another occasion, I will write more in depth on the case of Spain, but as I already do this on a daily basis on my other blog, I would like to note here the case of Brazil.

Apparently, the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio da Silva, has launched a similar project to that of Spain. I first saw this news item in ABC, the conservative Spanish paper, and I haven't been able to find it in English, so I will translate the first paragraph of the original article:

Lula lanza en Brasil su proyecto de «ley de la memoria histórica»

VERÓNICA GOYZUETA | SAO PAULO (ABC.es)

El presidente brasileño, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, anunció ayer la creación de una comisión para investigar los crímenes cometidos durante la dictadura militar, y castigar las violaciones de derechos humanos ocurridas entre 1964 y 1985. Lula declaró que lo más importante es «dilucidar la responsabilidad de los militares». El presidente, que también fue perseguido durante el régimen militar, afirmó que «sufriremos menos si hacemos de nuestros muertos héroes».

The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, announced yesterday the creation of a commission to investigate crimes committed during the military dictatorship, and to punish human rights violations carried out between 1964 and 1985. Lula affirmed that of most importance will be "elucidating the responsibility of the military." The president, who was also persecuted during the military regime, stated that "we will suffer less if we make heroes of our dead."

I was originally attracted to this article via my Google Reader, when I spotted the phrase "ley de memoria histórica." However, as I quickly noted, the news article does not ever quote Lula as talking about this law, in the Brazilian or any other context. ABC has never been supportive of Zapatero, or of the Law of Historical Memory, so I'm sure the title was a "wink" to readers. Let's just say I usually read El País.

In any case, regarding Brazil, I think it is always a step forward when leaders address the crimes of past regimes. It may not always be popular at the moment, but it is better than waiting, like Spain did, some 30 years after Franco's death. It is interesting to note that Lula and Michelle Bachelet, the current Chilean president, suffered under military dictatorships (Bachelet and her family were tortured under Pinochet). Each is now trying to deal with that past.

On the failed search for Federico García Lorca

For those of us that have been following the case of "Lorca's grave," the news today that the Spanish poet's burial site has turned up NOTHING is quite disappointing, though it should not be entirely unexpected. For years, Lorca's biographer, Ian Gibson, has insisted -- along with others -- that the site contained Lorca's remains, and the sign officially marking the location ("Lorca eran todos") drew many visitors each year. Gibson first learned of the grave's purported location from a man known as "Manuel el comunista," who claimed to have buried the poet here. Today, it would appear that that testimony has proven faulty.

Certainly, I can understand and respect, particularly on a scholarly level, Gibson's passion for locating the poet's remains. After all, Gibson has dedicated his life's work to Lorca. However, I am unsure what locating Lorca would mean, particularly because the poet's family has, up until recently, opposed excavation of the site. Would finding Lorca mean, simply, giving the poet a symbolic, dignified re-burial? Would it mean re-writing what we know about his final days? Would the so-called "Lorca case" serve to illustrate the challenges faced by forensic anthropologists and archaeologists in other locations throughout Spain? Would it shed light on victims' families, and the bureaucratic nightmare many of them face when trying to locate, exhume and identify their loved ones?

I am a lover of Lorca's poetry and drama, as well as his essays on "duende" and flamenco. But my interest in this case has to do with the following points:

• the evolution of a "site of memory"
• tourism and sites of memory
  
• the intersection of personal and collective memory
• Lorca as a representative "victim" of the Spanish Civil War (and especially, an icon of the left)
• the contested excavation site and the media portrayal of the case
  
• the other, less visible men purportedly buried with Lorca
  

From: BBC News

Spanish dig fails to find Lorca

Excavations aimed at finding the remains of Spanish poet and dramatist Federico Garcia Lorca have drawn a blank, officials say.

The dig produced "not one bone, item of clothing or bullet shell", said Begona Alvarez, justice minister of Andalucia.

Lorca was murdered at the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 by right-wing supporters of Gen Francisco Franco.

The site on a hillside outside Granada was believed for decades to be a mass grave of civil war victims.

Correspondents say the failure casts doubt on whether the poet's remains will ever be found.

The two-month excavation near the town of Alfacar - carried out under tight security - had been requested by relatives of other men believed buried at the spot.

It was one of several aimed at locating those still missing from Spain's bitter civil war.

"No remains of human bones have appeared or other signs belonging to civil war graves," a report by archaeologists at the University of Granada said.

Ms Alvarez said the soil was only 40cm (16in) deep, making it too shallow for a grave.

Lorca was 38 when he died, murdered by fascists for his left-wing views, Republican sympathies and homosexuality.

He is best known for tragedies such as Blood Wedding and his poetry collections Poet in New York and Gypsy Ballads.

For a much more detailed report in Spanish, click here.