Škabrnja
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Škabrnja is a village in northern Dalmatia, Croatia, located halfway between Zadar and Benkovac in the lowland region of Ravni Kotari. Its municipality is called Škabrnje, and it includes Škabrnja with a population of 1,424 as well as the smaller village of Prkos, population 348; 1,772 in total (census 2001). The total area of the municipality is 22.93 km².
[edit] History
The first mention of "the forest of Škabrnje" dates from a medieval contract which mentions the village of Kamenjani located near Škabrnja. The village of Kamenjani itself was first mentioned in 1070, and the last time in 1700; it was a property of the Šubić family and located in the area around today's village cemetery.
The oldest two buildings in the village are the two Catholic churches: the church of St. Mary in the hamlet of Ambar, and the church of St. Luke at the village cemetery. The church of St. Mary dates from the 11th century and is built from stone, forming a hexagonal shape, one of several such old Croatian churches from northern Dalmatian towns and villages. The church of St. Luke was built in the 13th century, with a Gothic dome dated 1440. It has a single nave which ends in an apsis, as well as a bell tower which was also built later.
[edit] War of Independence
According to the census of 1991, Škabrnja was inhabited by 1,953 people in 397 households, and the vast majority of them were Croats, there wasn't a single Serb resident. When the Serbs rebelled in the Croatian War of Independence, aiming to form Republic of Serbian Krajina, Škabrnja found itself surrounded by Serb-inhabited villages.
On November 18, 1991, the Serbian forces started firing mortars on Škabrnja, and soon invaded it. The Yugoslav People's Army and paramilitary forces engaged the fewer and more lightly armed Croatian forces which had been formed by villagers in October. They destroyed a transporter and one tank, but the entire group of thirty motorized units coming from two directions (one from Zemunik Gornji in the northwest and another from Biljane in the southeast) soon overran them.
The Serbian paramilitaries entered the hamlet of Ambar and massacred all prisoners, and then proceeded to the center of Škabrnja where they committed more murder and took some civilians as prisoners. In that one day, 43 civilians and 15 Croatian soldiers were killed, and numerous houses were destroyed; over the next couple of days, the murder count rose to 86, and much of the village was burnt and demolished. One group of 26 civilians was buried in a mass grave near the center of the village.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia indicted Milan Babić and Milan Martić for these atrocities, naming at least 38 civilian victims in Škabrnja (in addition to others in surrounding villages and elsewhere).
[edit] External links
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