Serbia to Build Banstol Memorial Complex Honoring 8,000 Victims of Operation Oluja

Minister Milica Đurđević Stamenkovski announced that construction will begin in August on a memorial complex near the Banstol church in Sremski Karlovci, Serbia. The site will be dedicated to more than 8,000 Serbs killed, wounded or missing in the territory of present‑day Croatia during the 1995 military operation known as “Oluja”.

The complex will be the first place where all the victims’ names are inscribed together, creating a permanent location for national remembrance. Stamenkovski said, “When August comes, every Serb remembers the columns, the homeland left behind and the thousands of families that lost their homes overnight,” and described Operation Oluja as “a pogrom and a living wound that is measured not in years but in memories that never cease to hurt.” She stressed the state’s duty to keep the memory of the victims alive for future generations.