Berak is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in municipality of Tompojevci in eastern

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. Village is located 11 km from county seat

Vukovar Vukovar (; sr-Cyrl, Вуковар, , ) is a city in Croatia, in the eastern Regions of Croatia, regions of Syrmia and Slavonia. It contains Croatia's largest river port, located at the confluence of the Vuka (river), Vuka and the Danube. Vukova ...

History

First written records about Berak comes from 15th century when village was known under names Perecke and Perethe. There is an

ossuary An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years th ...

from the period of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

with the bones of

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

and Italian resistance movement fighters from the time of Syrmian Front. Ossuary was built in 1966 and inscription on it state "For the eternal glory to the fallen fighters" together with the names of the famous fighters from the Republic of Serbia, the Republic of Croatia,

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Italy. It played a huge role in the Log Revolution during the breakup of Yugoslavia. Serb forces captured and occupied Berak in September 1991. From September until December 1991, dozens of Croat civilians were killed by Serb forces, while others were tortured, raped and expelled from the village.

References

Populated places in Vukovar-Srijem County Populated places in Syrmia {{VukovarSyrmia-geo-stub