The 15-Minute Massacre in Croatia

Editor’s note: This film is no longer available for online viewing.

On August 5, 1995, just a few metres from a Danish UN camp in Dvor, Croatia, nine disabled and elderly people – Serbs and Croats – were shot dead in cold blood by a group of unidentified men in camouflage, as the peacekeepers watched and did nothing.

The Danish soldiers were assigned by the United Nations to monitor the ceasefire between the Serbs and the Croats and were only allowed to use weapons in self-defence.

However, the Croatian army ceasefire had broken and 250,000 Serbs were forced to flee during “Operation Storm”.

As there was no longer a ceasefire to monitor, the soldiers were ordered to stay inside the camp and not to intervene.

It was up to the Danish commanding officer, Jorgen Kold, to make the crucial decision: either to give orders to shoot the killers or follow the UN mandate and not intervene. He chose the latter and has been plagued with guilt ever since.

The film follows Kold on his journey back to Croatia, to the place where he had to make the most difficult decision of his life. Here he confronts his past – by meeting the commanders from the warring parties and the victims’ relatives.

He is forced to face difficult questions: Could he have stopped the massacre? Did he have a choice? Or were he, the Danish soldiers and the civilians let down by the United Nations?