LJUBLJANA, Slovenia — The bodies of about 700 people killed following World War II have been discovered in a mass grave in Slovenia, 65 years after they were herded into the woods and slain by antifascists seeking revenge on Nazi collaborators, an official said yesterday
Marko Strovs, who heads the government’s commission for exhuming mass graves, said that researchers examined a pit in a forest outside the town of Prevalje in the country’s northeast region last week and found the remains.
“Based on what we’ve heard from local people and what we’ve seen so far, there could be about 700 bodies buried inside,’’ Strovs said.
Thousands of Nazi collaborators were executed by communist-backed antifascists after the war; in many cases, victims included innocent civilians. Communist authorities in the former Yugoslavia, which included Slovenia until it dissolved in 1991, played down or denied postwar slayings, though other mass graves have since been found.
Strovs said the 70-foot-long by 10-feet-wide pit contains the bodies of men and women. Their hands were tied behind their backs, according to initial findings.
“Some of the victims were shot; some seem to have been killed by a tool, possibly an ax,’’ he said, adding that at least some of the victims were civilians, based on the types of shoes they were wearing.
