History.

Dropped ceilings and ceiling tiles were being used in Japan for aesthetic reasons as early as the Muromachi Period (1337 to 1573). These could be made with simple planks, or coffered. Blackfriars Theater in London, England, built in 1596, had dropped ceilings to aid acoustics.  U. S. Patent No. 1,470,728 for modern dropped ceilings was applied for by E. E. Hall on May 28, 1919 and granted on October 16, 1923. Initially modern dropped ceilings were built using interlocking tiles and the only way to provide access for repair or inspection of the area above the tiles was by starting at the edge of the ceiling, or at a designated "key tile", and then removing contiguous tiles one at a time until the desired place of access was reached. Once the repair or inspection was completed, the tiles had to be reinstalled. This process could be very time-consuming and expensive. On September 8, 1958, Donald A. Brown of Westlake, Ohio filed for a patent for "Accessible Suspended Ceiling Construction". This invention provided suspended ceiling construction in which access may readily be obtained at any desired location. Patent Number US 2,984,946 A was granted on May 23, 1961. Brown has sometimes been credited as being the inventor of the dropped ceiling even though other patents preceded his as shown in the table below.

Design objectives.

Effective building design requires balancing multiple objectives: aesthetics, acoustics, environmental factors, and integration with the building's infrastructure—not to mention cost of construction as well as long-term operation costs.

Aesthetics.

Modern dropped ceilings were initially created to hide the building infrastructure, including piping, wiring, and/or ductwork, by creating a plenum space above the dropped ceiling, while allowing access for repairs and inspections. Drop ceilings may also be used to hide problems, such as structural damage. Further, drop out ceilings can also conceal the sprinkler systems while still providing full fire suppression functionality.  For many years, dropped ceilings were made of basic white tiles, but modern innovations now offer a plethora of options in sizes, colors, materials (including retro designs and faux leather, wood, or metal), visual effects and shapes, patterns, and textures as well as support systems and ways to access the plenum. Custom runs of specialty ceiling tiles can be done at relatively low cost compared with the past.

Acoustics.

Acoustic balance and control was another early objective of dropped ceilings. A noisy room can overstimulate occupants, while a too quiet interior may seem dull and uninviting.  The acoustic performance of suspended ceilings has improved dramatically over the years, with enhanced sound absorption and attenuation. This is sometimes achieved by adding insulation known as Sound Attenuation Batts (SABs), more commonly referred to as "sound batts", above the panels to help deaden sounds and keep adjacent rooms quieter.

Environmental factors.

Indoor environmental quality.

Indoor environmental quality includes ventilation, VOC emissions, lighting and thermal system control, thermal comfort, use of daylight for natural illumination, acoustics, and optimization of outdoor view availability.

Sustainability.

Many manufacturers of modern dropped ceilings include sustainability as an objective. Sustainable features may include:

Integration with infrastructure.

Integration with mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) is important with dropped ceilings, since most of these systems are by definition above the ceiling. Fortunately, most ceiling system products are now designed with this integration in mind. Decisions here can also affect aesthetics as well as access and maintenance.

Cost.

Dropped ceilings may have an improved return on investment (ROI) over open ceilings

Suspension grids.

A typical dropped ceiling consists of a gridwork of metal channels in the shape of an upside-down "T", suspended on wires from the overhead structure. These channels snap together in a regularly spaced pattern of cells. Each cell is then filled with lightweight ceiling tiles or "panels" which simply drop into the grid. The primary grid types are "Standard 1" (" face), Slimline (" grid), and concealed grid.  In the United States and its neighboring countries, the cell size in the suspension grids is typically either or, and the ceiling tiles, light fixtures, and fluorescent light tubes are the same size. In Europe, the cell size in the suspension grids is 600×600 mm, while the ceiling tiles and fixtures are slightly (5mm) smaller at 595×595 mm or 595×1195 mm, and the T5 fluorescent and LED tubes are shorter by 37 mm to allow for easier and safer insertion and removal without breakage.

Concealed grid.

An older, less common type of dropped ceiling is the "concealed grid" system, which uses a method of interlocking panels into one another and the grid with the use of small strips of metal called'splines', thus making it difficult to remove panels to gain access above the ceiling without damaging the installation or the panels. Normally, they have a "key panel" (usually in the corner) that can be removed, allowing for the other panels to be slid out of the grid (a series of metal channels called 'z bars') one by one, until eventually removing the desired panel. This type of ceiling is more commonly found in older installations or installations where access to above the ceiling is generally considered unnecessary.  This system has some major disadvantages, compared to the more common "drop panel" system, most notably the difficulty in removing and reattaching panels from the grid, which, in some cases, can cause irreparable damage to the panels removed. Finding replacement panels for this type of dropped ceiling is becoming increasingly more difficult as the demand for them and the production of parts slow. Small clips are still available that allow tiles to be inserted into gaps in the ceiling where a tile is missing and work by being placed on the edge of a concealed tile and then being slid along as the tile is placed to 'lock' it in place.

Stretch ceiling.

With similar advantages to a dropped ceiling, a stretch ceiling is often used to conceal pipework, wires or the existing ceiling. There is also usually a broad choice of colour or texture, and the membrane can be manipulated into a variety of shapes.  A stretch ceiling is a suspended ceiling system and it is made of three main components  When a stretch ceiling is being installed, semi-concealed plastic/aluminum track, the preferred choice for most architects and designers, is cut to size and fixed to the perimeter of the ceiling area. The membrane is stretched and the harpoon or catch edge is clipped into the track. Stretching is aided by heating up the membrane or sheet prior to fitting.

Drop out ceilings.

Approved drop out (or drop-out) ceilings allow the installation of a dropped ceiling beneath existing fire sprinklers because the tiles, sometimes called melt-out ceiling tiles, are heat-sensitive and are designed to fall from the dropped ceiling suspension grid during a fire, allowing the sprinklers to do their job.  Drop out ceiling tiles can add to the aesthetic appeal of a ceiling since the fire sprinklers are hidden by the tiles. Commonly made from vinyl or expanded polystyrene, drop out ceiling tiles are available in multiple sizes and finishes from a variety of manufacturers.  Installation is subject to the local Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) and, in the United States, must meet the standards listed in the section below at a minimum.

Drop out ceiling standards (United States).

The following standards are in addition to those for ceiling tiles in general. No clips, fasteners, or impediments of any kind can be used to limit the ceiling tile's ability to drop from the suspension system without restraint in the event of a fire unless they have been used in the testing process. Painting can void an approval, and additional local requirements may exist.

Safety issues.

In older buildings, the space above the dropped ceiling was often used as a plenum space for ventilation systems, requiring only enclosed ducts that deliver fresh air into the room below, with return air entering the ceiling space through open grilles across the ceiling. That practice is now used less frequently in new buildings.  It the dropped ceiling is used as a plenum, low-voltage cables and wiring that are not installed inside conduit must use a special low-smoke and low-toxicity wire insulation, which will tend to char and stop burning on its own. That helps to protect building occupants so that they are not poisoned with toxic chemicals sucked through the ventilation system during a fire, and it helps to prevent fires from spreading inside the hidden plenum space. The special low-smoke cable is typically referred to as plenum cable or Low Smoke Zero Halogen (LSZH or LS0H) cable. While twisted pair cable for networking and telephone service is the most common form of plenum cable, coaxial cable also needs to be plenum-rated for safety.  High-voltage electrical equipment (generally regarded as being over 50 V) is not permitted to be exposed in the plenum space above a drop ceiling but must be enclosed in conduit or raceways and be physically isolated from low-voltage wiring. High-voltage electrical devices similarly must be enclosed in a plenum space, inside a metallic container. Similarly, electrical outlets for domestic powered devices may not be inside the plenum space, but outlets can be installed on ceiling tiles inside electrical boxes, with the sockets exposed on the exterior bottom face of the drop ceiling. The purpose of these restrictions is to limit flame spread inside the unseen plenum space, in the event of high voltage equipment or wiring failure. Low-voltage cabling is permitted because current flow is typically negligible and so the risk of overheating and fire is limited.  In earthquake prone areas, such as California, diagonal wire stays are often required by building codes to prevent the ceiling grid from swaying laterally during an earthquake, which can lead to partial or total collapse of the ceiling grid on the occupants below during a severe tremor. Compression posts may also be added to keep the ceiling from bouncing vertically during an earthquake.  Lighting fixtures and other devices installed in a dropped ceiling must be firmly secured to the dropped ceiling framework. A fire above a dropped ceiling often requires firemen to pull down the ceiling in a hurry for quick access to the conflagration. Loose fixtures resting in the framework only by gravity may become unseated, swing down on their armorflex power cables,a nd hit the firemen below. Binding the fixtures to the framework assures that if the framework must be pulled down, the fixture will come down with it and not become a pendulous swinging hazard to the firemen.

Advantages.

Fire safety.

To address fire safety, ceiling tiles made from mineral fibres, plastic, tin, composite, or fire-rated wood panels can be used within the construction to meet acceptable standards/ratings. Some tiles, in specific situations, can provide the needed additional resistance to meet the "time rating" required for various fire code, city ordinance, commercial, or other similar building construction regulations. Fire ratings for ceiling panels vary based on the materials used, the preparation of each panel, and the safety testing and third party evaluation done to determine where and how they can be safely installed. In the United Kingdom, tiles from certain manufacturers may be required be clipped into the grid with special ceiling clips to provide a fire rating; there are special tiles designed for the underside of mezzanine floors however that can give a fire rating without being clipped.  Drop out ceilings have a further advantage since they can be mounted underneath fire sprinklers, thus hiding the sprinklers for a more attractive appearance. When they are installed under fire sprinklers, materials, applications, installation, and maintenance of drop out ceilings may be necessary to comply with fire safety regulations. (The white paper "Drop-out Ceiling Panels–A Discussion on Their Use With Fire Sprinklers", referenced by the article, is available here)

Ease of modification.

Another advantage of a dropped ceiling is that the easily-removed ceiling panels offer instant access to the plenum, which greatly simplifies repairs or alterations.  Wiring and piping installed behind traditional plaster or wallboard ceilings are extremely difficult to modify once the finished ceiling is in place. Wires must be fished through hollow spaces in the walls behind the finished ceiling, or the ceiling must be demolished for changes to wiring or piping to be made.  In contrast, the tiles and other parts of a dropped or stretch ceiling can be easily removed to allow access to the area above the grid to do any necessary wiring or plumbing modifications. In remodeling, nearly all components of the grid can be dismantled and reassembled elsewhere.  In office buildings, drop ceilings are often used in conjunction with hollow steel studs to construct small office spaces out of a much larger cavernous space. Wiring and other services are run through the open ceiling, down through the hollow stud walls, and to outlets in the work areas. If business needs change, the office spaces can be easily dismantled, with the overall cavernous space reconfigured with a different floor plan.  In older buildings that have had multiple renovations, a dropped ceiling has often been installed in one renovation and then subsequently removed in another since its installation having been an inexpensive fix to prolong the time between major renovations.

Disadvantages.

One disadvantage with this ceiling system is the reduced headroom. Clearance is required between the grid and any pipes or duct work above to install the ceiling tiles and light fixtures. In general, a minimum clearance of is often needed between the lowest obstruction and the level of the ceiling grid. A direct-mount grid may work for those who want the convenience of a dropped ceiling but have limited headroom. Stretch ceiling supports require less than one inch of vertical space, and no space is required for tiles to be lifted out with a stretch ceiling, but a greater clearance space may be chosen to allow room for MEC or for aesthetic reasons.  Dropped ceilings generally conceal many of the functional and structural elements of a building, which creates an aesthetic paradigm that discourages the use of functional building systems as aesthetic design elements. Concealing such elements makes the complexity of today's advanced building technologies more difficult to appreciate. It is also more difficult to perform maintenance on or diagnose problems with the concealed systems.  As a renovation tool, dropped ceilings are a quick and inexpensive way to repair a ceiling and to reduce HVAC costs. Some materials may show their age quickly. For example, mineral fiber sags are damaged easily when handled and stain easily, but stretch ceiling, tin, and vinyl do not have such characteristics.

A dropped ceiling is a secondary ceiling, hung below the main (structural) ceiling. It may also be referred to as a drop ceiling, T-bar ceiling, false ceiling, suspended ceiling, grid ceiling, drop in ceiling, drop out ceiling, or ceiling tiles and is a staple of modern construction and architecture in both residential and commercial applications.

Podhled je v obecném významu spodní plocha vodorovné (stropní) nebo šikmé (schodišťové, střešní) nosné konstrukce stavby. Viditelné části této plochy jsou zpravidla upravovány tak, aby působily esteticky. Nejčastějšími úpravami jsou omítky, nátěry a obklady. Jsou-li na stropě upevněny potrubní rozvody a elektrické kabely, pak je často potřeba je zakrýt či ochránit před požárem. Provádí se to samostatnou konstrukcí, které říkáme podhledová konstrukce, zjednodušeně podhled.


Early life.

Igor Kholin was born in Moscow in a family of a seamstress and an officer in the Imperial Russian Army, whose surname was, according to different versions, either Lvov or Kholin. The account of his father’s death is also controversial - one version says he died of typhoid, the other that he was fighting for the White Movement in the Russian Civil War, then turned Bolshevik, was taken hostage and executed by Admiral Kolchak. An account provided by Kholin’s relatives says that the poet’s grandfather owned a ballet school in Moscow, on Tverskaya street, and that his father married a country girl despite the will of the family.  Neither of those stories can be confirmed, though, since Kholin was inclined to mystify his own life. Evgeniy Lobkov, a literary critic, said that Igor Kholin’s biography is mythological and that it is not known how and where his childhood, boyhood and youth had been spent.  During the Russian Civil War Kholin’s widowed mother placed both of her children in an orphanage, fearing not to be able to provide for them. Kholin was then transferred to a different orphanage in Ryazan that was located in a former monastery, where children were sleeping in bedrooms with murals depicting martyrs’ sufferings, such as the beheading of John the Baptist. Kholin ran away from the orphanage and started living on the streets. At one point he found himself in Novorossiysk, where he entered a military college and served in the Red Army Music Corps.

Military service.

From 1940 to 1946, during his time in the army, Kholin saw active service and was gradually promoted to the rank of a captain of the Red Army. He had been wounded twice; one of the bullets went through the corner of his lips and out of under his shoulder blade, so he barely survived. Kholin was awarded the Order of the Red Star in 1944 and the 1st class of the Order of the Patriotic War in 1985, during the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the victory.

Literary beginnings.

In 1949 Kholin was sentenced to two years in a labor camp in Lianozovo by a tribunal for an administrative offense. Since Kholin was acquainted, from his army days, with a head of the labor camp security, he was allowed brief temporary leaves. It was in jail that Kholin began to write poetry, which he himself later regarded as quite poor. In a library in Lianozovo he once borrowed a book by Alexander Blok, which surprised a local librarian, who turned out to be Evgeny Kropivnitsky’s wife. She introduced Kholin to her husband, who was a leader of a group of poets, writers and artists, among which were the young Genrikh Sapgir and Oscar Rabin, Kropivnitsky’s son-in-law.  It was under Evgeny Kropivnitsky’s influence that Kholin started his creative journey in the mid 1950s. He developed his own poetic style and wrote the cycle of “barracks poems”, which in turn influenced the work of the Lianozovo group. Kholin’s friend Genrikh Sapgir introduced him to writing poems for children, but even though his works appeared in primers, Kholin had difficulties writing commissioned works. During that time he was making his living as a waiter at the Metropol restaurant and was married to Maria Kholina, also a waitress. Together they had a daughter, Lyudmila.

Style.

Kholin preferred to use everyday language as means of his poetic expression, instead of lyrics and imagery. By the end of 1950s Kholin was one of the leaders of Russian nonconformist poetry and of Russian avant-garde. Throughout the 1960s his works were only printed abroad, while in the USSR only his poems for children were officially published.  He was a part of Konkret, a poets’ group, alongside Genrikh Sapgir, Eduard Limonov and Vagrich Bakhchanyan.

Publishing.

In the beginning of 1970s Kholin wrote several poems and turned his attention to prose. From 1988 he started being published in his homeland. In the 1980s and 1990s he has published a number of separate poems, while concentrating on writing short stories.  The image of Kholin as a poet is inseparably linked to one of Genrikh Sapgir, with whom they have initially been penfriends. Sapgir had been Kropivnitsky’s student and used to write him while in army and inquire about new names in the poetic circle. That is how he and Kholin got acquainted, and their friendship has lasted for more than forty years.  In the beginning of 1970s Michail Grobman, a friend of Kholin’s, introduces him to antique trade, which not only enriched the poet’s knowledge of Russian art, both past and contemporary, but also kept bringing him a modest income for the rest of his life.  From 1972 to 1974 Kholin was in a relationship with Irina Ostrovskaya, a friend of Yelena Shchapova, Eduard Limonov’s legendary wife, to whom the latter dedicated his book “It’s me, Eddie”. A daughter of Kholin and Ostrovskaya, Arina, is an author of popular fiction.

Death.

Kholin died from fulminant liver cancer. He is buried at Khimkinskoye cemetery in Moscow.

Igor Sergeyevich Kholin (11 January 1920, Moscow - 15 June 1999, Moscow) was a Russian poet and fiction writer and a member of the 'Lianozovo Group'.

Igor Sergejevič Cholin (rusky: ; 11. ledna 1920, Moskva – 15. června 1999 tamtéž) byl sovětský a později ruský básník, prozaik a disident. Jako legenda moskevského undergroundu patřil k vůdčím postavám tzv. lianozovské školy, v níž se zejména v průběhu 50. let volně sdružovali protirežimní básníci a další umělci.


Career.

Cecil Womack was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He and his brothers Bobby (1944–2014), Harry (1945–1974), Friendly and Curtis, were a gospel group appearing on the gospel circuit in the mid 50s where they were seen by Sam Cooke of the Soul Stirrers who signed them for his SAR records. As Cooke's protégés they changed their name to the Valentinos and in 1961 began to sing and record for secular audiences. The Valentinos had hit records with "Lookin' for a Love" and "It's All Over Now", the latter being covered by the Rolling Stones. Cooke's death at a L.A. motel in December 1964, had dramatic consequences for the Womack Brothers as SAR folded and Bobby Womack, who was now married to Sam Cooke's widow, Barbara, left the group for a solo career. The Valentinos briefly disbanded before regrouping as a quartet in 1966, signing with Chess Records where they recorded the Northern Soul hit, "Sweeter than the Day Before", written by Cecil Womack and singer Mary Wells. Womack and Wells married in 1966 and formed the music publishing firm, Well-Wom, to market their jointly written songs. However, the group got dropped from Chess in 1968 after only two singles and Cecil Womack decided to leave the Valentinos. The remaining trio of Harry, Curtis and Friendly Jr. signed with Jubilee Records where they recorded the Cecil-composed "Two Lovers History" and "Tired Of Being Nobody" before being dropped in 1970  As the 1960s progressed Cecil Womack secured a role away from performing as a songwriter and producer. As husband of Mary Wells he was well placed to provide several R & B chart successes for her including "The Doctor", "Dig The Way I Feel" and "Never Give A Man The World" on which he backed his wife on vocals, all released on Jubilee Records. Womack's later songwriting credits include "Love TKO" a major hit for Teddy Pendergrass, "I Just Want To Satisfy You" for the O'Jays, "Love Symphony" for Patti LaBelle, "Your Song" for Four Tops and "New Day" for George Benson.

Womack & Womack.

In 1983, Cecil and his wife Linda, who is Sam Cooke's daughter, began performing and recording together as Womack & Womack, and released a successful album, "Love Wars" on Elektra Records. The title track from the album was a no.14 hit in the UK, and the song "Baby I'm Scared Of You" was a hit on the "Billboard" R&B chart in the US. In 1988, their single "Teardrops", taken from their fourth album "Conscience", became a major international hit reportedly selling more than 10 million copies worldwide. It reached no.3 in the UK, and no.1 in the Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand.  After traveling to Nigeria, they discovered ancestral ties to the Zekkariyas tribe, and Cecil adopted the name Zekkariyas. In 1993 they released their final album with a major label, "Transformation To The House Of Zekkariyas". They continued to write for other artists, including Ruby Turner and Randy Crawford,

Covers of Cecil Womack songs.

Mary Wells recorded the Valentinos "Two Lovers' History" in 1968. The Womack & Womack song "Love Wars" was covered by The Beautiful South for the 1990 compilation "". Eric Clapton, Elton John, K.D. Lang and The Sugababes are amongst the artists who recorded "Lead Me On". His best-known song "Love T.K.O." has been recorded by many artists, including Boz Scaggs, Teddy Pendergrass, Bette Midler and Michael McDonald. "Teardrops" has been covered by Lulu and by Joss Stone.

Personal life.

In 1966, Womack married Motown singer Mary Wells at the Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland. Prior to that Womack fathered a son, Mustafa Womack in November of the same year. They had three children. Womack and Wells separated after he discovered she was having an affair with his brother Curtis Womack. They divorced in 1977.  Cecil later married Linda Cooke, the daughter of Sam Cooke. This created an interesting family tree because Cecil's brother Bobby Womack had married Sam Cooke's widow Barbara Campbell in 1965. Cecil and Linda had seven children together, and had homes in Africa and Thailand. After 1994, Womack was known professionally and personally by the name Zekkariyas.

Death.

Zekkariyas spent his final years traveling the world with his wife and children, using his time to explore his African heritage, spirituality, and knowledge of the continent as well as making music. He died of unknown causes in Johannesburg, South Africa, on January 25, 2013, at age 65.

Cecil Dale Womack (September 25, 1947 – January 25, 2013) was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He was one of the musical Womack brothers, and had success both as a songwriter and recording artist, notably with his wife Linda as Womack & Womack. In later years he took the name Zekkariyas.

Cecil Womack (25. září 1947 Cleveland, Ohio, USA − 1. února 2013) byl americký zpěvák. Jeho staršími bratry byli zpěváci Friendly Womack (* 1941), Curtis Womack (* 1943) Bobby Womack (1944–2014) a Harry Womack (* 1945), se kterými tvořil skupinu The Valentinos. V letech 1967−1977 byla jeho manželkou zpěvačka Mary Wells. Později byla jeho manželkou dcera zpěváka Sama Cookea jménem Linda, se kterou tvořil duo Womack & Womack. Jejich největším hitem byla píseň „Teardrops“.


Great Britain at the 1980 Summer Olympics

Velká Británie na Letních olympijských hrách 1980

Archery.

In the third appearance by Great Britain in modern Olympic archery, two men and two women represented the country. Mark Blenkarne missed winning a medal in the men's competition by only three points, by far the most successful result for Great Britain since archery was returned to the Olympic schedule.  Women's Individual Competition:  Men's Individual Competition:  Men's 100 metres

Athletics.

Men's 800 metres  Men's 1,500 metres  Men's 10,000 metres  Men's Marathon  Men's 4x400 metres Relay  Men's 110 m Hurdles  Men's 400 m Hurdles  Men's 3,000 m Steeplechase  Men's Pole Vault  Men's High Jump  Men's triple jump  Men's Shot Put  Men's Javelin Throw  Men's Hammer Throw  Men's Decathlon  Men's 20 km Walk  Men's 50 km Walk  Women's 100 metres  Women's 800 metres  Women's 1,500 metres  Women's 100 m Hurdles  Women's High Jump  Women's Long Jump  Women's Discus Throw  Women's Javelin Throw  Women's Shot Put  Women's Pentathlon

Boxing.

Men's Flyweight (51 kg)
 Men's Bantamweight (54 kg)
 Men's Featherweight (57 kg)
 Men's Lightweight (60 kg)
 Men's Light-Welterweight (63.5 kg)

Cycling.

Twelve cyclists represented Great Britain in 1980.

Diving.

Men's Springboard  Men's Platform

Fencing.

Eleven fencers, six men and five women, represented Great Britain in 1980.

Modern pentathlon.

Three male pentathletes represented Great Britain in 1980.  Individual  Team:

Rowing.

Men's Single scull  Men's Double scull  Men's Coxless pair  Men's Coxed pair  Men's Coxless four  Men's Coxed four  Men's Eight  Women's Single scull  Women's Double scull  Women's Coxed four  Women's Eight  Men's 100 m Freestyle

Swimming.

Men's 200 m Freestyle  Men's 100 m Butterfly  Men's 200 m Butterfly  Men's 100 m Breaststroke  Men's 200 m Breaststroke  Men's 100 m Backstroke  Men's 200 m Backstroke  Men's 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay  Men's 4 × 100 m Medley Relay  Women's 200 m Freestyle  Women's 100 m Butterfly  Women's 200 m Butterfly  Women's 100 m Breaststroke  Women's 400 m Individual Medley  Women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay  Women's 4 × 100 m Medley Relay

Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR. British athletes have competed in every Summer Olympic Games. 219 competitors, 149 men and 70 women, took part in 145 events in 14 sports.

Velkou Británii na Letních olympijských hrách v roce 1980 reprezentovalo 219 sportovců (149 mužů a 70 žen) ve 14 sportovních odvětvích.


History.

European origin.

Among the older and most widely distributed of all breeds of cattle in the world, and recorded since the Middle Ages, the Simmental breed has contributed to the creation of several other famous European breeds, including the Montbeliarde (France), the Pezzata Rossa d'Oropa (Italy), and the Fleckvieh (Germany and Austria).

Africa.

Namibia (1893) and South Africa (1905) were the first countries outside Europe where the breed was successfully established. Here the breed is known as Simmentaler and is mainly used for beef cattle production under suckler cow systems. Today, the breeders' society is, as far as animal numbers are concerned, the fourth largest of the 32 nondairy breeds in Southern Africa. The main reasons for its popularity are (i) it can be used with great success in crossbreeding for breeding of both cows with much milk and heavy weaners/oxen, (ii) a large number of performance-tested bulls, (iii) comprehensive advice and other breed improvement services to its breeders, and (iv) animals that do not pass stringent inspection by breed experts, are permanently eliminated from the herdbook.

Soviet Union.

In the former Soviet Union, the Simmental was the most important cattle breed. Russian Simmental (Симментальская корова) accounted for one-quarter of all cattle in the USSR. Through extensive crossbreeding, six strains were developed:<ref name="FAO/DAD-IS/Russia">Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations / Domestic Animal Diversity Information System: ′′Simmentalskaya/Russian Federation.′′ Retrieved 3 July 2013.</ref> In 1990, there were 12,849,800 Simmental in the USSR. In 2003, the Simmental count in Russia stood at 2,970,400.

Different names.

The breed is known under the following names "Pezzata Rossa": Italy. "Montbéliarde": A French dairy breed. Member of European Simmental Federation but not of the World Simmental-Fleckvieh Federation.

Characteristics.

Traditional.

The Simmental has historically been used for dairy and beef, and as draught animals. They are particularly renowned for the rapid growth of their young, if given sufficient feed. Simmentals provide more combined weaning gain (growth) and milk yield than any other breed.

Africa.

In contrast to countries which allow black and solid brown coloured Simmental in the herdbook, Namibia and South Africa only register Simmentaler with the typical colour i.e. from dark red or brown to yellow spread over the body in any pattern with at least some white on the forehead and the lower-leg area, solid black or solid red animals are non-existent because they are not registered.

Types.

No other breed in the world has such a large within-breed-type variation as Simmental-Fleckvieh which is classifiable in the following types:  The traditional colouration of the Simmental has been described variously as "red and white spotted" or "gold and white", although there is no specific standard colouration, and the dominant shade varies from a pale yellow-gold all the way to very dark red (the latter being particularly popular in the United States). The face is normally white, and this characteristic is usually passed to crossbred calves. The white face is genetically distinct from the white head of the Hereford.

The Simmental or Swiss Fleckvieh is a Swiss breed of dual-purpose cattle. It is named after the Simmental – the valley of the Simme river – in the Bernese Oberland, in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is reddish in colour with white markings, and is raised for both milk and meat.

Simentálský skot, též švýcarský strakatý skot, je plemeno skotu pocházející ze Švýcarska. Náleží do skupiny plemen horského strakatého skotu, je základním plemenem této skupiny a vycházejí z něj ostatními strakatá plemena, včetně skotu českého strakatého. Ve Švýcarsku se simentálský skot šlechtí jako kombinované plemeno s důrazem na mléčnou užitkovost. Plemeno masný simentál vzniklo z německého a rakouského strakatého skotu jednostranným šlechtěním na užitkovost masnou.


Background.

The Belgrade-Bar railway crosses into Bosnia and Herzegovina for 9 km, between the stations at Jablanica and Raca, both in Serbia. There is one station, Štrpci, but there are no border crossing facilities and only three trains per direction call at the station every day. The abducted passengers were taken off the train, robbed and physically abused. They were then taken to the village of Visegradska banja near Višegrad in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they were tortured and killed in a burned-out house near the river Drina. Their remains have not been found.  Members of the Avengers ("Osvetnici") military unit, commanded by Milan Lukić, with logistical support from the Republic of Serbia, were responsible for the abductions. Of the approximately 30 suspects the only individual convicted for his role in the crime was Nebojša Ranisavljević from Despotovac. He was arrested in October 1996. The Higher Court in Bijelo Polje sentenced him to 15 years in prison on 9 September 2002. The verdict was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Montenegro in April 2004. Ranisavljević was released from prison in 2011 after serving nine years of his sentence. The Commander of the Republika Srpska army's (VRS) Višegrad brigade, Luka Dragićević, admitted at Ranisavljević's trial that the "Avengers" unit was part of the VRS. After the war Dragićević was transferred to a position in the Yugoslav army.  Amnesty International expressed concern that Ranisavljević had been made a scapegoat and that the trial was a token affair. It was alleged that Ranisavljević had been tortured in detention to force him to make incriminating statements.  Senior officials in the Serbian and Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) governments were alerted to the plan to abduct citizens of the FRY but no action was taken to prevent the crime. The Štrpci massacre and the Sjeverin massacre were part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing conducted against Bosniaks in the Sandžak area of Serbia that was organised and carried out under the cover of the Bosnian war. Police and judicial officials are alleged to have obstructed court proceedings against Milan Lukić.

The Štrpci massacre was the massacre of 19 civilians (18 Bosniaks and one Croat) on 27 February 1993, taken from a Belgrade-Bar train at Štrpci station near Višegrad, on Bosnian territory. Fifteen Serbs were arrested in December 2014 and charged with war crimes for their participation in the massacre.

Masakr ve Štrpcích se odehrál 27. února 1993 na nádraží ve Štrpcích, v jihovýchodní Bosně a Hercegovině. Srbské paravojenské jednotky, operující během války v Bosně a Hercegovině, zastavily na krátkém, 9 km dlouhém peážním úseku železniční trati Bělehrad - Bar pravidelný vlak z Bělehradu do Baru. Z něho bylo vyvedeno celkem 19 lidí, kteří nebyli srbské, či černohorské národnosti. 18 z nich bylo Bosňácké národnosti, jeden Chorvat. Všichni však byli státní příslušníci SRJ. Podle informací ICTY byli nejprve okradeni, později týráni, převezeni neznámo kam (poblíž řeky Driny), a poté zastřeleni. Ostatky většiny z nich nebyly dodnes nalezeny.


History.

There have long been small polled mountain cattle in Sweden. A text from 1296 AD describes cattle that are "small, hornless, white or whitish grey, often with dark spots". The Fjällras was established as a breed in the nineteenth century. A herd-book was started in 1907.  The traditional mountain cattle breeds were very variable. In 1937 a new breed, the Swedish Polled ( or SKB) was created with the intention of merging the Fjällras with the Swedish Red Polled (), a quite different breed of mountain cattle. However, breeders did not accept the new classification, and continued to maintain separate bloodlines as before. During the 1970s and 1980s indiscriminate cross-breeding placed the breed in danger of extinction. A breeders' association, the Föreningen Svensk Fjällrasavel, was established in 1996; a similar association, the Sveriges Rödkulleförening, had formed for the Rödkulla in the 1960s.  Stocks of frozen semen from pure-bred Fjällras bulls born in the mid-twentieth century helped in the recovery of the breed, and allowed the effective population size to be increased. In 1996 it was estimated that there were approximately 400 Fjällras cows. In 2012 a total population of 6836 head was reported.  The traditional Fjäll has divided into two sub-breeds, the Svensk Fjällras and the Fjällnära Boskap.

Characteristics.

The coat colour of the Fjällras is variable: it may be almost white; white speckled with red or black; colour-sided red or black with finching; or, occasionally, solid red, black or – more rarely – grey. The skin is white. The cattle are well adapted to the mountain environment and forage well on poor pasture.

Use.

The Fjällras is principally a dairy breed. Average milk yield is approximately of milk per lactation; some cows may give. The milk has a high butter-fat content, approximately 4.5%, and a protein content of about 3.6%; it is particularly rich in κ-casein B and is suitable for making cheese.

The Fjäll ( or ) is a traditional Swedish breed of polled mountain cattle. It was threatened with extinction in the 1970s and 1980s, but recovered after a breed association was formed in 1995, partly thanks to stocks of frozen semen. Microsatellite analysis has shown it to be closely related to the endangered Bohuskulla breed.

Fjäll je malé dojné plemeno skotu původem ze Švédska. Je součástí populace skandinávského bezrohého skotu a blízce příbuzný finskému a norskému skotu. Je to plemeno vzácné, ohrožené vyhynutím.


Background.

After practicing with Jimi Hendrix's band Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell and Belfast musicians Gerry McAvoy and Wilgar Campbell at a practice room in Fulham Road, the newly formed band with McAvoy and Campbell got underway recording in Advision Studios. With his first solo album Gallagher continued in the eclectic style that had exemplified his first band Taste. The album begins with "Laundromat" which was to become a regular number in his live set. A blues rock song with a classic Gallagher riff, the song was inspired by the public laundromat located in the basement of his flat where he lived at the time in Earls Court. The next song, "Just the Smile", is an acoustic number that was inspired by the British folk revival. It shows the influence of some of Gallagher's favorite English folk musicians such as Richard Thompson, Davy Graham, and Scottish guitarist Bert Jansch. (Gallagher would later go on to record with Jansch.) "I Fall Apart" has a jazz feel to it and features a guitar solo that starts slow and introspective and builds to a powerful climax. The next two songs, "Hands Up" and "Sinner Boy", were again blues rock and would also become standard numbers for his live show. "Wave Myself Goodbye" is another acoustic number, a talking blues song featuring New Orleans style piano provided by Vincent Crane from the band Atomic Rooster (Rory's brother Donal had been acting as tour manager for them). Gallagher plays saxophone in the next song, a jazz number called "Can't Believe It's True". Also recorded at the time were two blues classics, Muddy Waters' "Gypsy Woman" and "It Takes Time" by Chicago blues legend Otis Rush. Muddy Waters was a teenage hero for Gallagher; they ultimately collaborated on Muddy Waters' album "The London Muddy Waters Sessions". Although these songs were left off the original album they were included in the CD release.

Recording.

The album was recorded in Advision Studios in London. As with most of Gallagher's albums he produced it himself. The engineer was Eddie Offord, who had engineered for Gallagher on the album "On the Boards" with his previous band Taste.

Track listing.

All songs written by Rory Gallagher except where stated.  Side one Side two CD bonus tracks

Rory Gallagher is the first solo album by Irish blues rock musician Rory Gallagher, released in 1971. It marked his departure from Taste. After disbanding Taste, Gallagher auditioned some of the best musicians available at the time including Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell the bassist and drummer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience. He decided on two Belfast musicians; drummer Wilgar Campbell, and bass guitarist Gerry McAvoy to be the core of his new power trio band.

Rory Gallagher je první sólové studiové album irského kytaristy a zpěváka Roryho Gallaghera. Jeho nahrávání probíhalo v dubnu 1971 ve studiu Advision Studios v Londýně, producentem byl sám Gallagher a album vyšlo v květnu téhož roku u vydavatelství Polydor Records. Předtím než se vydal na sólovou dráhu, nahrál dvě alba se skupinou Taste.


History.

Prehistory.

According to the legend, Reate was founded by Rea, a divinity (that would be the origin of the town name). It was founded at the beginning of the Iron Age (9th–8th century BC).  Probably in earlier times the lands around Rieti were inhabited by Umbri, then by Aborigines and later on by Sabines, who reached the lands sited in the nearby of Tevere river.

Ancient era.

Reate was originally a major site of the Sabine nation well before the foundation of Rome. According to the legend, when Romulus founded Rome, Romans kidnapped Sabine women in order to populate the town (The Rape of the Sabine Women) and this led to a war between Romans and Sabines. The battle of the Lacus Curtius came to an end only when the women threw themselves between the armies, begging the men who were by then their relatives to stop fighting. Romulus and Titus Tatius relented and a collaboration between the two people started. According to an account more based on history, Sabines settled on the Quirinale because of their continuous need for grazing-lands.  After the final Roman conquest, carried out by Manius Curius Dentatus in the early 3rd century BC (290 BC), the village became a strategic point in the early Italian road network, dominating the "salt" track (Via Salaria) that linked Rome to the Adriatic Sea through the Apennines. Many lands of Reate and Amiternum were confiscated and allocated to Romans. From the outset, Sabines were offered Roman citizenship but without voting rights, until in 268 BC they gained full citizenship, and were incorporated into two new tribes (Velina and Quirina). Curius Dentatus drained a large portion of the lake by diverting the Velino river into the Nera (thus giving birth to Marmore Falls). The wide area once occupied by the lake turned into a fertile plain (the Rieti Valley). Following Roman customs, the land was split into characteristic square allotments. The town itself underwent significant development, being re-organised according to typical Roman urban standards (e.g., two crossed roads make up the settlement's backbone), and was fortified with strong walls. A stone bridge was laid across the Velino river, and a large viaduct was built to bring goods from the Via Salaria directly to Rieti's southern gate.  Roman Reate receives a number of mentions in Latin literature, thanks to its flourishing soil, its valued assets, and some peculiarities of the surroundings (such as wandering islands and hollow-subsurfaced fields). Cicero, for instance, describes the tensions between Reate and Interamna (Terni) following the lake drainage, and refers to the country houses (villae) that his friend Q. Axius owned in the plain.  One of the most important Sabine families that gained success in Rome was the Gens Flavia, from which Emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus (who started the building of the Colosseum, also known as the Amphitheatrum Flavium) descended.  The Reatin poet and writer Marcus Terentius Varro was born in 116 BC and he is usually referred to as the father of Roman erudition.

Middle Ages.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire Rieti suffered destruction by Barbarians, but never ceased to be an important gastaldate during the Lombard domination, as part of the Duchy of Spoleto. Under the Franks, it was the county capital. It was sacked by the Saracens in the 9th and 10th century and by the Norman king Roger II of Sicily in 1149.  The city was rebuilt with the help of the Roman comune, and from 1198 was also a free commune, of Guelph orientation, with a podestà of its own. As a favourite Papal seat, Rieti was the place of important historical events: Constance of Hauteville married here by proxy Emperor Henry VI (1185). Charles I of Anjou was crowned King of Apulia, Sicily and Jerusalem by Pope Nicholas I in 1289. Pope Gregory IX celebrated canonized St. Dominic in Rieti (1234).

Late Middle Ages and modern era.

After the Papal seat had been moved to Avignon, Rieti was conquered by the King of Naples, while inner struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines broke out. In 1354 it was won back by Cardinal Albornoz, and it later became a feudal seigneury of the Alfani family within the Papal States. More of the surrounding plain was drained in the following century, but this led to confrontation with the neighboring Terni.  Rieti was province capital of the Papal States from 1816 to 1860. After the unification of Italy, it was initially part of Umbria, being annexed to Lazio in 1923. It became the provincial capital on January 2, 1927.

Climate.

Rieti has a warm-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csb), which in contrast to most of dry-summer Italy, which mostly has a hot-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa).

Main sights.

The ancient Sabine and Roman city was crowded with buildings, including baths ("thermae"). Only scarce remains were found during excavations in 19th and 20th century: the foundations of a large temple, the stone floor of the main square (forum), walls from private houses, concrete vaults, statues and pottery items. The most striking remains are the stone bridge across the Velino river and the viaduct.  Piazza San Rufo is traditionally considered to be the exact centre of Italy (Latin "Umbilicus Italiae").  Other sights include:  Also interesting are the sights in the Lake Lungo and Ripasottile Natural Preserve, and the Mount Terminillo.

Transportation.

Rieti is not crossed by any of Autostrade of Italy; all roads connecting Rieti with other cities are therefore state highways ("strade statali"), in most cases single carriageway roads.  The most important road link is strada statale 4 Via Salaria, which connects Rieti with Rome at south and with Ascoli Piceno and the Adriatic sea at north, just like the ancient Via Salaria Roman road. Other major roads include the strada statale 79 Ternana, which connects Rieti with Terni and with the Orte gate of Autostrada A1; strada statale 17, which branches from strada statale 4 in Antrodoco, connects Rieti with L'Aquila; strada statale 578 Salto Cicolana, which connects Rieti with Avezzano and with the "Salto valley" gate of A24 and A25 autostradas. Rieti's railway station is located on the regional, low traffic Terni–Sulmona railway, with trains to Terni and L'Aquila. There is no direct railway link between Rieti and Rome, as the construction of such railway has been subject of a long debate but never took place; Rome can be reached by bus or by catching a train to the Terni station, where direct trains to Rome can be found.  The Rieti Airport is mainly used by small private planes and for gliding.

Rieti (;, Sabino: ) is an ancient town and "comune" in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 47,700. It is the administrative seat of the province of Rieti and see of the diocese of Rieti, as well as the modern capital of the Sabina region.

Rieti je historické město ve střední Itálii, oblast Lazio, asi 90 km SV od Říma. Leží na řece Velino, je sídlem provincie a biskupství Rieti.


History of the name.

Until 31 March 1942, "Salzgitter" was the name of a town where the borough Salzgitter-Bad now is. From then until 1951, "Salzgitter" was the name of a borough of the city Watenstedt-Salzgitter that existed at the time. In 1951, the borough Salzgitter was renamed Salzgitter-Bad; the name Salzgitter, having thus been freed up, became the new and more succinct name of the city that had been called "Watenstedt-Salzgitter" until then. (Nowadays, "Salzgitter-Watenstedt" is the name of a small borough with a few hundred inhabitants.)

Geography.

Salzgitter is located in a bride dell coated with loess, between the Oderwald Forest and the Salzgitter-Höhenzug ("Salzgitter Hills"). The city stretches up to from north to south and up to from east to west. The highest point is the hill Hamberg (), located northwest of Salzgitter-Bad.

Neighbouring municipalities.

The following cities, towns and municipalities, listed clockwise beginning in the northeast, border on the city of Salzgitter. (As Salzgitter was founded on the area of the district of Wolfenbüttel, that district borders on Salzgitter in the west and in the east and is therefore listed twice.)

City structure.

The area of the City of Salzgitter consists of 31 boroughs (; often called villages): Bad, Barum, Beddingen, Beinum, Bleckenstedt, Bruchmachtersen, Calbecht, Drütte, Engelnstedt, Engerode, Flachstöckheim, Gebhardshagen, Gitter, Groß Mahner, Hallendorf, Heerte, Hohenrode, Immendorf, Lebenstedt, Lesse, Lichtenberg, Lobmachtersen, Ohlendorf, Osterlinde, Reppner, Ringelheim, Salder, Sauingen, Thiede, Üfingen and Watenstedt.  These 31 boroughs are combined to 7 towns (). Each town has an elected mayor and town council.  The towns with their boroughs are:

History.

Salzgitter originated in the beginning of the 14th century around salt springs near the village Verpstedt (later Vöppstedt). The name was derived from the neighbouring village Gitter (nowadays a city borough) as "up dem solte to Gytere", which means "salt near Gitter"; the first mention was in 1347. After 200 years of salt production at various springs, the peasants in the area which is nowadays Salzgitter were chartered around 1350, but lost municipal law again when being transferred to the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the beginning of the 16th century. Later, Salzgitter belonged to the diocese of Hildesheim. When the diocese was transferred to Prussia in 1803, the municipal law was reconfirmed, but taken away once more in 1815, when Salzgitter became part of the Kingdom of Hanover. In 1830, a brine bath was established in Salzgitter.  After the Kingdom of Hanover was transferred to Prussia in 1866, Salzgitter became a Prussian municipality, which was chartered again in 1929. Prior to that, the towns Vorsalz and Liebenhall had been incorporated (in 1926 and 1928, respectively). Salzgitter now belonged to the Landkreis (district) of Goslar and included, apart from Salzgitter itself, also some small settlements like Gittertor, which is nowadays part of Salzgitter-Bad. In 1936, Kniestedt was incorporated; it is also part of Salzgitter-Bad now. Due to the large iron ore body in Salzgitter, which had been mentioned first in 1310, the National Socialists founded the "Reichswerke Hermann Göring" for ore mining and iron production in 1937. In order to facilitate an unobstructed development of the smelting works, a unique administration structure in the whole area was conceived. Therefore, it was decreed in the "Order about the area settlement around the Hermann-Göring-Werke Salzgitter", effective from 1 April 1942, to form a unified city district (independent city). Towards this aim, the town of Salzgitter and the municipalities Beinum, Flachstöckheim, Groß-Mahner, Hohenrode, Ohlendorf and Ringelheim (7 in total, all belonging to the Landkreis Goslar) and Barum, Beddingen, Bleckenstedt, Bruchmachtersen, Calbecht, Drütte, Engelnstedt, Engerode, Gebhardshagen, Hallendorf, Heerte, Immendorf, Lebenstedt, Lesse, Lichtenberg, Lobmachtersen, Osterlinde, Reppner, Salder, Thiede-Steterburg (nowadays simply Thiede) and Watenstedt (21 in total, all belonging to the Landkreis Wolfenbüttel) were merged to form the "Stadtkreis Watenstedt-Salzgitter". As the neighbouring municipality Gitter had already been incorporated in 1938, the young city initially comprised 29 boroughs in 1942. Together with the remainder of the district of Goslar, the new independent municipality was integrated into the Free State of Brunswick. In return, Braunschweig transferred the Landkreis Holzminden to the Prussian Province of Hanover. In October, 1942, the SS established the Drütte concentration camp, a subcamp of the Neuengamme concentration camp, to provide slave labour for the Hermann Göring Works. This large subcamp held 2,800 inmates. There were three concentration camps located in Salzgitter. During the war, Salzgitter was severely damaged by several American and British bombings. After the war, the State of Braunschweig became part of the Land Lower Saxony, and Watenstedt-Salzgitter became an Independent City in the "Administrative District of Braunschweig" (later Regierungsbezirk Braunschweig). In 1951, the city was renamed to "Stadt Salzgitter" (City of Salzgitter), while the borough Salzgitter was renamed to "Salzgitter-Bad", referring to the brine bath there. In the course of the local administrative reform of Lower-Saxony effective from 1 March 1974, the municipalities Üfingen and Sauingen (formerly Landkreis Wolfenbüttel) were incorporated, increasing the number of boroughs to 31. Iron ore continued to be mined in Salzgitter until 1982; in the former mine "Schacht Konrad" (Konrad mine), an ultimate disposal place for radioactive waste has been planned since 1975.

Population development.

Population figures in order to the then area, i.e. until 1942 the contemporary quarter Salzgitter-Bad and from 1942 on the Independent City Watenstedt-Salzgitter and Salzgitter respectively.

Religions.

The area of the modern city of Salzgitter originally pertained to the diocese of Hildesheim. In 1568, the Reformation was established in Salzgitter, and two ecclesiastical superintendencies came into existence: the southern part of the area of the modern city, the Superintendency of Salzgitter, pertained to the Province of Hanover and thus ecclesiastically to the Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Hanover (and, within it, to the Consistory of Hildesheim); the northern part (the Superintendency of Lebenstedt), however, belonged to the Free State of Brunswick and therefore to the Evangelical Lutheran State Church in Brunswick.  When the city of Watenstedt-Salzgitter was created in 1942, the entire area was attached to the state of Brunswick both politically and ecclesiastically. Thus, all parishes of Salzgitter now belong to the Church of Brunswick. The two superintendencies are called "Propstei" (provostry) today, and both the "Propsteien" Salzgitter-Bad and Salzgitter-Lebenstedt comprise additional parishes which are not within the city of Salzgitter.  Roman Catholics who after the Reformation moved into the city belonged, as in the Middle Ages, to the diocese of Hildesheim, which established a separate deanery in Salzgitter. All Roman Catholic parishes of the city now pertain to that deanery.  Besides the two major denominations, there are congregtions in Salzgitter which belong to free churches. These include a Baptist parish, the Church of God, Plymouth Brethren, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church, as well as several New Apostolic Churches.  Due to the immigration of foreign workers during the 1970s, there are some Islamic mosques. According to calculations based on census data, Salzgitter in 2011 had the highest proportion of Muslim migrants of all major cities in Lower Saxony.

Politics.

After the creation of Salzgitter a state commissar was set in place as provisional Mayer of the city of Watenstedt-Salzgitter. After World War II, the military government of the British zone of occupation installed the communal constitution of Britain. Furthermore, there is an elected Council in place. The Council elects one of its members to Mayor (German: "Oberbürgermeister") as leader and representative of the city. Besides, since 1946 on there was the "Oberstadtdirektor" as the Chief Executive of the City Council. Since 2001, the office of the leader of the Council and the Chief Executive are merged into one, simply called Mayor. Being elected by the people, he represents the city and leads the Council.

Coat of arms.

Salzgitter's Coat of Arms consists of a silver furnace visible behind a silver pinnacle wall on which there is a buckler whose upper ground is green and adorned with two saltern instruments and whose lower ground is gold and adorned with a black sledge and black iron. On the red ground behind the furnace, there are two wheaten ears.  The Coat of Arms stands for the agriculture, which is important for many villages of Salzgitter, on the one hand, and for the industry, which led to Salzgitter's foundation, on the other hand.  This Coat of Arms is from 1951. Before, Watenstedt-Salzgitter had got a different one. Also the former town Salzgitter had got various coats of arms from 1854 on.  Like many German cities, Salzgitter has used the city's logo for some years. It is a green field with a white snaking way that narrows towards the horizon.

Twin towns - sister cities.

Salzgitter is twinned with:

Economy and infrastructure.

Traffic.

Road.

In the north of Salzgitter, there is an Autobahn (A 39) from Braunschweig to the interchange Salzgitter (where you can change to Autobahn 7 (Kassel-Hanover). Salzgitter has got five grade-separated interchanges to this Autobahn. East from Salzgitter, there is the Autobahn 395 (Braunschweig-Goslar), which can be reached from Salzgitter by four interchanges. Moreover, two "Bundesstraßen" (German highways) go through Salzgitter.

Railway.

Salzgitter has six railway stations. The most important one is in the quarter Salzgitter-Ringelheim, the most central one in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt. There is no "Hauptbahnhof" (main railway station) in Salzgitter. Salzgitter-Ringelheim's station is located on the Halle (Saale)-Goslar-Salzgitter-Hildesheim-Hanover line. Another line leads into the Harz Mountains and to Braunschweig, passing Salzgitter-Bad. Salzgitter-Lebenstedt is the end of a local line coming from Braunschweig and passing the other train stops of Salzgitter.

Public transport.

There are three bus companies in Salzgitter. The bus network is quite important considering Salzgitter consists of many spread-out villages.

Media.

In Salzgitter, the daily newspaper "Salzgitter-Zeitung" and the Sunday newspaper "Salzgitter-Woche am Sonntag" are published. There is the event calendar "Salzgitter Szene" and the online magazine "Salzgitter-aktuell". Furthermore, the local TV channel "TV 38" is broadcast by cable television.

Public institutions.

Salzgitter is seat of these public institutions:

Education.

Since 1993, there is a site of the "Fachhochschule Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel", where you can study In addition, you can study after having completed a study in the past and – by correspondence course –  The other sites of the Fachhochschule are Braunschweig, Wolfenbüttel and Wolfsburg.  Furthermore, there are several general-education schools (meaning that general knowledge is taught there in contrast to occupation-specific knowledge) and vocational schools, among them three grammar schools, the "Gymnasium Salzgitter-Bad", the "Gymnasium am Fredenberg" and the "Kranich-Gymnasium", the latter two located at Salzgitter-Lebenstedt.  For education outside school, there is the "Volkshochschule Salzgitter" with sites in Salzgitter-Bad and in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt.

Culture and sights.

Libraries.

There are three public libraries in Salzgitter. The main-library is located in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt (155 000 media) with branch-libraries in Salzgitter-Bad (42 000 media) and Salzgitter-Fredenberg (25 000 media).

Theatre.

There is no theatre in Salzgitter nor any building used as one. Yet there are several representations at various places. For example, in Salzgitter-Bad there is a society rooting in the students' theater of the local grammar-school that supports the amateur play. They act on various stages, with an auditory between 100 and 600 people. Furthermore, there are irregular performances of musicals.

Salzgitter (; Eastphalian: "Soltgitter") is an independent city in southeast Lower Saxony, Germany, located between Hildesheim and Braunschweig. Together with Wolfsburg and Braunschweig, Salzgitter is one of the seven "Oberzentren" of Lower Saxony (roughly equivalent to a metropolitan area). With 101,079 inhabitants and (as of 31 December 2015), its area is the largest in Lower Saxony and one of the largest in Germany. Salzgitter originated as a conglomeration of several small towns and villages, and is today made up of 31 boroughs, which are relatively compact conurbations with wide stretches of open country between them. The main shopping street of the young city is in the borough of Lebenstedt, and the central business district is in the borough of Salzgitter-Bad. The city is connected to the Mittellandkanal and the Elbe Lateral Canal by a distributary. The nearest metropolises are Braunschweig, about to the northeast, and Hanover, about to the northwest. The population of the City of Salzgitter has exceeded 100,000 inhabitants since its foundation in 1942 (which made it a city () in contrast to a town () by the German definition), when it was still called "Watenstedt-Salzgitter". Beside Wolfsburg, Leverkusen and Eisenhüttenstadt, Salzgitter is therefore one of the few cities in Germany founded during the 20th century.

Salzgitter je město v německé spolkové zemi Dolní Sasko. Nachází se v severní části pohoří Harz. Je také součástí metropolitního regionu Hannover-Braunschweig-Göttingen-Wolfsburg. V současných hranicích existuje od roku 1924, kdy bylo město založeno. Jedná se o jedno z mála německých měst založených v první polovině 20. století. Město je sídlem ocelářského koncernu Salzgitter AG.


Background.

In 1990, ethnic tensions between Serbs and Croats worsened after the electoral defeat of the government of the Socialist Republic of Croatia by the Croatian Democratic Union ( – HDZ). The Yugoslav People's Army ( – JNA) confiscated Croatia's Territorial Defence ( – TO) weapons to minimize resistance. On 17 August, the tensions escalated into an open revolt of the Croatian Serbs. The rebellion was centred on the predominantly Serb-populated areas of the Dalmatian hinterland around Knin, approximately north-east of Split, as well as parts of Lika, Kordun, Banovina and eastern Slavonia. In January 1991, Serbia, supported by Montenegro and Serbia's provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo, unsuccessfully tried to obtain the Yugoslav Presidency's approval for a JNA operation to disarm Croatia's security forces. The request was denied, and a bloodless skirmish between Serb insurgents and the Croatian special police occurred that March. This prompted the JNA itself to ask the Federal Presidency to grant it wartime authority and declare a state of emergency. Even though the request was backed by Serbia and its allies, on 15 March, the Federal Presidency declined. Serbian President Slobodan Milošević, preferring a campaign to expand Serbia rather than to preserve Yugoslavia with Croatia as a federal unit, publicly threatened to replace the JNA with a Serbian army and declared that he no longer recognized the authority of the Federal Presidency. As the JNA came under Milošević's control, the JNA abandoned its plans to preserve Yugoslavia in favour of expanding Serbia. The first casualties of the conflict occurred by the end of March. In early April, the leaders of the Serb revolt in Croatia declared their intention to unite the areas under their control with Serbia. These areas came to be viewed as breakaway regions by the Government of Croatia.  At the beginning of 1991, Croatia had no regular army. To bolster its defence, Croatia doubled its police numbers to about 20,000. The most effective part of the Croatian police force was a 3,000-strong special police comprising twelve battalions organised along military lines. There were also 9,000–10,000 regionally organised reserve police in 16 battalions and 10 companies, but they lacked weapons. In response to the deteriorating situation, the Croatian government established the Croatian National Guard ( – ZNG) in May by expanding the special police battalions into four all-professional guards brigades. Under the control of the Croatian Ministry of Defence and commanded by retired JNA General Martin Špegelj, the four guards brigades comprised approximately 8,000 troops. The reserve police, also expanded to 40,000, was attached to the ZNG and reorganised into 19 brigades and 14 independent battalions. The guards brigades were the only units of the ZNG that were fully equipped with small arms; throughout the ZNG there was a lack of heavier weapons and there was poor command and control structure above the brigade level. The shortage of heavy weapons was so severe that the ZNG resorted to using World War II-era arms taken from museums and film studios. At the time, the Croatian weapon stockpile consisted of 30,000 small arms purchased abroad and 15,000 previously owned by the police. To replace the personnel lost to the guards brigades, a new 10,000-strong special police was established.

Prelude.

After Croatia launched the Battle of the Barracks on 14–15 September to capture the JNA's facilities in Croatia, the JNA launched a small-scale operation against Vukovar to relieve the city garrison. At the same time, it began large-scale mobilisation in preparation for its campaign in Croatia. It was met with widespread refusal of mobilised personnel to report to their designated units, desertions and an overall lack of enthusiasm for the campaign. The response rate was particularly poor in Central Serbia, where only 26 percent of those called up reported for service. This resulted in low troop availability, forcing the JNA to deploy fewer infantry units.  The JNA's offensive operations, directly associated with the campaign in the east Croatian region of Slavonia, were launched on 20 September. The assault on Vukovar gradually became the main effort of the campaign as the JNA was repeatedly unable to capture the city. The fighting in and around Vukovar lasted months and eventually drew in the JNA's main armoured force, which had previously been slated to advance west towards Serb-held areas in western Slavonia. In addition to relieving its Vukovar garrison, the JNA wished to dissipate the Croatian forces in the city so that they would not pose any threat to its rear in the event that the campaign progressed west of Vinkovci.  The JNA was reinforced by local Serb-manned TO units and Serbian paramilitary volunteers who were meant to replace those reservists that had failed to respond to their call-up. The volunteers were often motivated by ethnic hatred, looted countless homes and committed numerous atrocities against civilians. After more than two months of fighting, the Croatian forces surrendered on 18 November. Vukovar sustained significant damage due to the JNA's artillery and rocket barrages. By the end of the battle, over 700,000 shells and other missiles had been fired at the city, at a rate of up to 12,000 per day.

Timeline.

Evacuation arrangements.

On 17 November, Major General Andrija Rašeta, the commander of the JNA 5th (Zagreb) Military District, notified the European Community Monitor Mission (ECMM) that the JNA accepted in principle the quick evacuation of vulnerable persons from Vukovar. At the time, it was estimated that there were about 400 people trapped in the city's hospital, but the actual number was later discovered to be about 450. This included about 40 patients receiving treatment for severe injuries sustained over the preceding few days and about 360 patients recovering from wounds suffered earlier on. In addition to these individuals, some civilians had taken shelter in the hospital in the final days of the battle. They moved there expecting to be evacuated from the city, even though the hospital itself was subjected to daily artillery attack. Furthermore, a number of Croatian troops took refuge in the hospital posing as patients or staff.  On 18 November, the Tripartite Commission, consisting of representatives of Croatia, the JNA and the ECMM, discussed methods of evacuation with representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Médecins Sans Frontières and the Malteser International. On the night of 18/19 November, Rašeta and Croatian Health Minister Andrija Hebrang signed an agreement on the evacuation. The agreement guaranteed that the evacuees would travel via the route Lužac suburb–Bogdanovci–Marinci–Zidine junction–Nuštar–Vinkovci. They were to be handed over to international authorities at the Zidine junction, the hospital was to be placed under the control of the ICRC and the ECMM was to oversee the entire operation. Hebrang notified the hospital director Vesna Bosanac of the agreement and told her that ICRC teams would arrive. That evening Siniša Glavašević, a radio reporter who had covered the entire course of the siege from within the city, broadcast his final report from the hospital. Glavašević himself hoped to leave the city with the ICRC, fearing for his life should the Serb paramilitaries capture him.

Takeover of the hospital.

On the morning of 19 November, the ECMM became aware that organised resistance had ceased in Vukovar, but it did not receive any information on the fate of the hospital patients. Consequently, the head of the ECMM, ambassador Dirk Jan van Houten, contacted Rašeta asking him to intervene on the ECMM's behalf. That day, a JNA unit arrived at the hospital and Bosanac was taken to meet JNA Colonel Mile Mrkšić. According to Bosanac, Mrkšić told her that he was not obligated by the evacuation agreement. Even though the ICRC was not granted access to Vukovar by JNA officers at the scene, in the early evening of 19 November, ICRC representative Nicolas Borsinger managed to reach the hospital claiming he had an appointment with "a general". Once there, Borsinger found a JNA captain in charge of the facility who agreed to grant the ICRC access. Borsinger then rejoined the ICRC convoy that was moving towards the hospital to evacuate it. The hospital was also toured by French reporter Agnès Vahramian that day, and there she recorded an interview with Jean-Michel Nicolier, a wounded Frenchman who fought alongside Croatian forces in Vukovar. Vahramian offered Nicolier a press pass to try to get him out of the city, but he refused.  On the morning of 20 November, the ICRC convoy reached Vukovar, only to be stopped at a bridge near the hospital. An armoured vehicle blocked access to the bridge leading to the hospital, and a JNA officer at the scene, Major Veselin Šljivančanin, refused to let the ICRC pass. In order to facilitate negotiations with the ICRC at the scene, BBC reporter Martin Bell volunteered his interpreter. In a confrontation recorded by television cameras, Šljivančanin told the ICRC personnel: "This is my country, we have conquered this. This is Yugoslavia, and I am in command here!" The ECMM personnel that had arrived at the Zidine junction to meet the returning convoy were informed by the JNA that the evacuees would instead be turned over to them in Bosanski Šamac, in northern Bosnia, on 22 November. While Šljivančanin held back the convoy, the prisoners were smuggled out of the hospital in buses in another direction. In total, approximately 300 people were taken away from the hospital.

Ovčara farm.

Later on 20 November, Šljivančanin and Colonel Nebojša Pavković informed the press that the JNA would provide buses to transport the wounded out of Vukovar. Instead, at about 10:30, the buses took the prisoners to the JNA barracks on the southern edge of Vukovar, where 15 men were separated from the group and returned to the hospital after being identified as hospital staff. During their stay in the barracks, the Croatian Serb TO and Serbian paramilitaries threatened the prisoners. Croatian Serb leaders opposed moving the prisoners to detention facilities in Serbia, claiming they wished to prosecute them for alleged crimes committed against Serbs. After spending two hours at the barracks, the buses took the prisoners to the Ovčara farm near the village of Grabovo. The group largely consisted of Croats, but also included several ethnic Serbs, Muslims, ethnic Hungarians, the French national Nicolier, and one German national who fought in defence of Vukovar. It also included Rašeta's nephew, who worked at the Vukovar hospital pharmacy at the time. The group taken to Ovčara consisted of 261 people. Sources disagree as to whether the group included one, or two women, one of whom was five months pregnant. The age of the prisoners ranged from 16 to 72. The youngest among them was 16-year-old Igor Kačić. Once they reached Ovčara, away from Vukovar, the captives were ordered from the buses one-by-one and forced to run the gauntlet past dozens of JNA troops and Serb paramilitaries towards a farm storage building. Slavko Dokmanović, a former mayor of Vukovar, was one of the armed men involved in beating prisoners. As the captives were beaten, they were also stripped of their personal belongings, money and jewelry. Over the course of the day, the JNA military police failed to prevent soldiers of the Croatian Serb TO and Serbian paramilitaries from beating the prisoners in the storage building. They were beaten using sticks, rifle butts, chains, baseball bats, and in one instance a wounded prisoner was beaten with his own crutches. By sundown, at least two men were beaten to death. In addition, one of the captors shot five prisoners, including one Frenchman, who is presumed to be Nicolier. Seven or eight men were returned to Vukovar on orders of the JNA, presumably released at the intervention of their Serb neighbours. Ultimately, Mrkšić ordered the JNA military police to withdraw from the farm, leaving the prisoners in the custody of a Croatian Serb TO unit led by Miroljub Vujović, commander of the Croatian Serb TO in Vukovar, and the "Leva Supoderica" paramilitary unit. "Leva Supoderica" was a volunteer unit set up by the Serbian Radical Party (; SRS) in Šid, Serbia, and subordinated to the JNA's 1st Guards Mechanised Brigade.  At about 18:00, the prisoners were divided into groups. Each group of 10 to 20 was loaded onto a truck and transported several hundred metres (yards) from the building towards a wooded ravine. When the prisoners reached the previously prepared execution site, they were shot and buried in a mass grave using a bulldozer. After 15–20 minutes, the truck would return empty to pick up the next group. The final group of prisoners was executed just outside the farm building itself. By 22:00 that evening, all of the prisoners had been killed. Most sources place the number of victims at around 260. This figure has been used by ICTY prosecutors. Some estimates of the death toll go as high as 264. The Croatian authorities believe that the total figure stands at 261. The massacre was the most severe individual war crime committed in Europe since World War II until that point.

Aftermath.

Croatian Serb forces turned Ovčara into a prison camp in early October 1991. Aside from the massacre, 3,000–4,000 male prisoners were temporarily held in the Ovčara camp at some point during autumn of 1991 before being transported to the prison in Sremska Mitrovica or to the local JNA barracks, which was the transit point for Serbian detention camps such as Stajićevo and Begejci. Following a series of political agreements concluded in 1991 and a ceasefire between the JNA and Croatia in early 1992, the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) was deployed for peacekeeping in certain parts of Croatia, including Vukovar and its surroundings. It began its deployment in March 1992.

Discovery of the mass grave.

Forensic anthropologist Clyde Snow learned of the massacre during his visit to Zagreb in October 1992. Snow travelled there as a United Nations (UN) team member sent to investigate reports of war crimes. In a meeting Snow had with the dean of the Zagreb University School of Medicine, he was introduced to a former soldier who claimed to have survived the massacre and told Snow where it took place. Three days later, Snow went to Vukovar and drove to Ovčara accompanied by Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sergeant Larry Moore who was deployed to the region with the UNPROFOR. At the site, Moore spotted a human skull in the mud. A few days later, the UN declared the site a crime scene and deployed Russian UNPROFOR troops to guard it.  Snow put together a four-man team including himself to conduct a preliminary investigation of the site before the winter, and the team arrived at the site in December 1992. They examined the site still under guard by the Russian troops, excavated the skull spotted by Moore and the rest of the body, as well as another set of partially covered remains. The team excavated a trench across the site. That allowed them to detect a few more bodies and infer the size of the grave. The information they obtained led Snow to conclude that the grave may contain more than two hundred bodies. The investigators also found spent cartridges consistent with standard Yugoslav-built AK-47s on one side of the grave and bullet holes in trees on the opposite side, leading them to conclude that a firing squad had stood on one side of the pit and fired across or into it.  Croatian authorities launched initiatives to exhume the bodies buried at Ovčara in 1993 and 1994, but those were unsuccessful. A five-member Commission of Experts appointed by the UN Secretary General came to Ovčara to exhume the victims in October 1993. However, they were prevented from carrying out their work by the local Croatian Serb administration. After the Croatian Serb authorities blocked several attempts to further investigate the mass grave at Ovčara, still under constant guard by the Russian peacekeepers, the site was visited by then-U.S. Ambassador to the UN Madeleine Albright in January 1994. She used the occasion to stress U.S. support for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which had been set up in 1993.

Exhumation.

The political situation in the area did not change until 1995. That year, Croatia militarily defeated the Croatian Serbs in offensives codenamed Flash and Storm, in May and August respectively. That left eastern Slavonia as the last remaining Croatian Serb-held area. Gradual restoration of the area to Croatian rule was agreed upon in November through the Erdut Agreement, and the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) peacekeeping mission was deployed to implement the agreement.  The exhumation of the remains at Ovčara began on 1 September 1996 while the site was still under the constant guard of peacekeepers. The exhumation was conducted by ICTY personnel and the Physicians for Human Rights, with Croatian observers at the site. The excavation works uncovered a mass grave encompassing approximately and containing a heap of intertwined bodies. Most of the bodies exhibited evidence of multiple gunshot wounds. By 24 October, 200 sets of remains were recovered from the grave. The remains were transported for forensic examination to the Zagreb University School of Medicine. In the four years preceding the exhumation, Croatian authorities collected "ante-mortem" information on presumed victims, built a modern morgue at the School of Medicine and trained geneticists in DNA analysis to allow for the identification of those who could not be identified by ICTY investigators using traditional methods. By October 2002, 184 victims were identified, largely using DNA analyses, and the figure was increased to 194 by 2010. Glavašević's remains were among those exhumed at Ovčara.  Croatian authorities suspect that a further 61 individuals killed at Ovčara were buried there as well. They suspect one or more additional mass graves exist in the general area, or that the bodies originally buried at the site were moved to a secondary grave. Nevenka Nekić, the Croatian author of a book on Nicolier, claims that an additional shallow grave was excavated at Ovčara in November 1991 and that Nicolier and 60 others were buried there. According to her, they were exhumed by Croatian Serb authorities and moved to a secondary location in early 1992 because the grave was so shallow that body parts protruded through the ground surface.

War crime trials.

In November 1995, the ICTY indicted Mrkšić, Šljivančanin and JNA captain Miroslav Radić for war crimes related to the Ovčara massacre. The group was subsequently termed the "Vukovar three" by the media. The ICTY also charged Dokmanović, mayor of Vukovar at the time, with war crimes in connection with the massacre in a sealed indictment in March 1996. He was arrested by UNTAES troops in Operation Little Flower and transferred to the ICTY via Čepin Airfield on 27 June 1997. The operation was the first arrest of a person indicted by the ICTY by any UN force in the former Yugoslavia. Dokmanović's trial never produced a verdict, however. He hanged himself in his ICTY prison cell on 28 June 1998, several days before a verdict was to be announced. The ICTY also linked Serb warlord Željko Ražnatović and his paramilitary formations to the massacre, but he was assassinated in Belgrade before he could be brought to trial.  Mrkšić surrendered to the ICTY in the Netherlands in May 2002. Radić and Šljivančanin were arrested in Serbia in May and June 2003 respectively. The arrests were made shortly before the expiration of a deadline set by the U.S. Congress linking financial assistance to Serbia to its cooperation with the ICTY. In 2007, the ICTY convicted Mrkšić and Šljivančanin, but acquitted Radić. Mrkšić received a 20-year prison sentence, while Šljivančanin was sentenced to five years in prison. In 2009, Šljivančanin's sentence was increased to 17 years in prison on appeal and finally reduced to ten years following a review of the judgment in 2010.  The ICTY also indicted Milošević, as well as Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović of the Serbian State Security Service, Croatian Serb political leader Goran Hadžić and the leader of the Serbian Radical Party Vojislav Šešelj for various war crimes, including those committed in Vukovar. Milošević's trial ended without any verdict upon his death in March 2006, while the Vukovar-related charges against Stanišić and Simatović were dropped from their indictments even before the pair were acquitted on all counts in 2013. In March 2016, Šešelj was acquitted on all counts, pending appeal. In 2018, he was convicted of hate speech for inciting the deportation of Croats from Hrtkovci in 1992, and sentenced to ten years imprisonment, but acquitted on all other counts, including those pertaining to Vukovar. Hadžić died of cancer in July 2016, before his trial could be completed. , Serbian authorities have convicted 15 people in connection with the Ovčara massacre. In 2010, Vujović and Stanko Vujanović (deputy commander of Croatian Serb TO in Vukovar) were convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison along with eleven others, all of them former members of the Croatian Serb TO or "Leva Supoderica". Predrag Milojević, Đorđe Šošić, Miroslav Đanković and Saša Radak were sentenced to 20 years in prison, Milan Vojnović and Ivan Antonijević were sentenced to 15 years in prison, Jovica Perić was sentenced to 13 years, Nada Kalaba was sentenced to 11 years, Milan Lančužanin was sentenced to seven, and Predrag Dragović and Goran Mugoša were given five-year prison sentences. In December 2013, these convictions were set aside by the Constitutional Court of Serbia and the case was returned to the Court of Appeals for a new trial. In February 2015, Vujović, Vujanović, Milojević, Radak, Šošić and Đanković were released from custody based on a decision of the Supreme Court of Cassation pending a retrial by the Court of Appeals. In a separate trial completed in 2014, Serbian authorities convicted and sentenced Petar Ćirić to 15 years in prison for participating in the massacre as a member of "Leva Supoderica". In February 2015, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the siege and ensuing massacre did not constitute genocide, though it confirmed that serious crimes had taken place.

Commemoration.

Since 1998, the victims of the Battle of Vukovar and the events that occurred in its immediate aftermath are commemorated annually on 18 November by a procession starting at the Vukovar hospital and reaching the city's memorial cemetery. In 2014, the event drew 80,000 participants. A monument sculpted by Slavomir Drinković that marks the site of the mass grave at Ovčara was unveiled on 30 December 1998. Monuments of the same design have subsequently been used to mark all the other mass graves from the Croatian War of Independence. The massacre itself has come to be referred to as the Vukovar massacre, the Ovčara massacre, or the Vukovar hospital massacre. It was by far the largest massacre committed during the Croatian War of Independence.  In 2006, the Ovčara Memorial Centre, designed by Miljenko Romić, opened at the site of the former Ovčara farm. The centre opened in a remodeled storage building where prisoners were held on 20 November 1991 before they were executed. The dim interior of the building, accessed through a glass-encased foyer, features illuminated photographs of 200 victims exhumed from the mass grave and the 61 missing who were executed at Ovčara. The concrete floor contains encased spent cartridges and the Spiral of Evil () sculpture displaying the names of 261 victims. The ceiling contains 261 lighting fixtures symbolising the number of victims. The centre also contains an exhibition of personal belongings and documents found in the mass grave. The completion of the centre was funded by the City of Zagreb at the cost of 2 million kuna ( 270,000 euro). By July 2014, the centre was visited by about 500,000 people. In the same year, Croatia launched an education programme which entails visits to the centre by eighth-grade pupils, and 50,000 pupils are scheduled to visit the centre annually. In 2010, Serbian President Boris Tadić visited the memorial centre and the mass grave site, as the first Serbian head of state to do so. He laid wreaths at the site and apologized on behalf of the Serbian state.  Several victims of the massacre are honoured individually in Vukovar. There is a monument honouring Kačić together with his father who was killed on 2 October 1991 during the Battle of Vukovar, a bridge in the city is named after Nicolier, and one of the city's schools is named after Glavašević.

The Vukovar massacre, also known as the Vukovar hospital massacre or the Ovčara massacre, was the killing of Croatian prisoners of war and civilians by Serb paramilitaries, to whom they had been turned over by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), at the Ovčara farm southeast of Vukovar on 20 November 1991, during the Croatian War of Independence. The massacre occurred shortly after Vukovar's capture by the JNA, Territorial Defence (TO), and paramilitaries from neighbouring Serbia. It was the largest massacre of the war and the worst war crime in Europe since World War II up until that point.

Masakr na farmě Ovčara (chorvatsky Masakr na Ovčari, nebo jen krátce Ovčara, v srbské cyrilici Масакр на Овчари) se odehrál v noci z 20. na 21. listopadu 1991 na farmě Ovčara nedaleko Vukovaru, nedlouho po Bitvě o Vukovar. Podle Mezinárodního tribunálu pro bývalou Jugoslávii se jednalo o válečný zločin. Za předání válečných zajatců srbským paravojenským formacím byli tribunálem obviněni a souzeni důstojníci Jugoslávské lidové armády. Zavražděno bylo cca 250–260 osob, mezi oběťmi byli jak příslušníci vojska, tak i civilisté.