JASENOVAC

Memorial service for Ustasha camp victims

At a memorial service to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the uprising of the camp inmates from the Ustasha concentration camp of Jasenovac, on Sunday, April 18, was attended by the Croatian state administration and many delegations of Embassies in Zagreb, laid wreaths at the memorial plaque.

 

More than a thousand people, former inmates and their family members, antifascist fighters and citizens applauded the messages against fascist crimes that were - despite the current conflict over President's statements in Bosnia and Herzegovina - sent uniquely by all the speakers: former President Stjepan Mesić, the honorary chairman of the Croatian Association of Antifascist Fighters, Vladimir Šeks, envoy of the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor and President Ivo Josipović.

 

Former president Stjepan Mesić singled out Croatia media for revising the history, in which antifascism is identified with communism, and communism with crimes, and he also said that the street name May 8, 1945, should be given back to a street in Zagreb, after the historic day of victory over fascism.

 

Prime Minister Kosor reminded that Croatia was created on foundations of antifascism
"on which it strives to build its European future''. She also paid tribute to all victims of the Ustasha crimes and those who had been killed at this horrific place because of their ethnicity, religion or the courage to resist fascism. She emphasised that she condemns any attempt to diminish the importance of crimes committed in Jasenovac.

 

Welcomed with the applause and approval I. Josipović said that the antifascists are the ones who had brought Croatia honour and victory in World War II:

- It is our duty to remember antifascists, to pay tribute to them, but not only when we commemorate specific crimes, but in everyday life as well, to remember them when we write school books, when we organize the pension system or restore the monuments which proudly represent our antifascist history. Crime has no justification or reciprocity. No crime can be morally or legally justified by another crime. It should always be borne in mind when assessing the evil that happened here at Jasenovac, as well as other horrific camps - President Josipović said.

 

Israeli Ambassador Yosef Amrani, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Israel, in accordance with the Jewish traditions laid a stone on a memorial plaque, and wreaths were laid by delegations of Embassies of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Finland, Sweden, France, Italy, Macedonia, Netherlands, Norway, Germany , Poland, Romanian, United States, Serbia, Spain, Great Britain, Russia, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.

 

PHOTO GALLERY:

 

Prime Minister Kosor and President Josipović - despite their conflict, unanimously condemned fascism

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Delegation of Swedish, Finnish and French Embassies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

H.E. Manuel Salazar, Ambassador of Spain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

H.E. James B. Foley, American Ambassador paying respects to the victims of Jasenovac

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apostolic Nuncio H.E. Monsg. Mario Cassari followed with interest the speeches given by the Croatian state leadership as well as the people's reactions