Remembering the victims of Ustasha genocide
A memorial day for the victims of the Jasenovac camp, where 700,000 Serbs, Jews, Roma and anti-fascists were killed. At the event, organized by the governments of the Republics of Srpska and Serbia, it was announced that a joint Memorial Center was to be built in memory of victims of the Jasenovac Golgotha.
-This is a sufficient crime for all people to the end of the world and time, but the spirit of the Ustasha is, unfortunately, still alive, was a message from Donja Gradina, Bosnia, which is a part of the concentration system “Jasenovac”, Croatia. Serbian Patriarch Irinej reminded also of the fact that within a period of longer than four years more people were murdered in Jasenovac than the Turks had killed during the hundreds of years of their rule in this region.
– There is a big discussion about the number of victims. Nevertheless, the most objective researcher-workers argue that the number of the victims overpassed one million and more, Serbian Patriarch Irinej indicated. The Jasenovac victims are symbols of martyrdom, which has not been noticed in the history of civilization.
– No air, no water, no sanitary facilities, the darkest darkness and despair. The father is next to his son, holding him by the hand; the boy is suffocating because of lack of air and thirst, says Isak Asiel, the chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community in Serbia.
– The Ustasha executioners destroyed lives of these people without counting them. That is why we do not know today, as His Holiness says, how many people, whose mother tongue is the language of this prayer, fell on these and surrounding murder places, was emphasized by Mr. Dragoljub Ackovic, a member of the World Parliament of the Roma.
Israeli historian Gideon Graff, author of the encyclopedia Jasenovac – Auschwitz of the Balkans, said that by researching the archives he came to the conclusion that Jasenovac was more brutal than Auschwitz.
– We gathered today to raise voice against wars, monstrous war crimes, and to raise awareness of the challenges that humanity is facing today, and especially against revisionism and its dangerous consequences, said Mr. Graff.
The so-called Independent State of Croatia was a product of fascism. More than 70 years have passed since the Jasenovac crime, but this sacred place has been visited only within the last decades.
Unfortunately, for many earlier decades, not enough attention was paid to the crime itself, the massiveness of the crime that had happened, and all the fears that were related to execution, how the people were killed and how they disappeared. But in recent years, we have shown respect for this place in this way, said the President of the Republic of Srpska, Ms. Zeljka Cvijanovic.
And a humble respect will be expressed also by the Memorial Center, which will be jointly built by the Governments of Serbia and Serbia.
– The Government of the Republic of Srpska and the Government of Serbia will plan, design and execute works on the construction of a monumental Memorial Center that will permanently mark the suffering of Serbs in this area, i.e. in the area of Gradina, It will be not only a memory place, but also a place of peace, stressed Mr. Milorad Dodik, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Hercegovina.
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said that it is necessary to fight against all the efforts to twist out the history and to relativize one of the most serious crimes.
-Therefore, we are going invest significant funds in the reconstruction and construction of the Memorial Center of Donja Gradina at personal commitment and initiative of the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. And this will just be the beginning of refreshing our memory and respect, because we owe it to all the innocent victims, Prime Minister of Serbia Ana Brnabic said.
– The Government of Republika Srpska together with the Government of Serbia will do its best to build a complex in Donja Gradina that will teach our children, our generations, about what was happening here. This will send a message that this is the only camp, perhaps in the world, but certainly in Europe, where there was a camp for children as well, Prime Minister of the Serbian Republic Radovan Viskovic said.
US Ambassador to Bosnia and Hercegovina Erik Nelson pointed out that he had to learn about the past and that revisionism was of no use.
Numerous delegations laid wreaths in Donja Gradina, and the best student literary and art works, dedicated to the Jasenovac Golgotha, were awarded.
— Source: RTRS (translated into English by Information Service of the SOC) & Serbian Orthodox Church
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