A commemoration was held on Sunday in the Jasenovac memorial centre in tribute to victims of the WW II camp which Ustasha ran in that Croatian town from 1941 to 1945. The commemorative event with top Croatian officials attending it was held today marking the 66th anniversary of the breakout of inmates from that concentration camp on 22 April 1945.
Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said in her speech that after the Second World War it had been believed that it was impossible to repeat atrocities such had been perpetrated in WW II.
Unfortunately, Vukovar, Srebrenica and other places have forced us to encounter scenes of destruction, aggression and endless hatred, the Croatian premier said.
Paying respects to the victims we show our belief in the life and gratitude to all who have made it possible for us to live in freedom, Kosor said.
Anti-Fascism and the rejection of any totalitarianism are in the foundations of the democratic and independent Croatian state just as victories in the Homeland Defence War which was a just , defensive and liberating war, she said.
Croatian Parliament Speaker Luka Bebic said that it was difficult to grasp the terror and suffering which victims of this camp felt as well as the hatred of perpetrators of those horrendous crimes. One should relentlessly insist on searching for full truth and establishing historical facts, he added.
In order to ensure that Croatia remains a haven of peace, freedom, democracy, equality and tolerance, we must not allow that crimes, no matter who committed them, go unpunished, Bebic said.
President Ivo Josipovic said that commemorations in observance of the breakout showed respect for the surviving inmates and those who were killed in inhumane acts.
He said that the truth about the Jasenovac camp should never be downplayed and that the truth was the strongest weapon.
Josipovic recalled that people had been executed in Jasenovac only because they were Serbs, Jews or Roma or members of other ethnic groups and that Croatian anti-Fascists were also killed there.
However, the Croatian people together with other people were victors in that anti-Fascist struggle whose legacy was also seen in the Homeland Defence War, he added.
A majority of the Croatians have never accepted the Nazi ideology and the Ustasha regime, he stressed reiterating that crime such was the Jasenovac camp must never again happen.
According to the latest figures which the head of the Jasenovac memorial centre, Katica Sedmak, today presented, 81,988 people had so far been identified as victims of that camp.
Dozens of inmates survived the breakout on 22 April 1945.
Wreath-laying ceremonies and prayers were also held today.
