The commemoration was organised by the Croatian Alliance of Antifascist Fighters and Antifascists (SABA).

Josipovic said it must never be forgotten that the antifascists and the Partisans had put Croatia on the winners' side in World War Two and provided for the national survival of Croats and Croatian statehood during the former Yugoslavia and in present-day Croatia.

Josipovic said he was saddened by discussions aimed at downplaying the significance of antifascism and part of recent Croatian history, when the political scene was dominated by tendencies to downplay the merits of antifascism. He added such ideas had no future and that the Croatian constitution said it best - antifascism is indeed the foundation of the Croatian constitution.

"Every time we think about Croatia's political history and future, we think about the legacy of antifascism, without which there is no modern and European Croatia," he said, adding that those disinclined towards antifascism often referred to the European declaration condemning communist crimes.

We all condemn all crimes, including those committed in the name of communism, said Josipovic.

Every crime is a crime, but comparing antifascism with communist crimes is a big injustice, he said, adding this was no coincidence.

There are those who would like antifascism to disappear from the list of fundamental values, but this will not happen, said Josipovic.

He said that if the president had executive powers, antifascism would be recognised as the father of the 1991-95 Homeland War at every level.

Josipovic said he would renovate demolished monuments, as some were important works of art, and give Zagreb back May 8th Street, saying that was an important date in Croatian history, when Zagreb conclusively finished with the pro-Nazi government then in power in a part of Croatia.

Parliament Speaker Luka Bebic said the antifascist struggle of the Croatian people and part of the ethnic minorities had done Croatia proud, adding that the sovereign Croatian state was founded on antifascism as well.

Recalling the time when Nazi Germany began its invasions, Bebic pointed to the role and significance of the first military unit in the fight against Nazism and fascism in Europe, established in Brezoviza forest near Sisak on 22 June 1941. He said that uprising was a link to the Homeland War as the continuation of the struggle against the sophisticated fascism that had started emerging in the former Yugoslavia.

Antifascism means democracy, freedom, tolerance, solidarity and fighting every extremism, said Bebic.

SABA vice president Josip Skupnjak criticised the downplaying of the antifascist struggle in school books and opposed attacks on veterans' rights.