President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic visited the Jasenovac Memorial Site on Saturday and laid white roses at the Stone Flower monument to the victims of the WWII concentration camp, continuing her custom of doing so a day before the official commemoration.

“In our homeland, World War Two still brings out painful memories of the numerous victims. By laying a wreath in memory of the victims of the Jasenovac camp and staying in silence by this stone flower, I pay my the deepest respect for all the victims who were killed in the camp,” the president wrote in the memorial book.

“Let this always be only a place of respect, but also a place which will warn us how important it is to raise young generations for peace, unity and solidarity among people and nations. We can’t change the past, but we can build the future in a better way for a more beautiful and more humane life of all the people in Croatia and around the world.”

Instead of the president, her chief of staff Anamarija Kirinic will attend Sunday’s commemoration with representatives of the government and parliament.

A commemoration was also held on Friday, in memory of the breakout of the Jasenovac inmates, organised by ethnic minority associations and anti-fascists who, for the fourth year in a row, honoured the victims of the Ustasha regime separately from state officials.