Croatia's top state officials, leaders of ethnic minority groups and anti-fascist associations laid wreaths and flowers on Wednesday at the Jasenovac memorial in memory of the victims of the concentration camp run there by the World War II fascist Ustasha regime. Wednesday's remembrance ceremony also marked the 75th anniversary of the escape of some of the camp's inmates.
The Jasenovac concentration camp, run by the Nazi-aligned Ustasha regime operated from August 1941 to April 1945 and was used for killing ethnic Serbs, Jews, and Roma people as well as political prisoners.
The memorial centre built near the camp site has identified 83,145 victims who perished there, including 39,570 men, 23,474 women and 20,101 children aged up to 14 years.
In the final stages of the war, on the morning of April 22, 1945, the last remaining group of 600 inmates held there decided to break out of the camp. Only 92 inmates survived the escape.
Every year, top state officials and associations of ethnic Serbs, Jews, Roma, and anti-fascists, mark the anniversary of the escape.
From 2016 to 2019 ethnic minorities and antifascists boycotted the central state-sponsored remembrance ceremony and organised their own separate events instead, over what they said was the conservative government’s complacency in allowing hate speech and historical revisionism to spread by right-wing groups, which routinely downplay the scale of crimes committed at Jasenovac.
Former president, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who openly courted right-wing voters throughout her 2015-20 term, also avoided the central state-sponsored ceremonies since 2015. Instead, she opted for visiting the site on her own, without the press or official protocol present, later tweeting pictures from the site.
However, this year’s ceremony was attended by all three top state officials – Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Speaker of Parliament, Gordan Jandrokovic, and President Zoran Milanovic – and they together laid a wreath at the foot of the Stone Flower monument in memory of Jasenovac victims.
The head of the Jewish Community of Zagreb, Ognjen Kraus, the head of the Serb National Council advisory board, Milorad Pupovac, Roma minority MP, Veljko Kajtazi, and the head of the SABA association of anti-fascist fighters, Franjo Habulin, each laid a flower at the monument.
“I came to extend the hand of friendship and good will and to show that I’m prepared for serious talks on the situation in Croatia and the government’s attitude to history,” Kraus told reporters.
He said that although he saw some progress in the government’s attitude to historical revisionism, he was more interested in seeing tangible results, and mentioned issue of Ustashe-inspired insignia and slogans, which, although unconstitutional, is often tolerated in public.
“I’m more interested in results, in finally doing away with the issue of (right-wing) insignia, the issue of historical revisionism, and everything that disgraces this country, and I want us to finally start respecting its laws and constitution,” said Kraus, adding that he would not attend the state-sponsored commemoration next year if no concrete changes happen by then.
Kraus said that some progress has been made recently, and mentioned that the Education Ministry had included student visits to Jasenovac in official school curricula for this year.
