Presidents Zoran Milanovic of Croatia and Natasa Pirc Musar of Slovenia paid tribute on the island of Rab on Saturday to the victims of the Italian fascist concentration camp Kampor, calling for everyone to face with their past, whatever it was like, and to fight so that evil in man does not prevail.

Marking the 80th anniversary of its liberation, the two presidents laid a joint wreath for the victims of one of the most infamous Italian concentration camps in WWII.

Milanovic said he was here before with then-Slovenian president Borut Pahor, but the president of Italy was not with them, adding that he hopes Italy’s next president will have the will and the interest to attend a commemoration.

He warned about the importance of controlling evil in man. “The power of control and self-control not to allow the evil that exists in every man to prevail, that is actually the only essential task of every human community and modern policy, controlling evil in man. All else is decoration.”

Milanović wondered who those Italian officers were, what they thought and felt when looking in silence at people dying before their eyes.

The Kampor camp became a death camp when people started dying uncontrollably, women and children, and that is the banality of the evil of those watching, he said.

At a later stage, Jews were brought to the camp and like the Slavs, they were treated as things because, among other things, they sought their human realisation by belonging to a nation, Slovenian or Croatian, he added.

The horrible year of the camp’s operation did not end with its liberation but with Italy’s capitulation, and this place is a reminder of the banality of human evil, constantly present, lurking, Milanović said.

“The 15,000 people who passed through here is quite a lot, but also quite a few to remind us of that,” he said, adding that talking about numbers is always the biggest trap.

He mentioned the Jasenovac concentration camp in WWII Croatia, a matter of dispute between Belgrade and Zagreb because of the number of its victims.

“That many people even today, less or equally, are dying in Ukraine, on both sides, and we are watching it, slowly getting used to it, and that has nothing to do with human kindness either, it’s become a way of life,” Milanović said, adding that “when humanity turns into analytics, into the disposal and explanation of numbers, that means that humankind needs to take a deep breath and wonder where we are going.”

For our future, said Pirc Musar, it’s very important not to forget the suffering of our ancestors, but first and foremost the historical facts and testimonies about past events and the brutal acts of Fascism and Nazism.

“We must all face our past, glorious or inglorious. We can’t change it. Glorious days and great people we can celebrate, inglorious acts and crimes against humanity we must regret and condemn every day so that we never forget them,” she added.

It’s our duty to transfer positive values to young people, she said, adding that she is glad that Slovenia, together with Croatia, has started to renovate the Kampor memorial park and military cemetery. Thereby both countries have proved they are aware of how painful and harmful those events from the shared history were, she added.

The Kampor camp was opened by fascist Italy in July 1942. People from occupied and annexed Croatian and Slovenian territories were brought there. About 15,000 were detained there, including 1,200 children, mainly Croats from the Gorski Kotar region, Slovenians and Jews. Over 1,000 people died of starvation and the rough living conditions in the camp.

The camp was closed in September 1943, after the capitulation of fascist Italy. A memorial park was built there in 1953, a project by Slovenian architect Edvard Ravnikar.