President Zoran Milanovic on Friday visited the site of the WWII Jasenovac concentration camp to mark the 77th anniversary of the 1945 breakout of prisoners there. Pročitaj više

The breakout was made on the morning of 22 April 1945 by the last 600 prisoners held there. Only about 100 survived the escape.

The Jasenovac Memorial Centre has documented the names and details of 83,145 people killed at Jasenovac where the Nazi-allied Croatian Ustasha regime had run the camp for 1,337 days during World War II. Most of victims listed were ethnic Serbs (47,627), Roma (16,173) and Jews (13,116).

During his commemorative event held at 9 am, Milanovic laid flowers and pebbles in front of the memorial centre monument, titled Stone Flower. Milanovic visited the site separately from the official state-sponsored event attended by government officials.

Jewish community had previously said they would eschew the state ceremony and hold their own remembrance event on 28 April, coinciding with the Holocaust Remembrance Day, in sign of protest against the government’s reluctance to outlaw the glorification of the Ustasha regime and their insignia, often used by far-right groups and individuals.

Anti-fascist groups, and associations of ethnic Serbs and ethnic Roma, decided to join the state-sponsored event.

On Thursday, commenting on his plans to visit Jasenovac separately, Milanovic said he would go there with his aides rather than with government officials, whom he accused of encouraging Ustasha-related outbursts “and then pretending to be liberals.” Milanovic said he would join the Jewish community in its separate commemorative event on 28 April.