Representatives of the state leadership, ethnic minorities, antifascists and surviving inmates on Sunday paid tribute to the victims of the WWII Ustasha-run Jasenovac concentration camp, on the occasion of the 79th anniversary of the breakout of its last inmates.

The participants in the commemoration walked to the Jasenovac Memorial Centre on a pathway made of wooden sleepers from the railway that was used to transport inmates to the concentration camp, and laid flowers at the Stone Flower monument there.

Attending the event were Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic, and President Zoran Milanovic’s envoy Orsat Miljenić, as well as representatives of the Roma and Serb minorities, the SABA association of antifascist fighters and antifascists, members of the victims’ families and surviving inmates.

Also attending were other guests, diplomats and representatives of political parties and state and local institutions.

Representatives of the Coordinating Committee of Jewish Communities did not attend the state-sponsored commemoration but laid a wreath before its start, as did the leading officials of the Social Democratic Party and the We Can! party.

Excerpts of the surviving inmates’ testimonies were read out at the event and prayers were said on behalf of the Serb Orthodox, Jewish, Roman Catholic and Muslim believers.

Prime Minister Plenkovic also laid a wreath at a memorial plaque at the nearby Uštica Roma cemetery. He was accompanied by his deputy Anja Šimpraga and several government ministers as well as his special advisor Sara Lustig.

In the early morning of 22 April 1945, the remaining 600 inmates embarked on a breakout from the Jasenovac camp in which the Ustasha authorities imprisoned and killed people on religious, ethnic or ideological grounds. About 100 inmates survived the breakout. The other inmates, who were unable to participate in it due to exhaustion or disease, were killed and burned together with the camp.

The concentration camp existed for 1,337 days. The Jasenovac Memorial Site public institution has collected the names and data of 83,145 persons killed, including 47,627 Serbs, 16,173 Roma and 13,116 Jews. Among those killed were 39,570 men, 23,474 women and 20,101 children under 14. Among the victims were also political prisoners – Croats, Bosniaks, Slovenians and members of other ethnic groups.