Jasenovac Concentration Camp Victims Commemorated

Croatian President Ivo Josipovic said that atrocities inflicted by Croatians  should never be repeated whilst speaking at the 68th commemoration for those killed at the Jasenovac Concentration Camp during World War II.

“A poet said, “When a man dies, the world should stop”. Here 83,300 suffered and were killed. Everyone of them had a name and a surname, we remember them at this place and never anywhere should this evil that happened here be repeated. Unfortunately in this evil Croatians took part. But far more were Croatian anti-fascists who opposed evil and many Croats were prisoners in this camp,” said Josipovic on Sunday at Jasenovac.

The commemoration, held 3 weeks after the traditional date due to floods in Jasenovac in April, was also attended by Croatian parliament president Josip Leko and Labour Minister Mirando Mrsic.

Jasenovac was the only concentration camp that was not operated by the Germans during World War II and was among the largest camps in Europe.The camp was established by the governing Ustase regime in August 1941 in marshland at the confluence of the Sava and Una rivers near the village of Jasenovac in eastern Croatia. The majority of victims were ethnic Serbs, whom the Ustase wanted to remove from the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), along with the Jews and Roma peoples.