(ANSA-AP) - ZAGREB, 12 APR - Jewish, Serb, anti-fascist and
Roma groups came together Friday to commemorate the victims of a
World War II death camp in Croatia, boycotting upcoming official
ceremonies for the fourth year in a row over what they say is
government inaction over neo-Nazi sentiments in the country.
Hundreds gathered in silence at the memorial center at
Jasenovac to pay their respects to the tens of thousands of
people killed in death camps run by Croatia's pro-Nazi puppet
state. Commemorations mark the attempted escape in April 1945 of
1,073 prisoners from the Jasenovac camp when hundreds were
killed.
Though the Croatian government will hold a separate
commemoration ceremony on Sunday, minority and anti-fascist
groups have snubbed an invitation to attend and criticized the
authorities' failure to prosecute those downplaying the crimes
of the Ustasha regime in WWII.
"Nothing has changed in the past year, the situation is even
worse," the head of Croatia's Jewish Community, Ognjen Kraus,
said in Jasenovac. "The extreme right is getting stronger and
more aggressive." Kraus said a recent march of a right-wing
group in the coastal Croatian town of Split and the continued
use by some of the notorious salute used by the pro-Nazi Ustasha
troops during WWII were examples of the government;s failure to
punish the promoters of right-wing ideology. "It is time to move
from words to deeds," said Kraus. "It should be clearly stated
that crimes and the Holocaust took place here in Croatia and
that those who deny it must bear the consequences."
The Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights, Dunja
Mijatovic, and several foreign ambassadors also attended the
commemoration. "There are politicians and public figures in
Croatia who minimize the responsibility of perpetrators, glorify
them or outright deny the occurrence of past crimes," Mijatovic
warned. "The history of Jasenovac shows very clearly why this is
a very dangerous road. Historical revisionism should have no
place in today's Europe." (ANSA-AP).
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