President Milanović Pays Tribute to Jasenovac Victims: “I regret that there was no joint commemoration”
On the 76th anniversary of the breakout of the last remaining inmates from Jasenovac Concentration Camp, the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović paid tribute to the victims of the camp by laying a flower and a pebble at the Stone Flower Monument.
The delegation of the President of the Republic was composed of former Croatian Presidents Stjepan Mesić and Ivo Josipović, former Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, representatives of the Association of Homeland War Veterans and Antifascists (VeDRA), Head of the Office of the President of the Republic Orsat Miljenić and Adviser to the President of the Republic for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Mulić.
After paying tribute, President Milanović told members of the press: “This was an Ustasha-run camp, and the Ustasha were Croats, and since I am a Croat I cannot say that it does not concern me. Seventy-six years ago there was a breakout of inmates here led by Ante Bakotić, who cried ‘Onward comrades!’ About a hundred people saved themselves, the rest were killed. This was a controversial place and still is,” the President pointed out. He also commented on the number of inmates killed, saying that one side was exaggerating by claiming that 750,000 people had been killed here. “This is completely impossible and damages, above all, the truth, and also the Serbian people. Unfortunately, this was the official historiography during the time of Yugoslavia. I used to come here as a high school student and they told us the same thing. Even then, I realized that this could not have been the case, especially because the truth was already beginning to emerge, which is also dire, but a little different – that almost a hundred thousand people were killed here, which is a lot.”
President Milanović mentioned the movie “Dara of Jasenovac” in his statements to the press. “Many Croats watched it. It was made according to a stolen script by Lordan Zafranović, cheaply and unconvincingly. This approach points to the exact opposite of what the authors wanted to convey. They wanted to say that 700,000 people were killed here, but the way in which they portrayed the functioning of the camp leads me to conclude that a few thousand people were killed here and that it was all about someone’s savagery on a whim,” said the President.
“We just can’t turn the corner with this place. One year after a joint commemoration here, we are now paying tribute separately. I didn’t bring a wreath; I brought a rose and a pebble. I regret that there was no joint commemoration; it’s not a matter of whether we are pretending or not. One who is a statesman must be willing to show emotion, fury and anger if justified, but also not pretend and rather act in line with what is expected. What I heard were very flimsy, lame excuses,” said President Milanović.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Dario Andrišek