The Croatian parliament started its session with a minute of silence to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day, while a delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milosevic and Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Korzinek laid wreaths at the Mirogoj Cemetery in the capital Zagreb.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic described the Holocaust as “one of the worst crimes in human history” and paid tribute to victims of Croatia’s World War II-era Nazi-allied Ustasha regime, which interned and killed Jews, Serbs, Roma and anti-fascists at camps like Jasenova
Dr. Ognjen Kraus, President of the Coordinating Committee of Jewish Communities in Croatia attended the ceremony at the Mirogoj Cemetery, to commemorate the darkest period in European civilisation”.
Dr. Kraus told reporters that Croatia is “still pretending to be anti-fascist” while maintaining the status quo, in which the symbols and slogans of the fascist Ustasha regime have not been banned.
He added that last year he was promised a meeting in September with Plenkovic about legal changes to outlaw the use of Ustasa symbolism, but the meeting has yet to take place.
Kraus told journalists that he had “less and less faith” that the meeting and the legal amendments will happen.
“But I haven’t given up on the meeting and I will keep trying. I am waiting for a clear answer to my question,” Kraus added.
