Banjaluka – The future generations need to know what happened to the Serbs, Jews and Roma in the Independent State of Croatia /NDH/ and today attention must be drawn to the latest occurrence of fascism in some countries in Europe, Arie Livne, the head of the Republika Srpska Representative Office in Israel, said on Monday.
Opening the 6th International Conference on Jasenovac in Banjaluka, Livne stated that the event is yet another attempt to tell the youth about the evil done against the Serbs, Jews and Roma in the concentration camp and that it should never be forgotten.
He stressed the duty of preventing the latest occurrence of fascism in certain European countries.
“All our thoughts and feelings go to the Serbian people affected by the floods and we are certain this catastrophe will blow over,” Livne said.
Vladimir Lukic, the head of the Association Jasenovac-Donja Gradina, which organised the event, stated that the conference was established “in order to create the truth about the crimes committed not only in Jasenovac but in other concentration camps in Croatia too.”
The conference will appeal to Serbia, Russia, Israel and Greece to adopt the previously prepared declaration on the crimes against Serbs, Jews and Roma, said Lukic.
The Serbs are not satisfied with the museum exhibition in Jasenovac, which is why they wish to remove a deadlock in designing the camp in Donja Gradina, added Lukic.
Bishop Jovan of Lipljan, who spoke on behalf of His Holiness Irinej, Serbian Patriarch, said that in the history of Serbs, there had never been a greater suffering than those in Jasenovac and in Kosovo Polje.
“The Serbian Church was the first to recognise that, even though everyone was silent about it for years. The time has come to describe and acknowledge the sufferings of Serbs,” Bishop Jovan said.
The conference in Banjaluka drew some 150 participants from Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia, the United States, Italy, Germany, Serbia, Croatia, Greece and Great Britain.
Other participants will include Srboljub Zivanovic, a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts /SANU/, academician Vasilije Krestic, as well as other prominent scientists from the country and abroad.
Due to the severe flooding in Srpska, the Monday conference will last only one day instead of the previously planned two days.
The Conference entitled “The Crime of Genocide of the Independent State of Croatia against Serbs, Jews and Roma in the Second World War” is held under the auspices of the president of Republika Srpska.(SRNA)
