The Croatian political leadership - President Ivo Josipovic, Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic and Parliament Speaker Boris Sprem - said at a commemoration in the Jasenovac memorial centre on Sunday that crimes in Jasenovac must neither be forgotten nor denied, stressing that fascist ideas could no longer find a fertile ground in Croatia.
The commemoration was held to mark the 67th anniversary of the breakout of inmates from the camp on 22 April 1945, during which only some of inmates survived the revolt and escape attempt.
Jasenovac was established by the Ustasha regime and operated from August 1941 to April 1945.
President Josipovic said it was necessary to identify everyone who wanted to deny crimes and who advocated hate and suffering in the name of the nation.
He added that textbooks today did not include the full truth about WWI.
Josipovic warned that lessons were often not drawn from such tragic events and that movements aimed at destroying humanity, freedom and democracy were always emerging.
The media are often broadcasting shows in which the past was being revised, adding that this could change our future too.
He, however stressed that our future would not be changed because Croatia had many wise and honest people. Fascist, Nazi and Ustasha ideas will never again find a fertile ground in Croatia, Josipovic underlined.
Prime Minister Milanovic said the main objective of commemorative events like this one was not to hold political speeches but to teach children though textbooks what really happened, so that they could know the truth.
Parliament Speaker Sprem said nobody could neglect the victims of Jasenovac which was a death camp, stressing that those crimes must be condemned in the strongest terms.
Sprem said the Ustasha movement was not working in the interest of people or Croatia, adding that it was formed to promote is own interest. Facing one's own past is necessary, even if the past is unpleasant, Sprem said.
Over 80,000 people of whom 20,000 were children, were killed in the Jasenovac camp and nobody today can deny that, Sprem said adding that although the victims were mostly Jews, Serbs and the Roma the so-called pro-Croat regime did not flinch from detaining and killing Croatians only because they opposed the Ante Pavelic regime and the Ustasha movement.
One people cannot be branded as genocidal as the guilt is individual and the present-day generation is not responsible for the crimes committed in Jasenovac. However, all of us in Croatia have the responsibility to never allow racially, religiously, nationally and ideologically-motivated crimes to happen again, Sprem said.
Apart from speeches the commemoration also included prayers, and a wreath-laying ceremony.
According to the latest figures which the head of the Jasenovac memorial centre, Katica Sedmak, today presented, 81,988 people had so far been identified as victims of that camp.
Dozens of inmates survived the breakout on 22 April 1945.
