Croatia Jews boycott WWII death camp memorial

Jews in Croatia on Friday snubbed a professional commemoration for the sufferers of the united states of America’s maximum notorious World War II dying camp accusing the government of putting up with pro-Nazi sentiments.

Jews, as well as ethnic Serbs and anti-fascists, had boycotted the occasion for three consecutive years earlier than rejoining it in 2020.

At the time they said they wanted to reveal harmony throughout the pandemic and start a conversation with authorities approximately lingering intolerance.

Last year a joint commemoration at the camp dubbed Croatia’s Auschwitz was not held due to the coronavirus crisis.

The camp, 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Zagreb, was run by the Nazi-allied Ustasha regime.

The Ustasha persecuted and killed hundreds of thousands of ethnic Serbs, Jews, Roma and anti-fascist Croatians.

The European Union country’s conservative government has faced criticism in recent years for failing to condemn the use of Ustasha slogans and historical revisionism among right-wingers.

The latest outrage was sparked this month when a government envoy who attended a ceremony to commemorate 1990s war paramilitaries, said Croatia “would not exist if there was no April 10, 1941”.

He was referring to the date when the Nazi-allied Independent State of Croatia was founded.

The government distanced itself from his statement while Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said Friday that the “inexperienced” envoy made a “grave mistake”.

“A clear condemnation of the crimes in Jasenovac is extremely important, not only for the victims but also for young people who have yet to become aware of what has happened in our history,” Plenkovic said at the ceremony marking the 77th anniversary of the camp’s closure.

Jews, who want the government to explicitly ban Ustasha symbols, will commemorate the camp’s victims next week.

Representatives of other persecuted groups accompanied top officials and laid wreaths at the striking flower-shaped monument Friday.

Jasenovac was the largest and most brutal of Croatia’s two dozen concentration camps, and where many inmates were killed with hammers, knives, and stones.

The general range of human beings slaughtered there, most of the people of whom were Serbs, remains disputed.

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum estimates the number of victims at a few one hundred,000.