ZAGREB, 24 April 2022 - A group of Roma killed in the village of Hrastina by Ustasha units in the night between 24 and 25 April 1945 was commemorated for the first time at the Marija Gorica cemetery on Sunday.
The commemoration was organised by the Kali Sara association of Roma in Croatia, which also refurbished the memorial in cooperation with the Marija Gorica municipality and Roma MP Veljko Kajtazi.
He said one of the biggest Ustasha crimes against Roma and Sinti was committed here at the time of the Nazi-styled Independent State of Croatia and that little was known and talked about it until now.
It was long thought and misinterpreted that the victims were Jews from Germany and Austria, and that the crime was committed by the SS, Kajtazi said. But the crime was committed by Ustasha units from Jasenovac, he added.
"By refurbishing the memorial, we wish to acquaint the public with the historical facts and the tragedy of the Roma during WWII", Kajtazi said.
"The Nazi policy against Roma and Jews resulted in their systematic persecution in these parts, which we must always remember so that it never happens again", he added.
"We have the moral obligation and the political duty to commemorate with dignity all victims of Ustasha crimes and to stamp out everywhere any trace of Nazism and the exclusion of others on ethnic grounds", Kajtazi said.
"This refers in particular to the victims who were anonymous or forgotten until now, such as the 43 Roma killed in Hrastina", he said, adding that the plan was to exterminate an entire people.
The president of the SABA association of antifascists and antifascist fighters, Franjo Habulin, said the truth needed repeating so that it was not forgotten, and that today were being honoured innocent people killed by Ustasha criminals, a regime, he warned, said to have been an aspiration of Croatian citizens.
"But it was not nor could it have been, he said, adding that the victims were innocent people due to a racial law according to which some did not have the right to live."
"It is therefore our duty to keep remembering them so that the darkness of historical revisionism of the past 30 years does not cover them up", Habulin said.
"The people we are honouring as well as many others gave their tomorrow for our today, let's be grateful to them and respect their sacrifice", he added.
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