June 21st, 2021 - The deputy leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Siniša Hajdaš Dončić, and the head of the Alliance of Antifascist Fighters and Antifascists (SABA), Franjo Habulin, have welcomed Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's decision to attend the commemoration of Antifascist Struggle Day on Tuesday.
"I haven't seen him there for the past six or seven years. We'll see whether there will be a specific discourse of the ruling party concerning the legacy of antifascism in Croatia, which we must foster because it was because of the antifascist movement that Croatia ended up on the right side after the Second World War," Hajdaš Dončić told reporters after an SDP delegation laid wreaths at the Tomb of National Heroes in Zagreb's Mirogoj Cemetery on Monday.
He said he hoped that this would also lead to a better attitude towards history and the monuments commemorating the antifascist struggle during the Second World War, many of which have been devastated. "Some people here find it hard to accept that Croatia won in the Second World War," Hajdaš Dončić said.
Asked what prompted the prime minister's decision, Hajdaš Dončić said he did not know. "We'll see tomorrow. If he continues that, I welcome and commend his move," he said.
President Zoran Milanović will also attend the commemoration of Antifascist Struggle Day in Brezovica Forest, outside Sisak, on Tuesday.
Commenting on the prime minister's decision, SABA president Franjo Habulin recalled last year's adoption of the new law on national holidays and memorial days, which says that events marking national holidays are organized by the Government, Parliament, and the President of the Republic.
"Given that the government organizes the Antifascist Struggle Day ceremony, I think the prime minister felt the need to be there," Habulin said, noting that the ceremony would mark the 80th anniversary of the formation of the first Partisan detachment, the first armed unit formed at the beginning of the Second World War in the territory of Croatia and the former Yugoslavia.
He said that over the last 30 years, many problems had accumulated regarding the attitude towards antifascism, Croatia's antifascist history, and monuments commemorating antifascist fighters.
"Prime Minister Plenković obviously thinks that certain processes should be stopped and that problems that have accumulated in the last 30 years should be addressed. I think his attendance in Brezovica is a step in that direction," Habulin said.
Delegations of the Government, Parliament, and the City of Zagreb also laid wreaths in Mirogoj Cemetery on the occasion of Antifascist Struggle Day, which is observed on 22 June.
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