ZAGREB, 27 Jan 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday that on International Holocaust Remembrance Day one should also remember the infamous Ustasha concentration camps, primarily Jasenovac, where thousands of Jews, Serbs, Roma, and Croatian antifascists and democrats were killed.

"Jasenovac is a painful and tragic part of Croatian history, and a lasting memory and strong condemnation of that crime are part of our culture of remembrance," Plenković said at a cabinet meeting.

He said 7,500 Auschwitz inmates were liberated on 27 January 1945 and that 1.1 million people were killed in that concentration camp, including nearly a million Jews.

As the most infamous concentration camp, Auschwitz is synonymous with the most horrific crimes and the gravest suffering of the Jewish people as well as with the systematic destruction of other ethnic groups persecuted by the Nazi regime. 

Under that regime, the world witnessed the persecution and genocide of more than 11 million people in Europe since 1933, including six million Jews, of whom 1.5 million were children.

Those are horrifying numbers of one of the worst crimes in the history of humankind, Plenković said.

Intolerance and hate are increasingly present in the world and our society

Today tribute is also being paid to the 112 Croatian Righteous among the Nations who, with their courage and humanity, opposed evil and risked their own lives to save another.

The 2005 UN resolution which designated International Holocaust Remembrance Day rejects any Holocaust denial and unreservedly condemns all forms of religious intolerance, incitement, harassment, or violence against persons or communities on ethnic or religious grounds, Plenković said.

"The day when we remember the Holocaust victims is also the day when we should think about the world we live in, including the circumstances in Croatia," he said, adding that, unfortunately, intolerance, the denial of historical facts, discrimination, and hate speech are increasingly present in the world as well as in Croatian society.

"Those are bad and harmful trends and we should fight against them. Such rhetoric should be clearly condemned and the judicial authorities should punish it in line with the legislative framework. The victims we are remembering today are a reminder and a warning of the dimensions of evil which can come out of hate and totalitarian ideologies," Plenković said.

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ZAGREB, 27 Jan 2022 - The Croatian Parliament started its session on Thursday with a minute of silence for Holocaust victims, with Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković saying that the Holocaust had begun with hate speech and ended in acts of evil.

"The Holocaust is an eternal reminder of what kind of evil may result from xenophobia and racism," Jandroković said in his address for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is observed on 27 January.

On 27 January 1945, the Red Army liberated the largest Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz, the infamous symbol of the Holocaust and genocide of six million Jews in the Second World War.

"Monstrous crimes were committed in Auschwitz, which has remained a lasting symbol of places where people were systematically tortured and brutally killed just because they belonged to a particular ethnic group," Jandroković said.

He recalled the Jasenovac camp in Croatia where members of the pro-Nazi Ustasha regime had killed Jews, Roma, Serbs and Croats.

"Today we also remember the victims of other genocides and unspeakable crimes. We remember Vukovar, Škabrnja, Srebrenica and other places where innocent people were killed" during the wars of the 1990s, Jandroković said.

He also recalled that during the dark times of the Holocaust there had been people who had risked their own lives to save others.  Among them were 120 people from Croatia who have been named Righteous among the Nations, he added.

Jandroković said that the theme of this year's Holocaust Remembrance Day was "remembrance, dignity and justice", underlining the importance of showing respect for the victims, safeguarding the historical facts and fighting against their distortion.

"These are the preconditions to ensure that justice is served and to prevent a repetition of such crimes in the future. The Holocaust is an eternal reminder of what kind of evil may result from xenophobia and racism," Jandroković said.

He said that the present, fast-changing world is facing a pandemic, natural disasters and an economic crisis, along with the increase in fake news, misinformation, hate speech, xenophobia, racism and intolerance on social networks. "That is contrary to the values of peace and freedom, inviolability of human dignity, equality and respect for human and minority rights."

Jandroković said that the messages for International Holocaust Remembrance Day remind us that we can overcome hatred and evil through individual and collective efforts and remain committed to safeguarding the historical truths and the dignity of every person. He stressed the importance of fostering the culture of remembrance and spreading messages of peace, solidarity and acceptance of others.