CROATIA COMMEMORATES TRAGIC EVENTS OF WORLD WAR II

UNCLAS ZAGREB 001074 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV HR SUBJECT: CROATIA COMMEMORATES TRAGIC EVENTS OF WORLD WAR II SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. ON MAY 11, COMMEMORATION CEREMONIES WERE HELD BOTH AT THE JASENOVAC CONCENTRATION CAMP IN CROATIA AND SEPARATELY IN BLEIBURG, AUSTRIA. PRESIDENT STJEPAN MESIC STIRRED UP CONTROVERSY IN JASENOVAC, WHERE TENS OF THOUSANDS -- MOSTLY SERBS, JEWS, AND ROMA -- PERISHED AT THE HANDS OF THE USTASHE REGIME. MESIC APOLOGIZED NOT JUST FOR THESE CRIMES, BUT FOR "ALL" CROATIAN CRIMES, INCLUDING BY IMPLICATION THOSE COMMITTED IN THE MORE RECENT WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. ON THE SAME DAY, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER SIMONIC LEAD A CROATIAN DELEGATION TO BLEIBURG FOR A COMMEMORATION OF THE SLAUGHTER OF USTASHE AND NAZI TROOPS AND CIVILIANS BY PARTISAN FORCES IN THE WANING DAYS OF WORLD WAR II. END SUMMARY. JASENOVAC -------------- ¶2. ON MAY 11, THE DCM LAID A WREATH AT THE ANNUAL COMMEMORATION AT THE JASENOVAC CONCENTRATION CAMP. THIS YEAR'S COMMEMORATION WAS HELD IN MEMORY OF AN ATTEMPTED BREAK OUT IN 1945 WHEN 1,100 INMATES WERE KILLED. ¶3. STJEPAN MESIC, PRESIDENT OF CROATIA, ATTENDED THE COMMEMORATION FOR THE FIRST TIME AND DELIVERED THE KEYNOTE ADDRESS. MESIC POINTEDLY APOLOGIZED FOR ALL CROATIAN CRIMES. HE EXPRESSED DEEP REGRET FOR "ALL THE INNOCENT VICTIMS WHO DIED, FROM THOSE WHO ABUSED THE IDEA OF THE CROATIAN STATE AND USED IT AS AN ALIBI FOR MURDERS, ROBBERIES, AND PERSECUTIONS." ¶4. MODERATE MEMBERS OF THE RULING COALITION PRAISED THE PRESIDENTS REMARKS AND APOLOGY, WHILE RIGHT-WING POLITICIANS TOOK OFFENSE. ZELJKO GLAVAN, AN HSLS MP, SAID CRIMINALS MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE, BUT "ONE SHOULD NOT APOLOGIZE FOR SOMEONE ELSE'S CRIMES." JADRANKA KOSOR, DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE RIGHT-WING HDZ, OUTRIGHT REJECTED "MESSAGES THAT EVERYBODY SHOULD APOLOGIZE TO EVERYBODY." NENAD CANAK, PRESIDENT OF THE VOJVODINA ASSEMBLY (SERBIA),CALLED MESIC'S MESSAGE "EXTREMELY WISE," AND ADDED THAT SUCH "SYMBOLIC GESTURES...ARE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT IN ORDER TO BUILD THE FUTURE WITHOUT BURDENS." ¶5. A TELEGRAM FROM PRIME MINISTER IVICA RACAN WAS ALSO READ AT THE COMMEMORATION. RACAN URGED THAT THE VICTIMS BE REMEMBERED AND STRESSED THE NEED "TO PREVENT THE REOCCURRENCE OF SUCH HORRORS WHICH ONE HUMAN BEING CAN DO TO ANOTHER ONLY IF HE OR SHE STARTS BELIEVING THAT HE OR SHE IS BETTER THAN OTHERS." ¶6. AMONG THE ESTIMATED THREE THOUSAND ATTENDEES WERE MEMBERS OF THE DIPLOMATIC COMMUNITY, A GOC AND PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION, EX-INMATES FROM THE CAMP, PARTISAN FIGHTERS FROM WORLD WAR II, SERBIAN, JEWISH, AND ROMA DELEGATIONS, AND SULEJMAN TIHIC, A MEMBER OF THE BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA COLLECTIVE PRESIDENCY. ¶7. JASENOVAC, A SMALL TOWN TWO HOURS DRIVE TO THE EAST OF ZAGREB, LIES ON THE SAVA RIVER BORDER WITH BOSNIA. DURING WORLD WAR II THE FASCIST REGIME OF ANTE PAVELIC ESTABLISHED A SERIES OF WORK AND TRANSIT CAMPS IN THE AREA. THOUSANDS OF SERBS, JEWS, ROMA, AND ANTI-FASCIST CROATS LOST THEIR LIVES IN THE CAMPS. BLEIBURG COMMEMORATION -------------- ¶8. ALSO ON MAY 11, A COMMEMORATION WAS HELD IN BLEIBURG, AUSTRIA IN TRIBUTE TO THE SOLDIERS AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE WORLD WAR II USTASHE GOVERNMENT, NAZI TROOPS AND CIVILIANS, WHO WERE KILLED EN MASS BY PARTISAN FORCES AFTER THEY FLED CROATIA IN THE WANING DAYS OF THE WAR AND WERE TURNED BACK BY ALLIED TROOPS IN AUSTRIA. SENIOR OFFICIALS PRESENT INCLUDED DEPUTY SPEAKERS OF PARLIAMENT BALTAZAR JALSOVEC AND IVICA KOSTOVIC, AND DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER ANTE SIMONIC. ¶9. ACCORDING TO PRESS REPORTS KOSTOVIC, A MEMBER OF THE RIGHT-WING HDZ, STATED THAT BLEIBURG IS "A SYMBOL OF THE SUFFERING OF THE CROATIAN PEOPLE." ADDITIONAL PRESS REPORTING MENTIONED ISOLATED PROVOCATIONS -- SOME OF THE ESTIMATED EIGHT THOUSAND ATTENDEES WORE FASCIST INSIGNIA AND CARRIED ANTE PAVELIC PHOTOGRAPHS -- BUT THE COMMEMORATION WAS REPORTED TO BE ORDERLY AND PEACEF