Holocaust Remembrance Day marked in Serbia

Remembrance Day is marked as a national holiday in Serbia on April 22, the date in 1945 when a group of inmates broke out of the Jasenovac death camp in what was then Nazi Germany’s ally the Independent State of Croatia. The Jasenovac death camp was built by the Ustashe for Serbs, Jews and Roma.

The state ceremony in Belgrade was led by Minister Nikola Selakovic at the site of the Staro Sajmiste (Lager Semlin) camp in New Belgrade where thousands perished during the Nazi occupation.

Selakovic, speaking as an envoy of the Serbian President, told the ceremony that the memory of the victims should be maintained because forgetting them means amnesty for the criminals. “We will continue building memorial center with the Republika Srpska, we will continue with our suffering brethren, our Jew and Roma compatriots to fight the disregarding of the past because some things have to be remembered forever,” he said.

Wreaths were laid by officials from the Serbian government, Belgrade city administration, Museum of Genocide Victims, Staro Sajmiste memorial center, Jewish Communities, Roma National Minority National Council, Anti-Fascist Tradition organizations and the diplomatic corps