Wreaths laid at Holocaust memorial in Belgrade

The Old Fairgrounds (Staro Sajmiste in Serbian) was the site of the Nazi Judenlager Semlin located on the territory of the Nazi puppet Independent State of Croatia (NDH). Some 20,000 people are estimated to have been killed or died in the camp, about half of them Jewish.

A wreath was laid at the monument by Serbian Labor, Veterans and Social Issues Minister Nikola Selakovic who said that the horrors of the Nazi regime have to discussed and monuments built to recall what he said was the greatest pogrom. A ministry press release quoted him as saying that the restoration of the tower of the Old Fairgrounds is part of efforts to establish a memorial center.

Selakovic said that Serbia and the Republika Srpska are also planning a memorial center in Donja Gradina for the Serb, Roma and Jewish victims of the Jasenovac death camp in the NDH. “Today we are talking about the crimes committed by the Ustasha regime over 700,000 victims of Serb and Jewish nationality. Jasenovac stands side by side with Auschwitz, Jadovno with Treblinka, Gradiska with Dachau, Jastrebarsko with Terezin and Sremska Mitrovica,” the press release quoted him as saying.

Wreaths were also laid by Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic and Parliament Speaker Vladimir Orlic. The ceremony was attended by Belgrade city officials, representatives of the Jewish and Roma communities as well as members of the diplomatic corps.