ZAGREB, April 4, 2018 – Croatian Defence Minister Damir Krstičević and his Hungarian counterpart Istvan Simicsko on Tuesday attended a ceremony at Zagreb’s central Mirogoj cemetery at which they unveiled a plaque commemorating Hungarian soldiers killed in World War I, the Croatian Defence Ministry said in a statement.
Speaking at the ceremony, Krstičević said that Hungary and Croatia were two friendly countries whose peoples shared a common history of almost 1,000 years.
“Up until one hundred years ago, we were part of the same state that disappeared in the flames of the Great War. Few commemorate the hundreds of thousands of victims on the defeated side. For a long time, their sacrifice was systematically suppressed and forgotten and that is why I believe that it is important to keep the memory of them alive and pay tribute to them,” said Krstičević.
He underlined that Croats and Hungarians were part of the same Central European circle and were oriented towards one another and noted that he was looking forward to cooperation with Hungary in a project to establish a Croatian military museum.
The Hungarian minister thanked his Croatian counterpart for making it possible to pay tribute to the fallen Hungarian heroes killed together with Croatian heroes in WWI, adding that joint commemorations strengthened the friendship between the two peoples. He underlined that the Croat and Hungarian peoples lived the same fate and shared the same past and future.
Attending the unveiling ceremony were also, among others, the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces, General Mirko Šundov, Hungarian Ambassador Jozsef Zoltan Magyar, and Military Attache Laszlo Attila Szendroi.
